Michael Cohen on Trump’s ‘White Power’ retweet: I told you so
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
By Molly Boigon June 29, 2020
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
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
