Michael Cohen, former personal attorney to Donald Trump, made a dramatic revelation on far-left MSNBC’s Deadline: White House program, announcing his intention to flee the country and change his name if Trump wins re-election in 2024. Cohen, who has emerged as a vocal critic of the former president following their split, used his interview with host Nicolle Wallace to deliver pointed criticisms of Trump.
Cohen even said he was considering abandoning his wife and kids. “I’m already working on a foreign passport with a completely different name,” Cohen said, emphasizing the extreme lengths he is willing to go to avoid living under another Trump administration. “I don’t know how it’s going to work as far as dealing with my wife and my children. I certainly don’t want them moving to where I’m looking to go.”
Cohen, who has previously testified against Trump, voiced serious concerns about a potential Trump return to the White House. He warned that Trump might pursue retribution against his critics, including Cohen and military officials like former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Army Gen. Mark Milley, especially in light of recent Supreme Court decisions that have broadened presidential immunity.
“These are people that [Trump] intends to go after if he has the ability to,” Cohen continued. “The worst is the Supreme Court’s recent decision that gave him community presidential immunity—now he thinks not only is it ‘I can do whatever I want,’ but that I can’t even be prosecuted.” But both he and the host ignored the fact that Joe Biden’s Justice Department has gone after Trump, as have a number of other Democratic district attorneys.
The controversy over Michael Cohen’s hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign garnered significant media attention. Cohen, acting independently, set up a shell company to transfer $130,000 to Daniels in exchange for her silence about an alleged affair with Trump.
Trump initially denied any knowledge of the payment, but Cohen later testified in Trump’s criminal trial in May 2024 that Trump had directed the payment to avoid distractions during the campaign. Trump’s legal team has argued that the payment was a private matter, unrelated to campaign funds, and did not breach election laws. Cohen pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including campaign finance violations, and was sentenced to three years in prison in December 2018.
Earlier this year, Cohen expressed his intention to run for Congress in 2026. In an interview with New York Magazine, the former Trump lawyer revealed plans to challenge U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) for the representation of New York’s 12th Congressional District. Cohen commented on Nadler’s long tenure by saying, “We thank him for his service, but it’s enough already.”
The disgraced lawyer, who was imprisoned for fraud and perjury, stated that he would have preferred to run this year, but was unable to do so after experiencing a “mental breakdown” due to the Trump case. “What a great country America is,” he said. “Anyone can run for Congress — even con men.”
