In a startling revelation, Michael Cohen, a former confidant of ex-President Donald Trump, has raised concerns about Trump's potential misuse of military power against his political adversaries.
Cohen, once a close ally and legal counsel to Trump, played a pivotal role in the former President's felony conviction, which stemmed from allegations of concealing hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 election campaign.
According to the Daily Mail, Cohen, who was sentenced to prison in 2018 for his involvement in the scandal, alleges that Trump hindered his release from prison. He has urged the public to take seriously the former President's frequent threats against his critics. "The big warning I want people to understand is when Donald Trump says something, stop sane-washing it," Cohen warned during an MSNBC interview. "When he turns around and says the head of this network or other people who are critics, that he intends to use SEAL Team Six or the military to round up his critics or his opponents, he intends to do it."
Cohen's testimony was instrumental in the Manhattan Central Court trial in April, where Trump became the first ex-president to face a criminal trial. The former GOP leader, convicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records, has dismissed the trial as a "witch hunt." Trump, who has the power to pardon himself if re-elected in November, has repeatedly called for the imprisonment of his political opponents, including President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Senators Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer, and former Vice President Mike Pence.
In a recent move, Trump extended his threats to election workers, aiming to prevent a recurrence of what he alleges was the "stolen" 2020 election. "This legal exposure extends to Lawyers, Political Operatives, Donors, Illegal Voters, & Corrupt Election Officials," he posted on his Truth Social page. "Those involved in unscrupulous behavior will be sought out, caught, and prosecuted at levels, unfortunately, never seen before in our Country."
While Trump has not explicitly threatened to use Seal Team Six, the elite military unit known for killing Osama bin Laden, against his opponents, he has shared calls for his GOP critic Liz Cheney, who is currently campaigning for Kamala Harris, to face a military court. His legal team has also argued that he would be immune from prosecution if he ordered the elite naval unit to assassinate his political opponents.
This issue was brought up in January at the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, where the court was deliberating on whether Trump had immunity against charges that he conspired to overturn the 2020 election results. His attorney, John Sauer, suggested that such immunity could extend to using SEAL Team Six to kill a political rival, a notion that was met with concern by government lawyers.
The Supreme Court ruled in July that former presidents have absolute immunity from prosecution for acts which they can demonstrate are part of their "official responsibilities." Cohen, who has admitted to lying to Congress multiple times during an investigation into Trump's Russia ties, believes that Trump's influence over the GOP is masking deep-seated resentment from traditional Republicans.
Cohen, who is seeking to secure a foreign passport in case Trump returns to the White House, recently asked the Supreme Court for permission to sue Trump for allegedly blocking his release from prison in 2020. He was released under house arrest in May of that year but claims he was recalled to prison after pledging to assist prosecutors in building a case against Trump. "That was a practice play," he said. "And now he knows how exactly to get away with it I suspect that there's going to be many many more people that will be incarcerated simply at Donald's whim and simply because he deems them to be a critic."
Login