The MeidasTouch Podcast - Michael Cohen and Ben Meiselas Dissect Release of Trump Tax Returns

Episode Date: December 31, 2022

Michael Cohen and MeidasTouch Co-Founder Ben Meiselas have a live discussion on the release of Trump’s Tax Returns, Trump’s crimes, and what to expect on 2023 with potential Trump indictments. Sh...op Meidas Merch at: https://store.meidastouch.com Join us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/meidastouch Remember to subscribe to ALL the Meidas Media Podcasts: MeidasTouch: https://pod.link/1510240831 Legal AF: https://pod.link/1580828595 The PoliticsGirl Podcast: https://pod.link/1595408601 The Influence Continuum: https://pod.link/1603773245 Kremlin File: https://pod.link/1575837599 Mea Culpa with Michael Cohen: https://pod.link/1530639447 The Weekend Show: https://pod.link/1612691018 The Tony Michaels Podcast: https://pod.link/1561049560 American Psyop: https://pod.link/1652143101 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:01:29 to you, please contact Connex Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor for your charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. Welcome to the Midas Touch podcast exclusive with Michael Cohen reacting to the House Ways and Means Committee officially releasing six years of Trump's tax returns. We previously got the executive summaries, but now we have the raw data. Michael Cohen, welcome to the show. Bagel Ben, how you doing there, buddy? Bagel Ben is hanging in there. I want to read you this breaking news and I want you to react to it. Donald Trump has issued a typical deranged statement from his social media account. Donald Trump put out a statement. Let me read it to you because it's literally breaking right now as we go live.
Starting point is 00:02:31 It says, statement by Trump, the Democrats should have never done it. The Supreme Court should have never approved it. And it's going to lead to horrible things for so many people. This guy is such a clown. The great USA divide will now grow far worse. I'm sorry I'm laughing at it. it's going to lead to horrible things for so many people. This guy's such a clown going. The great USA divide will now grow far worse. I'm sorry I'm laughing at it. Just such a clown. The radical left Democrats have weaponized everything. But remember that it is a dangerous two-way street. The Trump tax returns once again show how proudly successful I have been and how I have been able to use depreciation and various other tax deductions as an incentive for creating thousands of jobs and magnificent structure and enterprise. I can't even read the rest.
Starting point is 00:03:18 To me, it shows that he's an utter criminal. What's your response? Well, to me, it just shows how delusional that he is. First of all, the thousands of employees, are we talking about the undocumented ones that he held up in cages? Or is he talking about the ones that he ended up stiffing? I'm not 100% certain. But putting all of that aside, at the end of the day, what does his tax returns really show you and me and the American people and so on? And what it really shows is that he is not as wealthy as he wanted people to believe, as he claimed, as he purported to be.
Starting point is 00:03:58 And more importantly, that something I had said, not just here on this show, but on television, before the House Oversight Committee, even on I had said, not just here on this show, but on television, before the House Oversight Committee, even on my own YouTube, on TikTok, you name it, on all my social media, that Donald Trump manipulated the values of his assets to fit his purpose. He would increase them in order to increase the net worth in his personal financial statement. And then he would decrease them in order to obtain some form of a tax benefit. And that you're going to see here. But you're also going to see on top of that who loaned him money, how much money he actually owed, who holds the debt, whether or not those institutions received
Starting point is 00:04:47 any benefit during the four years of his presidency. But the one thing that I am certain that they will ultimately have to figure out is how and why Donald took the $130,000 payment that he had made back to me, which was $260,000, because he grossed it up. And for those of you that don't understand the concept, because I'm in the 50% tax bracket, for me to get my $130,000 back from Donald, he'd have to give me $260,000. So interestingly enough, he took that $260,000, which was the payoff to the porn star for pulling his mushroom pecker, and he took it as a deduction, as a business expense, which I can assure you is not in the IRS tax code. Cohen, you mean that he had to pay you $260,000 instead of paying the tuition for your daughter's college to try to get around like he was doing with Weisselberg? He actually
Starting point is 00:05:53 had to pay you the 260. I really want to break down though, specifically what you talked about, because it is a bombshell criminal thing that we see in his returns. And to have you here break it down, the person who's literally at the center of this, you're talking about the situation, of course, with Storm it looks like is the payments to Stormy Daniels and by proxy to you on behalf of him, were taken as a deduction, were taken as a business expense. Now, I'm a lawyer, although I spend a lot of my time being a lawyer on podcasts, but yes, I'm a practicing lawyer. That sounds illegal to me, Michael Cohen. What's your thoughts? Well, let's just say it's probably not an accepted deduction in the IRS tax code. I mean, it is what it is. But one of the things that all of the Midas Mighty and all
Starting point is 00:07:00 of those finally throughout the United States and around the world will understand, is how much money Donald Trump was paying in taxes, which was bare to nothing. In fact, in 2016, 2017, the two years that he paid $750 per year or $1,500 combined. I myself paid over $3 million and I was charged with tax evasion. So I would suspect that Donald is going to have some very serious tax issues here. Now, one of the things I do want to caution people on is that this is not going to be quick, like the way that the Southern District of New York, the prosecutors threw the hammer down on me, giving me 48 hours, or they were going to file an indictment that was going to include my wife.
