Michael Cohen Suggests Trump Kept Classified Docs for ‘Extortion’: ‘If You Indict Me… I Have Nuclear Secrets’
Michael Cohen suggested former President Donald Trump was in possession of classified documents in case he needed to extort his way out of trouble.
Trump’s former personal attorney and fixer joined MSNBC’s The ReidOut Wednesday to discuss a Washington Post report Trump was in possession of the military secrets of a country that was not named.
Some of those secrets reportedly detailed its nuclear capabilities. Few details were offered.
Host Joy Reid asked Cohen to “speculate” about why the reported nuclear documents were found at Mar-a-Lago by FBI agents during an Aug. 8 raid.
“Why do you think he wanted this stuff?” she asked.
Cohen offered one theory: extortion.
“So, this is all about power for Donald Trump,” he said. “This is all about him still remaining relevant and exerting the power over the United States as extortion in the event you indict me or members of my family, if you indict me or try to incarcerate me, I have nuclear secrets that I have instructed some of my followers to turn over to our adversaries.”
Cohen added:
It’s all about him main taping power but not just this country, but foreign countries as well. The dangerous part that we’re all doing right now is creating these hypotheticals.
[…]
We’re supposed to know that these documents are in the possession of individuals who are supposed to have them in secured locations, not somewhere in his office at Mar-a-Lago.
It is not clear what details relating to nuclear secrets were found in the Aug. 8 raid. Devlin Barrett and Carol Leonnig of the Post reported:
A document describing a foreign government’s military defenses, including its nuclear capabilities, was found by FBI agents who searched former president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence and private club last month, according to people familiar with the matter, underscoring concerns among U.S. intelligence officials about classified material stashed in the Florida property.
Watch above, via MSNBC.
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