Trump’s former fixer Michael Cohen says he kept classified documents as ‘get out of jail free card’

Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer and one of his most merciless allies-turned-critics, has suggested the ex-president may have taken top secret documents to Mar-a-Lago in hopes of using them as leverage in future criminal proceedings.

Mr Cohen was asked what clues he could divine from the information known so far about the raid, and why Mr Trump might have taken the documents to his Florida residence in the first place, in an interview with CNN.

“You’re asking the exact question that I was hoping everybody would ask, why? And I tell you, my belief is he was going to use it as a bargaining chip,” he said.

“The second they would put him in handcuffs, he would turn around and say, I have the documentation showing, for example, where our nuclear launch pads are … He would use it to say: If you proceed with this, I’m telling you right now there’s 20 of my loyal supporters, you don’t know who they are, but we will release that information to Russia, to Iran, to whoever it might be.

“Because he doesn’t care about this country. I’ve been saying that forever.”

Pressed by host Alisyn Camerota on whether the documents might just have been mementos with little national security import, as some Trump supporters have speculated, Mr Cohen stuck to his guns.

“I’m sure some of it was Kim Jong-un love letters, or a letter he may have received from Vladimir Putin about his Miss Universe pageant, something he could show off if he ever felt he needed to have that document. But I believe that the sensitive information was used or was going to be used by him as a get out of jail free card.”

The Department of Justice has released the warrant that authorised the raid, but has rebuffed demands to release the affidavit that underpinned it, arguing that to do so might jeopardise future investigations and “chill” efforts to get witnesses to cooperate. A hearing to decide whether the document should be unsealed will be held on Thursday.

Mr Cohen, who frequently uses his Mea Culpa podcast to speculate about Mr Trump’s behaviour and legal problems based on his own experiences working for the former president, also engaged in speculation about who at Mar-a-Lago might have tipped off the FBI as to the nature and whereabouts of the documents seized last week.

“Whoever the informant was knew exactly where to go, knew exactly the information that was there, both in the safe and in the storage area. I believe – and I say, it’s my personal opinion – I believe it’s Jared Kushner.

“I believe that only family would know the existence of a safe, let alone the contents of that safe. And so who else could it possibly be? He doesn’t trust Don Jr, he made it crystal clear… that Don has the worst adjustment of anyone he’s ever met. Eric I can understand may possibly know – but Ivanka and Jared as a team, especially since Jared was, what, secretary of everything.”

Mr Cohen did not cite any hard evidence for his hypothesis.