Michael Cohen is dismissing media speculation that he has joined in an alliance with caustic anti-Trump actor/comedian Tom Arnold to bring down the president.
Mr. Arnold stirred up the press frenzy by announcing he is preparing a documentary on President Trump for Vice.com and that he and Mr. Cohen, the president’s personal attorney, spent the weekend together plotting.
The ex-husband of Roseanne Barr on Wednesday tweeted a selfie of the two standing side-by-side. Mr. Cohen re-tweeted it.
The photo made Mr. Arnold an instant star on CNN and MSNBC. He whipped up publicity for his Vice project by saying Mr. Cohen has a rich supply of recordings.
He made a disjointed appearance on CNN, using the F-word, then falling silent other times. Mr. Cohen “has all the tapes,” Mr. Arnold asserted.
“We’ve been on the other side of the table and now we’re on the same side,” Mr. Arnold told NBC News. “It’s on! I hope [the president] sees the picture of me and Michael Cohen and it haunts his dreams.”
Friday night, Mr. Cohen tried to end the liberal excitement, referring to it in Twitter-speak as “#ridiculous.”
He tweeted, “Appreciate @Tom Arnold kind words about me as a great father, husband and friend. This was a chance, public encounter in the hotel lobby where he asked for a selfie. Not spending the weekend together, did not discuss being on his show nor did we discuss @POTUS [Trump].”
Mr. Arnold tweeted, “Michael Cohen didn’t say Me & him were teaming up to take down Donald Trump! Michael has enough Trump on his plate. I’m the crazy person who said Me & Michael Cohen were teaming up to take down Trump of course. I meant it. Michael doesn’t get paid by Vice.”
Mr. Cohen, Mr. Trump’s legal adviser for the Trump Organization’s mega real estate projects, is under investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan. The FBI is looking at hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels who says she had an affair with Mr. Trump. Also under investigation is a consulting firm Mr. Cohen set up shortly after the election to advise clients on how to deal with the Trump White House.
Retired British spy Christopher Steele, in his infamous dossier financed by the Democratic Party, quoted Russian sources as saying Mr. Cohen secretly traveled to Prague in August 2016 to devise a coverup of Kremlin computer hacking.
There has been no public confirmation by investigators. Mr. Cohen has repeatedly denied the charge under oath.
• Rowan Scarborough can be reached at rscarborough@washingtontimes.com.
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