President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen is "somewhere between hurt and a feeling of betrayal" as a federal investigation into his business dealings continues, the Rev. Al Sharpton said Monday.
Sharpton, who sat down with Cohen for one-hour last week, told MSNBC's Morning Joe:
"He wanted me to know that he was going to do what was right for the country and right for his family. … He seemed very concerned about how he was being depicted as some horrific guy and that he really was doing what he was supposed to do as a lawyer to his client -- but that he was not going to be one that is going to be something negative to the country and that he's going to stand up.
"From all I saw, he's going to do what he thinks is the right thing. … I think he's somewhere between hurt and a feeling of betrayal. I don't know that he's scared. I think that he seemed more hurt and betrayed … he didn't use those terms. This is the sense that I got."
Cohen, who has stepped down as Trump's longtime personal lawyer, is under federal investigation for possible bank and wire fraud and campaign finance law violations.
It was revealed earlier this year that he shelled out $130,000 to porn star Stormy Daniels just before the 2016 presidential election as part of a nondisclosure agreement for her silence about an alleged affair with Trump in 2006.
Last month, CNN, citing a friend of Cohen, said the lawyer is considering cooperating with the investigation special counsel Robert Mueller is conducting into Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether the Trump campaign was involved.
Sharpton, who said he has known Cohen for 20 years, said when he first heard last week's New York Times report which stated Cohen had recorded a conversation he had with Trump about a possible payment to a Playboy model he allegedly had an affair with, "I laughed to myself.
"Because it was always rumored that Trump recorded everybody. We were always told when you go in a meeting with Trump be careful because he may be recording the meeting in his office. So I don't know that everybody didn't record each other, protecting each other from everybody.
"I heard that Trump was not above recording meetings and conversations so I don't know under what context Cohen may have been recording him. I know it is unprecedented for a lawyer to be recording his client, but if you're in that kind of culture maybe it is not that unusual to them."
On Saturday, Trump ripped into Cohen, suggesting he could face legal jeopardy for recording the conversation which occurred two months before the 2016 election.
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