By Abankula with agency report
In a new book out this week, U.S. President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, alleges that Trump regarded all African countries and nations run by black people as “complete toilets”.
The book also said Trump made disparaging remarks about Black world leaders including former South African President Nelson Mandela after he died.
In the book, Cohen alleges that Trump described Mandela as a poor leader and disparaged U.S. minorities in general, the Washington Post has reported.
According to the newspaper, which has a copy of the book, Cohen wrote that following Mandela’s death in 2013, Trump said: “Mandela f—-ed the whole country up. Now it’s a s—-hole. F—- Mandela. He was no leader.”
Cohen also alleges that Trump said: “Tell me one country run by a black person that isn’t a s—-hole. They are all complete f—-ing toilets.”
Trump was previously linked with making denigrating comments about African countries.
In January 2018, during a discussion with lawmakers at the White House regarding immigrants, Trump reportedly exhibited frustration over protecting immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador, and African countries.
At the time, he allegedly said, “Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?” This alleged comment generated outrage across the US and wider world.
Trump never denied he said so, when President Muhammadu Buhari visited him in Washington.
“We didn’t discuss it. But you do have some countries that are in very bad shape,” he said at a joint press conference with Buhari.
However on Saturday White House Spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany attacked Cohen’s credibility.
“Michael Cohen is a disgraced felon and disbarred lawyer, who lied to Congress. He has lost all credibility, and it’s unsurprising to see his latest attempt to profit off of lies,” McEnany said in a statement.
Trump has called Cohen “a rat,” and a liar, and Cohen has said he faced repeated death threats from Trump supporters.
Trump, a Republican, is seeking re-election and will face Democrat Joe Biden at the polls on Nov. 3.
At the Republican convention in August where Trump was formally nominated to appear on the ballot, speakers defended Trump against past accusations of racism.
Cohen alleged that Trump was dismissive of minorities, and that Trump said during his 2016 presidential campaign that he would not win the Hispanic vote, the Washington Post reported. According to Cohen, Trump said: “Like the blacks, they’re too stupid to vote for Trump.”
Cohen is serving time for tax evasion, false statements and campaign finance violations, the last related to payments to silence women who alleged affairs with Trump before the 2016 presidential election.
He was released to home confinement in May given the risks of catching COVID-19 in prison, but then was briefly imprisoned again in July. A federal judge then ruled Cohen had been subjected to retaliation for planning to publish his book, and ordered him released again
Cohen worked closely with Trump for years before turning against him, most publicly in testimony to Congress last year prior to Trump’s impeachment.
Now Cohen is serving a three-year sentence for, among other things, making false statements to Congress.
Thank God I’m a part of this.