Gee, Did Trump Take A Cut Of Michael Cohen's 'Consulting' Fees?
Remember when Trump wanted news networks to pay him for appearing in debates?
Morning Joe featured an analysis by the regulars about whether Trump would allow Michael Cohen to make money off his access without giving him a cut. (SPOILER: No way in hell.)
"Again, we also know how cheap Donald Trump is," Scarborough said. "How this is a guy who has been billions in debt -- we don't know if the guy has any money at all. So do you really believe, knowing that relationship, knowing Michael Cohen, knowing Donald Trump, as you have, that Donald Trump would say to Michael Cohen -- 'oh, cool, yeah, I'll sit with AT&T. or I'll sit with these other companies. You make half a million dollars and I'll just sit here and do nothing'.
"Or do you think that Donald Trump wanted to a cut of that, just like he was going crazy during the debate season, demanding, he was actually thinking about demanding that CNN, MSNBC and Fox pay him to go on the debate stage. That he needed royalty checks, because they were making so much advertising off of him? Do you think that Donald Trump would go, 'oh, it's great, Michael, you make $600,000 and I'll take some meetings for you.'"
"First of all, the relation with Michael is, he did have a warm --up until this point, a warm relationship," Deutsch said. "Sure, he would yell at him just like he yells at his Homeland Security director in front of the cabinet. Do I think if Donald Trump knew about this, he would say to Michael, 'I want 80% of that and keep setting up those meetings'? Absolutely. I don't know if Donald Trump knew about it, before or after, if that was happening and Donald Trump either knew or was going to know, that would end up in Donald Trump's pocket.
"Once again, this is a guy who sold steaks. So I can say that with complete certainty, not knowing exactly what happened. But yes, that would go to Donald Trump and not only that, Donald Trump would say to him, 'hey, by the way, here are the Fortune 500 companies, let's go from 1-500 and I would take it up to $1 million a pop.'
"The day Donald Trump got in office, his attitude — we see his son-in-law’s attitude to it, not, 'How can I serve the country,' but, wow — we stormed the gate, this is really, really cool.”
How do you think Vladimir Putin got so rich? Nothing happens without Putin getting a cut. It's why Trump admires him.