In the wake of a New York Times report claiming President Donald Trump’s tax returns show “chronic losses and years of tax avoidance,” former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen suggested on Tuesday that the president could spend “the next century” in prison.
CNN “New Day” host Alisyn Camerota asked, “What did he say to you about his low tax burden, the fact that the only paid $750 the first two years he was in office, the fact that many years he paid zero, and the fact that he got a refund from the IRS? I mean, you had conversations with him about this.”
Cohen detailed how Trump before being in office “flicked” a $10 million refund check to him and then recalled, “I said, ‘Wow.’ He goes, ‘Yeah, would you believe how f-ing stupid the IRS, this government is in order to give somebody like me a refund?” I said, ‘Well, maybe then you ought to take that refund and start to replenish some of the reduction that you did regarding salaries to all of the employees, myself included.’ And he basically ignored that, told me to take the check and go bring it to Alan Weiselberg for deposit. His statement was nothing shy of, you know, anybody that pays taxes is stupid.”
Cohen noted that he got 36 months for $1 million worth of tax evasion, while Trump has only been paying $750 a year while being a billionaire.
“I’m certainly not a billionaire, and I ended up getting hit with tax evasion,” he added. “So, Lord knows what he’s going to end up getting hit with. If I ended up getting 36 months on a million dollars, Lord knows what he’s going to get. He may end up doing the next century.”
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