Michael Cohen on Trump’s ‘White Power’ retweet: I told you so
President Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen condemned the president’s Sunday retweet, saying it was “offensive” and “indefensible.”
Remember what I said about @POTUS @realDonaldTrump during my live testimony before @OversightDems @GOPoversight committee. Mr. President, do the right thing and denounce the #offensive and #indefensible chant of “white power”!
— Michael Cohen (@MichaelCohen212) June 28, 2020
Cohen is referring to a post retweeted by the president that showed a Trump supporter in Florida saying “white power” in response to protesters opposing the president. A White House spokesman claimed Trump did not hear the man say “white power” before retweeting the video. The comment appears eight seconds into the two-minute video.
Trump deleted the post two hours after his retweet on Sunday morning.
Cohen, who was released early from prison due to the COVID-19 pandemic, said during his 2019 House Oversight Committee testimony that Trump was “a racist,” and that the president called Black people “stupid.”
Trump’s retweet was condemned by Jewish groups like Bend The Arc.
President Trump is a white supremacist.
Anyone who endorses, enables, or excuses him is endorsing white supremacy.
It doesn’t matter if he deletes a tweet. It’s not just his supporters who say “white power.”
It’s his entire admin & every elected official who supports him.
— Bend the Arc: Jewish Action (@jewishaction) June 28, 2020
The post got a softer response from former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain.
The retweet was ill-advised, but that’s nothing compared to the dishonesty of the media here. #2020election #Racism https://t.co/lPwtc3HHmv
— Herman Cain (@THEHermanCain) June 29, 2020
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO