Michael Cohen Rages at Geoffrey Berman as Senate Announces Investigation

Michael Cohen, onetime lawyer for Donald Trump, is fuming at former prosecutor Geoffrey Berman for alleging that the former president meddled in key cases. Cohen is also suggesting Berman will be implicated in a new Senate investigation.

Cohen reacted angrily Monday evening to an interview Berman gave to MSNBC's Rachel Maddow in support of his coming book in which he accuses Trump's Department of Justice (DOJ) of functioning as the former president's "personal law firm." A member of Trump's inner circle turned critic, Cohen has complained of being unfairly targeted by federal prosecutors. Now, Cohen said Berman's allegations will result in his comeuppance.

Berman was appointed in 2018 as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, a prominent post that covers Manhattan and has been a steppingstone for notable law enforcement officials.

Two years after being assigned to the post, Berman resisted a call by the DOJ to step down. Democrats, at the time, sounded the alarm that Trump was improperly interfering with Berman's office. Trump Tower is also in the Southern District's purview, and Berman has accused former Attorney General Bill Barr of seeking to remove him to quash investigations that could politically damage Trump while he was president.

"I wanted people to understand the full scope of the outrageous and improper political interference by Trump's Justice Department in the cases of the Southern District of New York that demonstrates what Trump is capable of and what he's likely to do," Berman told Maddow on Monday. "And it also provides a frontline view of just how vulnerable our justice system is."

Cohen reacted to the interview with an angry tweet, agreeing that the Southern District had been "weaponized" by Trump, while forecasting trouble for Berman.

"I predict you will get yours as @SenatorDurbin pursues your unethical and illegal actions," Cohen said.

Cohen was referring to a letter from Illinois Democratic Senator Dick Durbin, who chairs the Judiciary Committee, on Monday announcing he was launching an investigation based on claims in Berman's book, titled Holding the Line: Inside the Nation's Preeminent US Attorney's Office and Its Battle with the Trump Justice Department.

Cohen reached a plea deal in 2018 on multiple counts of bank and tax fraud charges and campaign finance violations. Berman's book describes how the department sought to have references to Trump removed from Cohen's charging papers, reverse the conviction and halt related investigations, according to reporting from The New York Times that was referenced in Durbin's letter.

Cohen said in an earlier tweet that the White House meddled in his prosecution.

"Yet Geoffrey Berman, former head of the@SDNYnews said nothing at the time," said Cohen. "He needs to be questioned, indicted and prosecuted. No one is above the law!"

Cohen, in an email to Newsweek, faulted Berman for not disclosing what he was allegedly being pressured to do by Barr.

"He had an obligation to come forward to Congress, the FBI or law enforcement to disclose," Cohen said. "Not release the information years later in a book. Berman's actions are, at the bare minimum unethical and quite possibly illegal."

Cohen said he has been saying for five years that Trump, Barr and the district brought "fabricated charges" against him for the benefit of then-President Trump. Cohen also said his allegations are validated by Berman, adding that they will be addressed in his coming book, Revenge: How Donald Trump Weaponized The US Department Of Justice Against His Critics.

Newsweek has reached out to Berman and Trump for comment.

Update 9/13/22, 6:45 p.m. ET: This story has been updated with additional comment from Cohen.