Starting point is 00:07:52 If they tried this with Donald, rest assured, he would let Melania get up and go to Danbury in order to save himself. He wouldn't put himself ahead of Melania, that I can assure you. But one of the big problems that you have here is the volume of documents that constitute this tax return release. And it's in the millions of pages. My documents, my five-year tax returns were 1,800 pages a year, which is about 9,000 documents. His is around a million because Donald ran a very complicated process. And of course, the more complicated, the better it is for him. He had over 700 corporations and the corporations that he had.
Starting point is 00:08:46 So it would be like, for example, his airplane. So you had TAG, T-A-G, which was Trump Aviation Group. But part of TAG would have, for example, his Citation 10, which was under Trump Endeavor One. But then he had the 757, which was under a different LLC. And each one of these had to then file its own specific tax return. took in income, for example, on the 757, and that income was derived from his usage during the campaign and somewhat thereafter, of about $860,000. And I'm making up that number, but it was somewhere in that range. His deductions, coincidentally, was the identical amount, the $860,000, netting him out to zero,
Starting point is 00:09:47 which means what? Which means he paid absolutely zero in taxes. Now, one of the things that they're going to do, and this doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand, if you took in $860,000 of income, what is the cost per hour? Because it doesn't go by mileage, obviously. It goes by hour of flight using depreciation on a 757, which coincidentally happens not to be a brand new aircraft. It's an older aircraft that he refurbished, how much does it cost per hour to operate that aircraft? And the truth is, it's probably somewhere in the neighborhood of $3,800, $4,000. Let's get crazy with our numbers, Midas Mighty, all right? You guys with me? So let's say it's $5,000 an hour, which it's not, but let's just say that it is. Take the number of hours that that aircraft was used during that year, multiply it times the 5,000, and that will tell you your
Starting point is 00:10:53 expenses. But that's not how Donald works. Donald works in a mysterious way. The mysterious way is whatever he believes that the value of something is, is what the value is. Whatever he thinks it costs him in order to operate that asset, that's what he believes that it is. There is no backup documentation that they could possibly provide to the IRS or anyone that will justify $800,000 plus of expense on that aircraft. It just doesn't exist and it's impossible for them to provide. So he's going to have at least a problem with that specific LLC. That specific LLC then unravels a much larger chain of issues that Donald Trump is going to have when it comes to these tax returns. But again, because of the volume of documents, it's going to take obviously a lot longer in order to get this thing done. What would be really nice is if a couple of these accounting think tanks would get together, donate their time and work with the IRS because the IRS is short staff to
Starting point is 00:12:12 start off with. And most of them don't understand the complex nature of the way that he would even set up an LLC. So one LLC for Donald wouldn't just have one LLC. It would have subparts to it. Like 1% would go into the Donald J. Trump trust. 99% would go into, let's say if it was Trump Endeavor, it would be Trump Endeavor 1 LLC or Trump Endeavor 8 LLC. LLC in order to own the interest of the first LLC, which he always believed gave him an extra layer of protection in the event that there was a lawsuit. So again, I know this sounds complicated, and it does because it is, and it was designed to be complicated. So despite the fact that it's complicated, that doesn't mean that it's impossible to unravel. And in this specific case, that's what's going to happen. They're going to unravel each and every one of the LLCs one at a time. And again, if there were a couple of think tanks that would donate some of their expertise and knowledge, this process would go much quicker. Well, how about the fact that there
Starting point is 00:13:26 are 81 million Americans probably now auditing this themselves, citizen auditors, people across the world who now have access to this. And I think what you're going to see, Michael Cohen, is this crowdsourced effort to try to get to the bottom of it. You mentioned the plane, for example, but we could really pick any of these LLCs, right, and basically do the same exercise that you just did. I mean, you can take this other LLC that I saw in the returns, Seven Springs LLC, which was the purchase. Okay, so that's a great example, BB, all right? And to those, again, BB, bagel boy, That's a great example is, of course, Silver Spring. Seven Springs property. I'm thinking Silver Springs, Maryland, right?
Starting point is 00:14:15 Seven Springs, the property. That in and of itself has real complications for him because it's a property he picked up for about seven, eight million dollars many, many years ago, but somehow or another. What's that? In 1995, even. Right. And the interesting thing is that somehow or another, while everybody else's houses did increase in value, What he somehow created is an increase of a multiple of like over at 721 Fifth Avenue, where he claimed it was worth something like $300 million. And that was predicated on a $10,000 per square foot basis. And that the footprint on each floor was approximately 11,000 square feet, making the apartment 33,000 square feet, when in fact the apartment is just about 11,000 square feet, making the apartment 33,000 square feet, when in fact the apartment is just about 11,000 square feet, not 33,000, and nothing in that building has ever sold for even half of
Starting point is 00:15:37 10,000 per square foot. So the numbers are beyond ridiculous. They're beyond overinflated. And this is not one that he can claim ignorance on because not only is it his apartment, but he's also the builder developer. So he certainly knows the footprint of the building. It would be absolutely impossible for him to get on the stand and try to answer that as a question, other than to acknowledge that he lied and that he lied so that he could increase the value of his net worth for the purposes of whether it was braggadocio to Forbes to make the list higher of himself, or it was to have it for the personal financial statement so that he could get benefits from banks and from insurance companies and other lenders.
