Michael Cohen Likens His Treatment by Trump Team to Cassidy Hutchinson

Michael Cohen has compared his treatment from former President Donald Trump's legal team to the alleged intimidation made against Cassidy Hutchinson before her January 6 testimony.

The House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, riot, when a mob of Trump supporters rioted at the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to force Congress to block President Joe Biden's Electoral College victory, has raised concerns that Trump allies are allegedly attempting to intimidate witnesses—and CNN reported that sources said Hutchinson, who served as a top aide to ex-Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, was one of those witnesses.

Cohen served as Trump's personal attorney for years. He was sentenced to prison in December 2018 after he pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including tax evasion and excessive campaign contributions. His house arrest ended last November, and he has since become a critic of the ex-president.

He claimed on Monday that he received similar messages from Trump allies who allegedly tried to intimidate him.

Cohen spoke with attorney Norm Eisen, who previously worked with the House Judiciary Committee to build the case for Trump's first impeachment, on his podcast Mea Culpa on Monday, where he discussed the alleged messages.

During their conversation, Eisen noted that attacks on Hutchinson appeared to be part of a "witness intimidation and obstruction of justice conspiracy" that warrants investigation. He recounted conversations with Cohen in which Cohen said he also received "veiled messages" from the president's allies.

"You can bet your bottom dollar. I still have them all, actually," Cohen responded.

Eisen asked about specific messages Cohen received, where members of Trump's team allegedly told him: "You were told, 'You have friends in high places. You should sleep well tonight.'" However, he did not go into detail about the broader context of these messages.

Cohen alleged he received these types of messages from Robert Costello, who serves as an attorney for several Trump allies, including Rudy Giuliani. Costello, however, disputed that he has ever made such remarks to Cohen in a statement to Newsweek.

"Ridiculous. I wasn't on Trump's team. I was representing Michael Cohen. Michael has a selective and faulty memory," Costello wrote.

Representative Liz Cheney, a Wyoming congresswoman who is one of two Republicans to sit on the committee, has also raised concerns about witness intimidation. Following Hutchinson's testimony last month, Cheney shared testimony from two other witnesses who said they received messages from Trump's team, though she did not say exactly who received the messages.

"What they said to me is, as long as I continue to be a team player, they know that I'm on the team, I'm doing the right thing, I'm protecting who I need to protect, you know, I'll continue to stay in good graces in Trump World," one witness said. "And they have reminded me a couple of times that Trump does read transcripts and just to keep that in mind as I proceeded through my depositions and interviews with the committee."

Newsweek reached out to Trump's office for comment.