WATCH: Michael Cohen Says He Would Have Received Pardon if He Never Spoke Out Against Trump

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Last updated on January 16th, 2021 at 03:49 pm

There are clearly many things that Donald Trump doesn’t like about being the president. He doesn’t like being briefed, or working weekends, or being criticized in any way. One thing Trump clearly loves, though, is the power to pardon people.

And he’s taken advantage of that pardon power throughout his term. The people he absolves are largely friends or political allies. And in the last week, he pardoned the father of his son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer, is in prison for the things he did while in the president’s service. Once he went to trial, though, Cohen turned on Trump and has repeatedly spoken out against him. During a Monday appearance on The Beat, Cohen said he would have been pardoned by Trump if he never spoke out.

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Host Ari Melber asked, “I think we would all agree at one point in time, you would have been one of those people he would have been musing about pardoning because you and him did have a close relationship, professionally, for a long time.”

https://twitter.com/politicususa/status/1343705687122194433

The former Trump lawyer responded:

“I mean, there are people who worked in that pardon office all year long putting together documents, speaking to prosecutors, making sure that the person who receives the pardon is actually entitled to a pardon. Otherwise, basically what you’re doing is you’re giving the president the ability, you know, like his old trump monopoly game, a get out of free jail card simply because you’re a friend. You’re right, I would have received one had I agreed not to come out, not to speak truth to power.”

Todd Neikirk

Todd Neikirk is a New Jersey based politics and technology writer. His work has been featured in psfk.com, foxsports.com and hillreporter.com. He enjoys sports, politics, comic books and spending time at the shore with his family.