Starting point is 00:16:30 Here's another way I think we can look at it for all the Midas Mighty out there. The Republican tax plan in 2017 provided a redistribution of wealth as the Republican plans often do from working class and middle class to the ultra wealthy. And the ultra wealthy can get away with a lot of these tax deductions to try to hide and pay no taxes. And they can do it to some extent legally. However, the issue here is that where Donald Trump could have taken advantage of this, to me, wealth distribution plan by Republicans and taken a $20 million deduction, Trump would say, you know what? I think it's a $90 million deduction. Why? Because I freaking do. And I'm just going to say it. Even though the government is appraising that at $20 million, a conservation easement, for example, in Westchester, I'm going to say that that
Starting point is 00:17:38 conservation easement for purposes of the deduction was about $60 million. So I'm going to get the benefit of $40 million. And then you million. So I'm going to get the benefit of $40 million. And then you know what? I'm going to carry forward my loss, or I'm going to carry forward the deduction to the next years going forward so that I'll never have to pay taxes based on the scheme. That's where it goes from while it shocks the conscience. And we should all, as Americans, be aware of what Republicans doing when they're raising taxes on middle class and working class and hardworking Americans and lowering it on the wealthiest Americans. We should be aware that that's what's taking place. But it's
Starting point is 00:18:16 legal. What Trump's doing, though, is illegal by taking it to the next level. Is that- Well, Donald will always push. Yeah, but Donald will always push the envelope as far as he possibly can, especially when there's a financial benefit for him. And I love the fact that you brought up the Westchester golf course, or it was the New Jersey golf course where he did the same thing with the conservation easements. What that is, folks, is where you take a parcel of the property and you donate it for conservation purposes, whereby you get a tax deduction from the government for the lot that you had provided, whether it's going to be for wetlands or for bird habitats or whatever it
Starting point is 00:18:59 might be. The interesting thing, though, is had he done it properly, you would let's assume, for example, at the golf course, he gave 10 acres as the conservation easement. Now, most people would say, Donald, that's a wonderful thing to do. You're so fucking generous. I mean, it's amazing. Thank you for doing that. It's good for the environment. It's good for the habitat of the local animals and so on. No, he had no interest in any of that. It was all about the tax deduction. What he would do is he would appraise this property, which really should have an appraised value of maybe $12 million for the whole lot, which is over 300 acres. And he would give 10 acres in the far, far, far back, which were underwater. They were part of the marshlands. And everybody knows about this if you have a home. There's parts of your property that you just really can't do anything with, especially when you're talking about somebody who has over 300 acres. There's areas that are underwater, there are marsh areas and so on. So he gave that area as the conservation easement.
Starting point is 00:20:11 However, he didn't value those sort of encumbered problem parcels that you can't do anything with. You can't use it for part of the golf course. You can't build anything on it because they're technically wetlands. So he valued those acreage as if it was part of the usable acreage. And of course, we all know that it's not the same.
Starting point is 00:20:40 So he would take, let's say he would claim the club is worth a million dollars an acre, and he would give, let's say he would claim the club is worth a million dollars an acre, and he would give away these 10 acres. He would take a $10 million deduction. The whole property was maybe worth 12. He would take 10 million as a deduction off of land that maybe had at best a million dollars of value, maybe a million dollars. This is what is going to be
Starting point is 00:21:08 uncovered. Now, another issue that I also brought up for you is who holds the debt over Donald's head? We know Deutsche Bank was one of them, but we also know that there was Allen Weisselberg's son, Jack Weisselberg, through their company that they had loaned Trump like $300 million. The real question here is, did they do their due diligence? And I'm talking about both companies, the bank as well as the private lending institution, the hedge fund. Did they do their proper due diligence? And if they didn't, did they then go ahead and sell the paper back into the market using fake or fraudulent or without properly doing their own due diligence? There's so many heads here that are going to roll that it's going to be like a pinball machine.
Starting point is 00:22:08 Again, this is the problem with Donald. Everything that Donald Trump touches dies. And I am a perfect example of it. And I believe that there's going to be quite a few more heads rolling very soon. Well, Cohen, you've been revived. But going to the fact that you've been revived, you mentioned that you've paid more taxes than Donald Trump. I would pretty much guarantee everybody watching this has paid more money in taxes than Donald Trump has paid. But also,
Starting point is 00:22:39 when you look at these tax returns as well, it looks like Trump was paying more taxes in China than he was in the United States of America. What we're seeing in these returns as part of a disclosure that, of course, he wanted to hide, but which is required by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network is to disclose foreign bank accounts accounts is that between 2015 and 2017, Donald Trump held these accounts in China, Ireland, the UK, and some other locations. But he had this account in China between 2015 and 2017. So what do you make about Donald Trump having a foreign bank account in China? Look, is there really even something that I could possibly say that would rationalize what he's doing? China, China. I mean, I didn't even know personally that he had a bank account in China.
