Michael Cohen, now a Democrat, says the 2018 midterms could be "the most important in our lifetime"

President Donald Trump's former personal attorney and "fixer" returns to being a member of the Democratic Party

By Matthew Rozsa

Staff Writer

Published October 15, 2018 3:34PM (EDT)

Michael Cohen (AP/Mary Altaffer)
Michael Cohen (AP/Mary Altaffer)

Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former personal attorney and "fixer," has switched back to being a member of the Democratic Party.

Cohen, who has turned on his former boss despite once saying that he would take a bullet for the billionaire real estate mogul, has additionally proclaimed to his fellow Americans that the upcoming elections "might be the most important in our lifetime."

That statement was made Sunday – just three days after Cohen's attorney Lanny Davis had tweeted that his client was further demonstrating his separation from Trump by leaving the Republican Party and returning to his previous partisan affiliation as a Democrat.

"Today, [Michael Cohen] returning to the Democratic Party another step in his journey that began with the @ABC @GStephanopolous Cohen putting family and country first -distancing himself from the values of the current Admin - Can’t wait for his first interview!" Davis tweeted, teasing to stay tuned.

On Sunday, Cohen subsequently tweeted that "the #MidtermElections2018 might be the most important vote in our lifetime, adding a pair of get-out-the-vote hashtags.

In response, Davis tweeted that "no one knows better than [Michael Cohen] why the midterm stakes are so important to #America’s future as he is the holder of truth about [Trump] #MichaelCohenTruthFund."

Because Cohen is currently free on bail, and thus has not yet become an incarcerated felon, he will be able to vote in the New York midterm elections this November.

Since parting ways with Trump, Cohen has stated that he would not accept a pardon from the president if it was offered to him in exchange for not cooperating with the special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation.

His promise was challenged by Michael Avenatti, the attorney representing the adult film star and rumored Trump mistress Stormy Daniels, who also told Salon in July that Cohen should release all tapes of privately-recorded conversations that he might have had with the president. Avenatti declined to say, however, whether he would urge his own client to do the same.

"I'm not going to speculate what I would do. I've made my position very, very clear that Lanny Davis and Michael Cohen need to stop screwing around and release any and all tapes right now – period," Avenatti told Salon.

"I'm not going to speculate. It doesn't matter. That's not the issue," he continued. "That's not what's going on here . . . I can't speculate as to what I would or would not do other than, if I was Lanny Davis and Michael Cohen I would do the right thing and release all of these tapes now."


By Matthew Rozsa

Matthew Rozsa is a staff writer at Salon. He received a Master's Degree in History from Rutgers-Newark in 2012 and was awarded a science journalism fellowship from the Metcalf Institute in 2022.

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2018 Midterm Elections Donald Trump Michael Cohen