People stick by Trump “because we are stupid”: Former lawyer Michael Cohen

Donald Trump’s ex-attorney Michael Cohen said the former president’s allies stick by him despite mounting investigations “because we are stupid.”

The Congressional committee investigating the January 6, 2021, riot at the United States Capitol this week voted to subpoena Trump, saying he “is required to answer for his actions.” The subpoena adds to his legal woes, as he is facing several other investigations—including a probe into whether he improperly kept classified documents at Mar-a-Lago and a lawsuit into his New York business dealings.

While some former Trump allies—including Cohen, who served a three-year sentence for campaign finance violations committed while working for Trump— have jumped ship, many are still sticking with Trump, who remains a powerful figure in GOP politics and may run for president again in 2024.

Cohen appeared on NBC News Friday to discuss the subpoena, as well as his 14-page letter responding to the committee and offered insight as to why he believes Trump allies don’t bail on him to protect themselves.

“It’s because we’re stupid,” Cohen bluntly said.

He continued: “For some reason, we fell into the cult of Donald J. Trump,” Cohen said. “There’s a lot of excitement. There’s a lot of energy around it. When he needs something from you, he makes you feel as though you are the single most important person in the world. And that only you are capable of doing something.”

He offered a warning for Trump allies who continue to stand by the former president, including his attorneys, who he described as being “in trouble.”

“I know the game that you’re playing, and it’s not going to work out for you,” Cohen said. “The same way it didn’t work out for me. You can’t run this playbook, especially against me because I wrote it. So, you know, heed my warning. And did they heed it? No.”

Cohen predicted that one of Trump’s attorneys drafted the 14-page letter sent to the Jan. 6 committee. The letter blasts the panel for not probing his claims of voter fraud—which lack credible evidence—accusing the panel of targeting “only those who were, as concerned American Citizens, protesting the Fraud itself.”

“I promise you that Donald in his entire life never, ever produced a 14-page document for anything. So this one was obviously written by Stephen Miller or one of the other missives that he has working for him,” Cohen said, adding that Trump will not “show up under any circumstance.”

Trump Attorneys Stay With Him as Legal Cases Mount

His remarks come amid other legal challenges, though Trump maintains his innocence in each case. He continues to face the Department of Justice‘s classified documents probe.

This week, the Department of Justice requested an appeals court to halt an independent review of documents taken from the Mar-a-Lago estate in the FBI‘s August raid on the property. Legal experts predicted the move could end in defeat for Trump. Trump has said the documents were declassified when he took them from the White House.

He also continues facing investigation by Georgia’s Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. She is investigating whether Trump’s phone call to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, in which he allegedly asked him to “find” votes to tip the election in his favor, violated state law.

Cohen, once a staunch Trump ally, has been critical of Trump amid legal woes.

He served as Trump’s personal attorney for years. He was sentenced to prison in December 2018 after he pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including tax evasion and excessive campaign contributions. His house arrest ended last November, and he has since become a critic of the ex-president.

He has spoken on several occasion about how Trump treats those in his inner circle. In June, he predicted Trump would throw his lawyer John Eastman under the bus. He said in July he has received messages from the Trump team he believes are meant to intimidate him.

Newsweek reached out to Trump’s office for comment.