Starting point is 00:23:42 I mean, I knew he had one in Ireland because he has golf course in Ireland. I know that he had a bank account in China. I mean, I knew he had one in Ireland because he has golf course in Ireland. I know that he has a bank account in Scotland because he has two golf courses in Scotland. So it would only make sense that he would do local banking there as well. But China, I have no idea that he had a bank account in China. I couldn't believe it when I heard it. And yet, one of the problems that you also have is, it's not just Donald that has an issue when it comes to China. Remember, while Ivanka was a senior advisor to the president, somehow or another, she managed to get all of her trademarks immediately passed. And that's her trademarks for her
Starting point is 00:24:27 clothing line, her shoes line, and so on. Well, somewhere along the line, I thought all of that was supposed to go into trust if you were working inside the government, especially as a senior advisor to the president. I mean, the whole thing is just crazy. It just proves what everybody already knew. And the funny thing is, it's not so much that anybody is shocked by what we're finding out. It's just that, hey, here's the documentation to prove what I was thinking. Nevertheless, there's still that group of people, those Trump supporters, the maggots, the ones who doesn't make a difference what Donald Trump does. He could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and they would still follow him. They would still support him.
Starting point is 00:25:15 And I'm referring to these idiots. idiots of the highest order who even paid for these digital NFT cards of Donald, you know, looking nice and fit and trim as an astronaut, as a, as a, you know, as a superhero, as, as a boxer, as a cowboy. I mean, it is, it's batshit crazy is really what it has been. And it, it's, it's almost to the point that it's, if this was on Saturday Night Live, it would be fucking hysterical. But it's not. This is what we wake up to every single day. And my friends, we are going to wake up to more of this every single day as more information from the tax returns are revealed and that they're learned. And again, because it's so voluminous, this bullshit could go on for another year. And like so many of your Midas Mighty that
Starting point is 00:26:11 are commenting right now, I don't understand why this thing is taking as long as it is. This is where I beseech Merrick Garland to step the fuck up, dude, and file the indictments already. They could have done this three years ago. They could have indicted Donald on obstruction of justice and witness tampering for what he did when I was testifying before the House Oversight Committee. They could have done this a half a dozen times already based upon the personal financial statement. Why are we playing with things that are going to take a very long period of time that he'll try to wiggle out? He's going to use the fact that he paid a lot of money to Weiser, Weiser Mazer, which is the accounting firm.
Starting point is 00:27:00 He's going to try to throw that accountant, his name is Donald also, under the bus and blame it on him. I paid him over $2 million a year to do all my taxes. Yeah, Donald. And I'm not talking about the accountant, Donald. I'm talking about the orange-crusted Mandarin Mussolini. You gave wrong information to your accountant. That's on you. And he's only preparing the documents predicated on the documents that you and Weisselberg provided. So will Weisselberg take another plea? I doubt it. Right? I mean, I highly doubt it.
Starting point is 00:27:34 Will Donald, you know, capitulate and say, yeah, you're right. You got me. Okay. You know, let's go. He won't. He's going to use whatever excuse that he possibly can. Let's also not forget Melania is not out of the woods here. Melania also had, you know, Melania also had businesses, you know, that were dealing with China and other countries as well. So this thing
Starting point is 00:27:59 is a Pandora's box to the whole family. And I would say this too, Melania also could be liable as a joint filer. I don't think they filed jointly, to be honest with you, at all. I thought I saw some of the filings were done jointly, but I'll go and double check that. Ben, you could be right. Remember, I've told this to everybody. I never had an opportunity, not that I would know what I'm looking at anyway, like I said to Judge William H. Pauley III when it was my sentencing. I said, Your Honor, you're asking me how come I didn't read my 1,800 per year page tax return. And the answer is for
Starting point is 00:28:40 the same reason that I don't read a Chinese newspaper. I have no idea what I'm reading. But you took tax one semester in law school. I said, yeah, that's probably true. I probably didn't do well either. But at the end of the day, I don't know what I'm doing. It's why I pay an accountant, a CPA, to do my taxes for me. And I would just ask him, hey, did you do it right? This guy, Jeffrey Goetzel, did you do it right? He'd say, have we ever been audited? No. Have you ever had an issue with the IRS? No. Have you ever even gotten a letter from the IRS?
Starting point is 00:29:12 No. So what makes you think this year is going to be any different? Whatever you gave to me, I properly documented it and so on. But he didn't. But he didn't. But he didn't. And that's going to be the fight that he's going to have with Mazers when this case comes to fruition. And you mentioned the Mazers accountant, by the way, who was called as a witness in the criminal case where the Trump organization was convicted on 17 felony counts. They tried to cross-examine and undermine the accountant, and they did some
Starting point is 00:29:48 pretty horrific things that really pissed the jury off as well. Apparently, the accountant has a somewhat high-pitched voice, and so Trump's lawyers in front of the jury were mocking the accountant's voice to the jury, and the jury was utterly repulsed by that. That was one of the statements that came out of it. But their attempt to try to cross-examine the Mazers accountant in that trial where they were convicted utterly failed there. You mentioned the Trump supporters, right? At the highest level, when you could almost break down in a sentence or two what these tax returns show. In essence, that Trump is stealing from working class and middle class Americans. To his supporters out there, what this reflects is that he's picking your pocket. Yet to your point, Cohen, they don't care. This just shows
Starting point is 00:30:41 that you're out there, you're paying taxes, you're working hard, and he's out there basically stealing from you. And what I just think it comes down to, I was having this conversation with somebody yesterday, Cohen. It's just I think Trump just gives them the permission to hate, the permission to be their worst selves. And that's really at the base level what they want. Now, finally, Pope Cohen, I want to talk about. You know, before you do that, there's just a point that needs to be made here. There are a group of people that are out there that for whatever the reason may be, they have put their entire faith, confidence, they've put their morals on the line
Starting point is 00:31:20 for Donald Trump, for whatever the reason may be. And I can give a couple of reasons why, right? Maybe they too are racist or sexist, misogynistic, xenophobic, homophobic, Islamophobic, anti-Semitic, or a combination or all of them combined. Interestingly enough, there's quite a few of them that you have here right now watching this live you know um discussion where they're just haters and why they come into chats when they know that they're outnumbered nobody knows it doesn't matter to them for some reason they look at this guy like he's the superhero that Donald thinks that he actually is. And this is the problem.
