A top counsel for Donald Trump on Monday defended the Republican presidential front-runner’s claims about the September 11 attacks during a spirited exchange with CNN’s Jake Tapper.
Following his boss’ refusal to back down from claims that he saw “thousands of people” in New Jersey cheering in the immediate aftermath of the September 11 attacks, Michael Cohen sparred with Tapper on “The Lead.”
Cohen did not back down despite being confronted with the lack of evidence of Trump’s September 11 claim.
“I’m not so sure that that’s true, and I’ve worked for Mr. Trump now for a long time,” Cohen said. “I can tell you that Mr. Trump’s memory is fantastic, and I’ve never come a situation where Mr. Trump has said something that is not accurate.”
Cohen brought up posts on social media from people also claiming to have seen the same thing as Trump and also pointed to what he called the media’s failure to refute Trump’s claims.
“The problem is that the accusers — meaning the mainstream media — no matter what Donald Trump says, they’re going to try to refute to the best of their ability, and it’s just not working. That’s really the problem.”
Media organizations, political campaigns and local officials have yet to produce evidence of thousands of people in the U.S. celebrating the attacks of September 11, 2001.
The interview also touched on whether or not Trump mocked a reporter’s disability — another point that the Trump campaign has denied, with Trump saying he does not even remember meeting the reporter, Serge Kovaleski, in his past. Kovaleski claimed to have been on a “first name basis” with the real estate mogul for years.
Cohen echoed Trump’s denial that he was mocking Kovaleski’s disability.
“Do you really think that Mr. Trump remembers this specific reporter?” Cohen said.
Cohen also reiterated that his boss has been a regular contributor to organizations helping people with disabilities.
“Mr. Trump donates millions and millions of dollars, each and every year in order to combat disabilities,” Cohen said. “Mr. Trump is not the type of individual that’s gonna make fun of somebody’s disability.”
