What is Michael Cohen up to?

[ificandream]

I saw the stories here about Michael Cohen parsing about the way prosecutors had him "inappropriately", to use his term, to get evidence to convict Trump.

His Substack posting the last few days tell the story.

From his posting on 1/16 (Friday):

You may reasonably ask why I am speaking out now. The answer is simple. I have witnessed firsthand the damage done when prosecutors pick their target first and then seek evidence to fit a predetermined narrative. I have lived inside that process. I have suffered from that process. My family has suffered from that process. And as courts now reconsider where the Bragg and James cases belong, how they were brought and how they were tried; that experience is relevant. More today than ever before.

Whatever the outcome of Judge Hellerstein’s reconsideration, the larger lesson should not be lost. Justice must be more than effective; it must be credible. When politics and prosecution become indistinguishable, public trust erodes; not just in individual cases, like mine and Trump’s, but in the system itself. That erosion serves no one, regardless of party, personality, or power.

Saturday 1/17:

Trump once taught me that apologies are tools. They’re not moral acts; they’re strategic ones. This apology isn’t a turning point. It’s not a breakthrough. It’s a test run; proof that you can acknowledge wrongdoing without changing behavior.

And today (Sunday 1/18):

Some have claimed that my Friday post was motivated by a desire for a pardon. Let me be honest. Of course I would welcome the erasure of a felony conviction. Who wouldn’t? But the request I have before the White House is far larger than me. Alongside my longtime friend Jesse Jackson Jr., with whom I co-authored a proposed executive order, I am seeking the emancipation of the stigma and lifelong burden of federal felony convictions for those who have completed their non-violent sentences. This would impact 70 million Americans; seventy, including one of the loudest individuals now attacking me.

It seems like he is walking back what he said Friday in this last post. But was he really going over to Trump's side initially or just giving a ultra-legal point of view? I'd like to see what another lawyer says. As you and I see them, the evidence was there to convict Trump. It wasn't manufactured.

Admitting he'd like a pardon from Trump seemed like a little desperation on his part. Unless he and Trump are talking to each other again (and I don't see that happening), the chances of him getting a pardon from Trump is pretty unlikely, don't you think?

(The Saturday excerpt, to explain, shows Cohen is still very much against Trump.)

I think Cohen might have gotten into a corner he didn't intend to go into in the first place. Why didn't Meidas question this more before they shut the door on him? I think there is fault on both sides here.

[Jersey Devil]

1. Angling for a pardon

Cohen is as creepy as they come

[ificandream]

2. To some extent, but ...

.... social media does jump too quickly at times. I'm wondering if that's the case here given the areas all three posts on Substack go to.

[Kid Berwyn]

3. Guy wants to stay alive, so he never even heard of a Jeff Epstein.

The lies are starting to contradict. Hope he is held to account for his work for Putin.

[Brother Buzz]

4. I'm entertaining the idea that Michael Cohen may be running a double con

I have no clue how it shakes out, but Michael Cohen could become a hero or a zero.

Can he trap the marmalade shartcannon into directly tampering/bribing a witness?

Can he snag a pardon in the process?

For shits and giggles, does Michael Cohen award the ass a Taxi medallion for the pardon?

[MorbidButterflyTat]

5. "Of course I would welcome the erasure of a felony conviction."

Doesn't accepting a pardon validate the conviction?

Cohen was Piggy's fixer for at least a decade; he must know a lot about Piggy and Epstein. Maybe he also indulged?

Really, who cares?