Starting point is 00:32:08 This is the problem with what we're all dealing with today. They create a divisiveness that this country has not seen in over 100 plus years. And it's so dangerous, more than dangerous, it's stupid. And to people like this guy, Sean, that keeps jumping in, you're fucking stupid, dude. Wake up, read my book, Revenge, and understand exactly what Donald Trump, using the Justice Department, weaponizing the Justice Department against a critic, meaning myself, in order to destroy democracy, to create an autocracy. Look at the conversations that are now coming out between, for example, Don Jr. and Mark Meadows. Look at the conversation that was taking place between Lindsey Graham and Mark Meadows,
Starting point is 00:32:59 where they're talking about replacing electors with fake electors to throw out the votes in states that Trump lost in so that he could retain power. Sean, you fucking idiot. Do you have any idea what country that does that? It's called Russia. And how many times have you heard me say the same thing? Vladimir Putin, or it was really Stalin who said it first, but Donald loved this one line. It doesn't matter who you vote for. All that matters is who's counting the vote. And this is the problem. He would then turn around, change the constitution so that he would be permitted to be more than just two terms. And he would end up being your president for the duration of his
Starting point is 00:33:46 life. And during that time, trying to figure out how the next Trump would end up taking over, making this country into what? A monarchy or a dictatorship or an autocracy. This is absolutely insane. It's insane. And people like Sean, who for some unknown reason, they stand behind Donald and they want something like this to happen. There's something seriously wrong with you. The same way there's something seriously wrong going on right now with your Fuhrer. So open your eyes, right? Take the shit out of your eyes, little visine, take the shit out of your ears. Stop watching Fox News and some of these other Newsmax OAN and channel surf. Channel surf to all the various different channels so that you could get a perspective of what's really going on there and read. That's about the most important thing that you can do.
Starting point is 00:34:46 Read, because you really need to know the facts because promoting this misinformation, this disinformation, this malinformation will only cause damage to this country. You notice, Cohen, that people who say, I do my own research, that when they say that, what they really mean is, I just listen to what Donald Trump tells me. Because to the person, Sean, out there, it's like,
Starting point is 00:35:12 just read the source document. The things we've been talking about on today's podcast, we've just been going through his returns and we've been showing you here. He's claimed that he lost $35 million in this year and he claims he lost $32 million in this year. And this year where he claims he made money, he claims he paid $700 and he's got a Chinese bank account. You know what else we learned? That he lied once again to the American people. He wasn't under audit. All right?
Starting point is 00:35:49 And it's something I wrote about in my first book, Disloyal, that when I asked him, I'm getting 1,000 phone calls from media. Just give me the letter that shows that we're under audit, and that'll shut everybody up. He's like, no, no, just tell them that we're under audit. They don't need to see my document. Why not? He goes, Michael, let him go.
Starting point is 00:36:10 Just tell them we're under audit. And so I clearly understood the writing on the wall. And the writing on the wall is he will ride that lie as far as he could ride it. And he wrote it all the way to the point that they made a determination to finally release the tax returns. You know, these tax returns originally started as a direct result of my testimony to the House Oversight Committee. And then the district attorney here in New York, when it was not Alvin Bragg, but Cyrus Vance Jr., they actually took the case all the way up to the Supreme Court for his tax returns. Let me tell you, folks, he's clearly not as rich as he purported to be.
