Michael Cohen, former personal attorney to Donald Trump, said there’s a simple explanation for the former president’s decision to refuse to pay legal fees for some of those indicted alongside him.

“Donald’s an idiot,” he told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins. “Let me just be very clear when it comes to paying money: He is truly an idiot.”

Former Trump attorney Jenna Ellis, who helped with his failed effort to overturn the 2020 election and has been charged alongside him in the Georgia criminal case, said the former president isn’t picking up the tab for her defense.

And ex-Trump attorney and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who was also indicted for his role in attempting to subvert democracy, reportedly traveled to Florida to plead for money for his defense, but didn’t get much.

ADVERTISEMENT Advertisement

Cohen said that decision could haunt the former president.

“He has not learned yet ... three people you don’t want to throw under the bus like that: your lawyer, your doctor, and your mechanic,” he told Collins. “Because, one way or the other, you’re gonna go down the hill and there’ll be no brakes.”

He said Giuliani in particular should cooperate with investigators.

“He’s gonna need to speak,” Cohen said. “And he’s gonna need to speak before everybody else does.”

Asked if Trump was making a mistake by not paying for Giuliani’s defense, Cohen shot back: “Absolutely.”

Cohen spent years as Trump’s loyal fixer, but eventually turned on him when he cooperated with investigators and pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations, lying to Congress and other charges ― all of which, he has said, was done for Trump.

He was sentenced to three years in prison and has since been a persistent Trump critic.

See more of his conversation with Collins below: