Michael Cohen Was Spying on Trump’s 2016 Campaign, Book Claims

An upcoming book from former Trump Campaign Manager Paul Manafort has claimed that lawyer Michael Cohen spied on former President Trump’s 2016 campaign. 

Because Cohen was the administrator of the campaign server, he had access to all emails, according to “Political Prisoner: Persecuted, Prosecuted, but Not Silenced,” Manafort’s book.

“He had access to everybody’s communications. He had knowledge and he would be sitting in his office, gaining knowledge by virtue of spying on the campaign,” Manafort wrote.

Cohen has already denied Manafort’s claims.

“Not surprisingly, Manafort is distorting the truth. I requested administrative access to only Corey Lewandowski’s campaign email address after he was terminated,” Cohen said. “The purpose was to prove to Trump that it was Corey who was leaking negative information on Jared and Ivanka to the press. The information was located and turned over to Donald.”

Manafort also claimed that Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, received an in-person apology from Trump over his comments about the senator and his wife during his 2016 campaign in which he attacked Heidi Cruz’s appearance after she mocked Trump’s wife Melania.

Even Manafort found it “unusual” for Trump, who is typically unapologetic and brash.

“On his own initiative, Trump did apologize for saying some of the things he said about Cruz, which was unusual for Trump,” Manafort said in the book.

On the campaign trail, the exchanges became heated with Cruz calling Trump a “sniveling coward.” However, Manafort says that Trump apologized during an exchange at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland in July 2016 in which Cruz said he would work with Trump if he won but could not endorse him, according to the book. 

“[Trump] told Cruz he considered him an ally, not an enemy, and that he believed they could work together when Trump was president,” Manafort said. 

Cruz supported Trump as the Republican nominee for president in September 2016, saying Trump would make a better president than Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, though he claimed the former president never walked back his statements. 

“If Hillary Clinton is elected, the court will be lost for a generation, and my daughters’ rights will be lost for a generation,” Cruz said.

Manafort was under investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. He was charged and found guilty of eight counts of fraud and false tax returns. Manafort claimed in his book that Mueller “was suffering through an advancing stage of dementia.”

Manafort served seven months in home confinement due to the COVID-19 pandemic before Trump pardoned him. 

The book is set to be released on August 16.