Starting point is 00:36:52 He took deductions that were improper. There's so much manipulation that went on here that if it was you or I, especially me, I mean, I've never in my life not filed the tax return. I've never in my life filed a late tax return. I mean, how about that? I have never owed the government a dollar, not at least to my knowledge. So what was my tax evasion? At worst, it was a tax omission. But they needed to slam the shit out of me because that order came from who? From Donald and straight up the line. They needed, in order to escape themselves, they needed a scapegoat. And I turned out to be that scapegoat. Let's talk right now, you mentioned the Manhattan District attorney,
Starting point is 00:37:47 previously Cy Vance, now Alvin Bragg. They got the conviction of the Trump organization on 17 felony counts. And we actually see in the various Trump litigation taking place across the country now in all the frivolous cases he files. Federal judges are now citing the fact that the Trump organization is a felon organization in terms of denying a lot of the relief they're requesting as one of the other grounds. They go, you're a felon, dude. You run a felon organization. But what's your prediction? I mean, we're here on the verge of New Year. So happy New Year's again to all the Midas Mighty out there, by the way, make sure you subscribe to the Midas touch YouTube channel at the subscribe button now, but as we head into 2023, what is your prediction now with the wind at Alvin Bragg's back after
Starting point is 00:38:37 getting this conviction after bringing in a top prosecutor, Colangelo into the mix. And now we see these returns publicly, which they have access to before. What do you think is going to happen there? Yeah. Alvin Bragg is somewhat difficult to predict. I legitimately believed, and not because I am Nostradamus or I'm some form of a prognosticator, but because I was so knee deep into it, working on a daily basis with the likes of Mark Pomerantz and Carrie Dunn, who are two of the best attorneys I've seen in a long, long time, right? Who truly knew what was going on. And it's a shame that there had to be an election, that Cyrus Vance decided not to run again. Alvin Brad comes in seven weeks later. Seven weeks. Impossible for
Starting point is 00:39:37 him to have caught up in terms of the requisite knowledge that Pomerantz and Dunn had made a determination that they were not going to go after Donald Trump. And that's a big problem for him because I think politically it's problematic for him. But now, now it looks as if though there may be a revival, might be a revival out of the district attorney's office that deals with his taxes, that deal with, for example, the Stormy Daniel repayment to me that he took as a deduction, which is improper, it's illegal. And they may end up using that as the basis of an indictment. If it does not happen in the month of January, and for some unknown reason, I feel very positive
Starting point is 00:40:27 that it is going to happen. But if it doesn't happen by the month of January, I don't believe that it's going to happen. And I have to be honest with you. I don't understand Alvin Bragg. I don't understand this group of prosecutors in the DA's office right now, simply because they have the goods. They know exactly what they can charge, what they can indict Donald Trump on. Now, is he concerned that during the trial, which there certainly will be, the prosecution, that it may not turn out the way that they want as a conviction. Well, here's what I say to prosecutors. You guys have to learn your jobs. Your job is not to convict people. It's to prosecute them based upon violations of the law.
Starting point is 00:41:21 That's your job. And if there's going to be a holdout in the jury because they're a Trump supporter like Sean, well, que sera, sera. That's the way it goes. There wasn't when they indicted the Trump organization on 17 counts. It was a very quick decision. They went out. They came back a bunch of hours later, and they convicted the Trump organization. They went out, they came back a bunch of hours later, and they convicted the Trump organization. They deliberated for what? A couple of hours at best? Same thing I believe will happen here because the preponderance of the evidence that exists is so overwhelming that the only way Trump could possibly, possibly even try to wiggle out of it is to acknowledge that he's the dumbest asshole on the planet and he had no idea what was going on. And that still would be a problem when it comes to, for example, his triplex apartment.
Starting point is 00:42:22 He certainly knows it's not 33,000 square feet that he knows. So it's a lie. And then every time he used that personal financial statement to obtain a loan from whether it was Ladder Capital, the Weisselberg related institution, or Deutsche Bank, or whomever, every time he used it in order to get a reduced insurance rate, that is a criminal act. And he needs to be held accountable for it. Because too many people, including some in the comment section of the Midas Mighty, believe that Donald Trump is Teflon. They believe that there will never be accountability, that he's going to be held to the same way that you or I would. And that's a problem because if justice is not equal across the board, and we all know that it's
Starting point is 00:43:17 not, right, that these members of Congress, especially under the Trump administration, that they seem to have greater rights than you and I, that's the beginning to the end of a democracy. When you start creating two classes within a country, right? A class of everybody, and then a class of the protected elites who are actually in charge of running the country. It's a real problem. And we need to ensure Midas Mighty, my Mayakopa movement, my folks on my YouTube, my folks on my TikTok, every single one of us have to get active. We have to get loud. We have to make sure that the same standards that are being applied to us must be applied to everybody else. And that includes
Starting point is 00:44:05 Democrats too. There's a whole slew of members of Congress who tax, not tax, they insider trade and they become mega millionaires. Well, how could you not? The game is rigged towards you and you're not held accountable. But you, me, any of your Midas Mighty folk, any one of us inside a trade, you know, you've seen what happens. And this is ridiculous. You know, you don't, you're not supposed to go into government in order to get rich. You're supposed to go into government because you want to serve the people, not serve yourself like Donald did or Jared Kushner, the greatest example. And it's one of the reasons why I understand Donald is not even speaking with Jared and Ivanka right now,
Starting point is 00:44:51 because the only one out of that whole crew who really made out like a bandit is Jared. It's unbelievable. It's it's so unbelievable that we actually have to talk about it for a second. He picked up over $2 billion from the Saudis, despite the fact that the Saudi Investment Authority, who are some of the most financially astute people you will ever meet. I mean, these guys are all Western trained and so on. They really know the markets. They did not believe that Jared should be running any of their money because he's unfit. He's unqualified and he doesn't have the requisite skill set that they look for on a standard basis. But somehow or another, Mohammed bin Salman, deputy crown prince, told the Saudi investment authority, you give him this money. So we all need to sit back and say to ourselves, why?
