Donald Trump is the voice of the "silent majority" of Americans who are angry about immigration, said Michael Cohen, executive vice president and special counsel of the Trump Organization, insisting that nobody is more angry about illegal migration than legal immigrants.
"The people who are most angry are the legal immigrants,
Cohen said during a heated debate with CNN's Chris Cuomo Monday morning on the "New Day" program, "because you have this illegal class of individuals who have to work for lower wages."
Cohen's appearance came one day after he tangled with
CNN's Michael Smerconish on Sunday, but the theme remained virtually the same: defensive.
Meanwhile, Cohen conceded Monday that Trump isn't the first to complain about illegal immigration, but "he's the one with the biggest voice" now, and that makes his comments important.
Cuomo, though, accused Trump of being "no champion of illegal immigrants," who is "stoking the anger" of people who don't like what is going on.
But Cohen disagreed, saying that Trump is "a champion" of legal immigration, pointing out that several members of the real estate mogul's family are legal immigrants, including his father and his current wife.
"We believe there's a process" for citizenship, Cohen said, with Cuomo snapping back that "everybody says it is a process. Don't run away from what he says," repeating Trump's campaign announcement speech about Mexico sending drug dealers and other criminals into the United States along with "some" good people.
"I really believe that Mr. Trump was making his voice heard," Cohen replied, with Cuomo insisting that Trump's words were "wrong."
Cohen said that Trump isn't like other politicians, because he "doesn't read off a stump speech," and while Cuomo accused him of "excusing" Trump's comments, Cohen insisted he was "explaining what he's thinking."
"He's a good man who cares about this country, and his theme of 'Make America Great Again' is something that he's 100 percent adamant about accomplishing," Cohen said.
When Cuomo insisted that it would be more beneficial for Trump to apologize to a community that's "now very angry at him," Cohen replied that Trump's words weren't meant to insult a whole community.
Instead, the "liberal media" are using the words to attack Trump, said Cohen.
"He said it," Cuomo told him. "I'm not sure if I qualify as liberal media ... he said it, he should have apologized."
Trump has also said that for every illegal immigrant who comes across the border, Mexico should have to pay $100,000, and when Cuomo challenged Cohen on how Trump would exact that payment, the spokesman replied "when he becomes the president, he'll figure it out."
Cuomo also took exception with
a series of Trump tweets this morning following the news that Mexican drug lord Joaquin Guzman, known as "El Chapo," had escaped prison, including one in which he declared "I told you so!"
He also declared, in comparison to Jeb Bush or Hillary Clinton, that he would defeat "El Chapo":
Cohen also said Monday that Trump had opened Americans' eyes to sanctuary cities that give illegal immigrants a safe haven, but Cuomo denied that such cities are "safe havens," but instead said they are in dispute with federal officials.
Cuomo ended the interview by declaring Trump's words on immigrants "wrong," and telling Cohen "you have not admitted it yet," to which Cohen responded "and I will not."
Watch the video here.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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