Former Trump private attorney Michael Cohen supposedly declared war Tuesday against those who seek to discredit him as he faces possible charges of violating campaign finance laws and other federal offenses.
"If they think for a second that the efforts to discredit me aren’t known to me, they are sadly mistaken," Cohen apparently has told friends, Vanity Fair reports. "Did they think I was just going to roll over and die?"
Cohen's reported comments mark a reversal from his previous pledges of loyalty to President Donald Trump, particularly after disclosures last week that he had secretly taped the president before the 2016 election during a telephone call about a possible payment to former Playboy model Karen McDougal over an alleged affair.
"That recording, along with 11 others collected by New York prosecutors during an FBI search of Cohen’s properties in April, is now at the center of an escalating public war between Cohen, the president, and their respective legal teams," Vanity Fair reports.
Cohen, 51, is under investigation for possible campaign finance law violations regarding a $130,000 payment to adult-film star Stormy Daniels over an alleged affair with Trump 12 years ago.
Prosecutors also are probing Cohen for possible bank and wire fraud issues in his business dealings.
However, "people close to Cohen speculated" that last week's disclosure of the recording was part of a "strategy" toward "eroding" his relationship with Trump, Vanity Fair reports.
"Two people familiar with Cohen's thinking," further, "believe that Trump’s lawyers decided to waive privilege to undercut Cohen, who could have potentially used the exclusive possession of the material as a bargaining chip to cut a deal with prosecutors."
Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor who is now one of Trump's personal lawyers, confirmed the recording on Friday, calling it "powerful exculpatory evidence" and admitting that the team waived privilege on it.
Giuliani, who said Trump did not know he was being taped, also told Vanity Fair that he did not leak the recording but that "he was glad it got out."
Cohen has yet to meet with prosecutors — and "people familiar with Cohen’s thinking" remain confident that "his value as a potential cooperating witness is undiminished," according to the report.
"It’s not the recording that is valuable," one person told Vanity Fair. "It's the backstory."