Starting point is 00:45:46 Why? Why did Mohammed bin Salman do that? Why was the very first phone call after the accusations that MBS killed or ordered the death of American journalist Jamal Khashoggi, why was the very first call to Jared Kushner? Seems odd. And you know what? There's an old expression where there's smoke, there's fire. But this isn't even smoke, folks. This is a fucking inferno. And it's right in front of our nose. Why did they bail out 666 Fifth Avenue, a project that would have put the Kushner company into bankruptcy? Instead, they somehow managed to make some crazy deal that nobody in their right mind would do because it was the worst
Starting point is 00:46:31 deal from the very first day that Jared went after it. He overpaid by close to $800 million, the worst deal in New York City history. They bail them out and they manage to somehow pull out over 200 million from that deal. Come on. Enough is enough already. They make the worst deals in the world. And I think we need to start really reflecting what it is, that it is stealing money from working class, stealing money from middle class. It is we got to call it what it is. This is a wealth redistribution to billionaires. And you have people like Trump and the MAGA base just
Starting point is 00:47:15 fomenting hate to try to distract their base. That's what they call them now. Marjorie Taylor Greene's like, the base, the base, the base. You know what the base, Al Qaeda stands for the base. That's what it literally translates to as Marjorie Taylor Greene's out there calling it the base. But we got to be loud in 2023. We've got to be clear in 2023. And we got to make sure it's why Cohen and I do this and why we love doing it. It's because, you know, the large media networks that both sides the issue, you got some good reporters, but by and large, both sides in the issue, then you got Fox injecting disinformation into the veins of people. And so we just decided Cohen with mea culpa, me and my brothers and the rest of the Midas Mighty family, which
Starting point is 00:48:05 includes all of you, we're just like, look, we need to have independent media that doesn't just go out there and spread the truth, but has a larger audience that competes with and exceeds the large media networks and reach because it's just speaking the truth in simple terms and just putting it out there for the people. And that's why I love doing this with you, Cohen. But, you know, Ben, can I add to your statement, to your Midas Mighty, and I certainly do that with my Mayor Culper podcast movement. Shows like this where you get it raw, unfiltered, you get it from the horse's mouth. You're not getting it from these pundits that are sitting there. And because the guy is an economist, all of a sudden he
Starting point is 00:48:52 understands what's going on. You have to understand the animal in order to understand what's really going on here. And then it's the same regurgitation over and over again. Now, whether it's on a Fox side, whether it's on an MSNBC, CNN side, irrelevant. It's irrelevant. As long as the person has requisite knowledge that you could obtain and gain something from. And that's why shows like this are so important. And I ask everybody to just please make sure that shows like this continue, that you support shows like Midas Touch, like Mea Culpa. It's so important because what we can do together is we can drown out the Newsmaxes, the OANs. We can't drown them all out, but we can certainly drown them out enough like we did during the midterms
Starting point is 00:49:45 in order to ensure that it was not a red wave. Look, that red wave didn't disappear just simply because we all took our heads out of the sand like an ostrich and lo and behold, what we wanted occurred. That's not what happened here. We all went on to the war path and we ensured that as many people that we can get in front of people like yourselves that we were able to express to you the dangers of not getting to the polls not grabbing your next door neighbor your brother your sister your mom your dad your husband your wife your your aunts, whoever it might be, grabbing them and taking them with you to the polls to ensure that what everyone thought was going to happen did not happen.
Starting point is 00:50:32 And guess what? We were successful. The blue wave drowned the red wave. Yes, we lost the House. Big deal. By a couple of seats, that's OK. Next time around, we'll take it back. But the fact that we were able to hold the Senate, let me just give you one thought here in terms of how important each and every one of you have been the very first thing that happens next week when these animals, people like this George Santos, this fucking wackadoodle, right, who claims to be Jewish, the son of Holocaust, I'm a, my father is a Holocaust survivor. I am a son of a Holocaust survivor.
Starting point is 00:51:20 And I can tell you, I am fucking grossed by this asshole. He didn't go to Baruch. He didn't get degrees from Harvard or didn't work at Goldman Sachs and other institutions of finance. He did none of that. All right. He's an uneducated, lying sack of shit. still, in my opinion, he will still end up with that congressional seat because people like Kevin McCarthy need that vote in order to become Speaker of the House. And that's all that that piece of shit cares about. So what is it that we did cumulatively together? We prevented Joe Biden from being impeached. That's right. Each and every one of you should pat yourselves on the back and say, thanks to me, Joe Biden will still be our president, at least for the remaining two-year term. Because day number one, day number one, what these House Republicans are going to do, they're going to file articles of
Starting point is 00:52:16 impeachment. And they're going to try to run the whole gambit, oh, Hunter Biden's laptop, Joe Biden, Afghanistan, the COVID relief package, the COVID vaccine distribution. They're going to hit him up with a whole bunch of shit that, by the way, Afghanistan was a success in my opinion, as was COVID, as was the COVID relief package. Joe Biden didn't hold up the checks because he demanded his name be on it instead of Steve Mnuchin. That's Donald. So it's really quite funny the way that they're putting this thing out. But if the Senate had turned, they would have convicted. And the danger there is that Joe Biden would have been impeached and impeached for what? For being the most successful president that we have had in the last 100 years during his first two-year term. Now, I want to be clear. I'm not ecstatic on everything that Biden is doing. I'm not. Nor should any of you be ecstatic with everything that he's doing.
