There is a new report that Rev. Jerry Falwell Jr. reached out to Donald Trump in 2015 to seek his help on preventing the release of revealing photographs. Trump allegedly asked his fixer Michael Cohen to help Falwell. Cohen reportedly succeeded but, in Cohen’s signature style, Cohen reportedly kept at least one photo. Falwell would go on to offer a key endorsement of Trump before the Iowa primary.
Falwell, president of Liberty University, was reportedly described as racy “personal” photographs according to Cohen. Cohen reportedly told actor Tom Arnold “I actually have one of the photos. It’s terrible.” It is hard to ignore the obvious glee in that statement from an attorney who kept compromising photographic evidence and now decided to dump them into the public for his own interest.
Falwell became one of Trump’s most active supporters — a key religious supporter when Trump’s affairs with a porn star and Playboy bunny were much in the news.
As usual, I am more shocked by Cohen’s conduct. Cohen was belatedly disbarred after a long career as an unethical legal thug. It is also an insight into his work with Trump. Trump poured praise on Cohen when he was threatening and bullying reporters, college students and others in his interest or the interests of his friends. It was only after Cohen flipped that Trump criticized him.
It is truly a tale without a redeeming character.