Michael Cohen: Trump’s 'embarrassing' financial woes are shredding his 'ego'
Between owing more than $535 million in civil judgements (factoring in interest) and his massive legal fees, former President Donald Trump is facing major financial challenges. Forbes has estimated Trump's net worth to be roughly $2.6 billion, and financial experts have said that he will likely have to liquidate some asserts in order to pay everything he owes.
According to Michael Cohen — Trump's former personal attorney and fixer — the ex-president is seriously "embarrassed" by his financial woes, as his wealth is a big part of his "ego" and identity.
During a late February interview, Cohen told CNN's Laura Coates, "Of course he's embarrassed, because his entire net worth — the constant reiteration that I'm worth at least 10 billion, maybe even more — obviously goes to his id, his ego, his superego. And that's now super-deflated because it's just not true. They had to acknowledge that they don't have it."
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Cohen continued, "You know, it wasn't that long ago that he stood on the stand and he told everybody that he was worth many, many, many billions of dollars and that he has very low debt to ratio — to value ratio. And that he was very, very cash-rich. Well, we know that that's just yet another lie that was told by Trump…. How is he going to raise more than this half a billion dollars that he owes in order to be able to file an appeal?"
Cohen, author of the 2022 book "Revenge: How Donald Trump Weaponized the US Department of Justice Against His Critics," argued that "lenders" will be wary of Trump in the weeks and months ahead.
The former Trump attorney turned scathing Trump critic told Coates, "Where is he going to get this money? Lenders will not give it to him. Number one: There's outstanding mortgages on these assets. They don't want to have to be in a position to take these assets and then start to sell them in order to recoup their money. It's a big job, especially in light of the market right now. But more importantly, what we really need to watch out (for) is where the money is going to come from. Is it going to come from Saudi Arabia? Is it going to come somehow, back-channel, through (Russian President Vladimir) Putin or some other autocratic alleged friend of Donald Trump? That's the most important thing because what it does is it jeopardizes America's national security."
READ MORE: Trump likely to 'liquidate' significant real estate assets to pay massive civil judgments
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