On Wednesday, President Donald Trump‘s former personal attorney Michael Cohen said that the president is keeping his tax returns away from Congress investigators to avoid tax fraud charges.
In an interview with CNN, Cohen said Trump’s stonewalling was “at best, an attempt to avoid massive tax bills and fraud penalties.”
Cohen explained, “The fact that he doesn’t report the income that he claims, his wealth is not as significant, and I believe that they were probably very lenient in how they took deductions. His biggest fear is that if in fact the tax return was released, there’s a whole slew of organizations, of accountants and forensic accountants that will rip through it and he will end up with a massive tax bill, fraud penalties, fines, and possibly even tax fraud.”
Cohen pleaded guilty to lying to Congress back in October and served three months in prison. He is serving the remainder of his prison sentence under house arrest due to COVID-19. Cohen was re-arrested in July after announcing the publication of his tell-all Disloyal book, but was he released shortly after a judge ruled that his arrest will was politically motivated.
When asked who would be best fit to fulfill his former role, Cohen responded, “Attorney General Bill Barr. Rudy Giuliani, to an outside extent, but I would say for the most part it would be Attorney General Bill Barr. And boy, what a terrible shame, taking an illustrious career and throwing it right down the toilet.”