Starting point is 00:53:21 You know, Ed Koch had a very interesting saying. If you agree with me six out of 12 times, you should vote for me. If you agree with me 12 out of 12 times, you should see a psychiatrist. And he's right about it. It's funny, but he's right about it. You're not supposed to agree with anybody 12 out of 12 times.
Starting point is 00:53:40 That just means you're a Stepford wife or you're a robot. No, we each think, we each have different views on different things because of how it affects our personal lives. But one thing I can promise you, without your vote, without what you did, without the support of stations like this, with the Mycelis Brothers, Midas Touch, Mayakulpa Podcast, my YouTube, my TikTok, without coming to those supporting it, and whether it's supporting it just by being here, which is the most important thing, and listening and promoting what we're trying to express, Joe Biden would be impeached, and there's no doubt in my mind about it. So each and every one of you should
Starting point is 00:54:25 go into the end of this year knowing that you helped to save democracy and that we have to do no less in 2023 to preserve what is probably the most important thing to all of us. It's the Constitution, despite Trump wanting to rip it up. We need to preserve the Constitution because that's what creates America and that's what makes America what it is. Michael Cohen, wise and powerful words to take us into 2023. Everybody hit the subscribe button right now. If you're not subscribed on YouTube, it's free.
Starting point is 00:55:01 Just hit the subscribe button right now. Also, make sure you get your copy if you don't have it already of Michael Cohen's new book, Revenge, How Donald Trump Weaponized the U.S. Department of Justice Against His Critics. It is a New York Times bestseller, an incredible, incredible book. Make sure you get your copy, Michael Cohen, Revenge. Check that out now. And also check us out at patreon.com slash Midas Touch, P-A-T-R-E-O-N.com slash Midas Touch. We have lots of exclusive content you can only get at our Patreon site, but most importantly, help grow this independent media platform, this community
Starting point is 00:55:46 together. We are not funded by any outside investors at all. We are 100% crowdfunded, 100% independent, 100% accountable to you. Don't even view it as a network. This is a community, a community that is unapologetically pro-democracy. So check it out, patreon.com slash MidasTouch. And also check out store.MidasTouch.com for the best MidasTouch gear, the shirt, the Mar-a-Lago Correctional Facility Mayakulpa podcast shirt, you could get at store.midastouch.com. We also got the Convict 45 or Convict 45 shirts and others. Michael Cohen. You know, Ben, I was walking down the street the other day and I was wearing that t-shirt and I can honestly tell you they forget about the number of looks the number of people that stopped me on the street and said to me where did you get that how did you get that and it was it was really it was very very funny they were like I want that how great would that be if we're walking down the street here in Manhattan is like half the street
Starting point is 00:57:00 is wearing it especially because this was Donald's old stomping ground. Imagine the more people that wear it, the way that they wear his MAGA shirts, right? I mean, this shirt is classic. It is, first of all, it's comfortable, but it is absolutely classic. It's an eye-opener. But if I could just say one last thing going back to revenge, and I really, I ask all of your Midas Mighty, besides for explaining what had happened to me in revenge, which I deem to be, and many deem to be, the most corrupt prosecution against a U.S. citizen in almost America's history, as far back as anybody that's alive could remember. It was an
Starting point is 00:57:43 unconstitutional remand. There was prosecution that never should have taken place, going back to the original Mueller report, going back to the original Steele dossier, which were all lies. But the point of revenge and how it ends is, if you think that this is an isolated one-time event, it is not. They now have a playbook on how to destroy democracy. And the only way for you to understand what it is that Donald or Iran DeSantis or others will attempt to do is you have to read the book. And you'll see not just my words, but words from FBI agents, former and present, from prosecutors, from judges, from lawyers, from accountants, from insiders that were there that unfortunately had to stay
Starting point is 00:58:31 anonymous because they are still working for the government. But it's so important that you understand the playbook so that you could understand what needs to be done to counter the playbook. So I do ask everyone to go to like Amazon or Barnes and Noble. You could pick up Revenge, how Donald Trump weaponized the United States Department of Justice against his critics so we could ensure that what happened to me and what happened to me is soul crunching. Never, ever, ever happens to anyone ever again. And I thank you. Thank you, Michael Cohen, for joining us. Thank you to all the Midas Mighty out there. None of this is possible without you. We are so grateful for your support. I look forward to spending lots of time with you all in 2023,
Starting point is 00:59:20 spreading the truth, spreading love, spreading positivity, promoting our democracy and promoting our country and really, really fighting for the country that we all love and not letting these fascists win at all. Thank you so much. Thank you for watching this special edition of the Midas Touch podcast, the Cohen Tells All edition. We will see you next time on the Midas Touch Podcast, the Cohen Tells All edition. We will see you next time on the Midas Touch Podcast. I'm Ben Myselish, joined by the one and only Michael Cohen. Until next time, shout out to the Midas Mighty.

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