UPDATE: According to The Wall Street Journal, Cohen wants the president to pay his legal bills.
Mr. Cohen has frequently told associates in recent months he is frustrated that the president hasn’t offered to pay his legal fees, which he has said are “bankrupting” him, according to one of the people. He has said he feels that Mr. Trump owes him after his years of loyalty to the former real-estate developer, whom he served for nearly a decade at the Trump Organization.
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The Trump campaign had been footing the bill for some of Mr. Cohen’s legal expenses, paying nearly $230,000 to McDermott, Will & Emery LLP between October 2017 and January 2018, according to Federal Election Commission records and a person familiar with the matter. But those payments helped cover Mr. Cohen’s legal representation in the separate Russia investigation, not in the probe of his business dealings.
Mr. Trump told reporters on Friday that Mr. Cohen was no longer his lawyer. “I always liked Michael Cohen,” he said. “I haven’t spoken to Michael in a long time.”
Some allies of Mr. Trump have expressed concerns that Mr. Cohen would cooperate with investigators, a decision a person close to Mr. Cohen said he hasn’t yet made. Discussing the probe with one associate in recent months, Mr. Cohen said he would rather “eat a bullet” than help investigators work against the Trump family, according to a person familiar with the conversation.
Michael Cohen Wants Trump to Pay His Legal Fees (WSJ) *Note: WSJ articles are behind a paywall
First reported by Vanity Fair, Michael Cohen picked up new representation Tuesday, replacing his old legal team with Guy Petrillo, a trial lawyer who used to work for the division of the U.S. Attorney's Office investigating Cohen.
Petrillo led the criminal division of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York from January 2008 until October 2009, according to a biography on his firm's website. He established the firm in 2010 along with two other former federal prosecutors in New York, Joshua Klein and Nelson Boxer.
Previously, Petrillo was an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the criminal division for seven years in the 1990s, including a stint as the chief prosecutor in the division's narcotics unit, according to the firm's website.
If Cohen decides to cooperate with federal prosecutors, Petrillo would take the lead on that deal. CNN reports Cohen has told friends he is willing to turn over information about President Trump.
"He knows a lot of things about the President and he's not averse to talking in the right situation," one of Cohen's New York friends who is in touch with him told CNN. "If they want information on Trump, he's willing to give it."
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The shift in legal strategy and signals of potential cooperation with investigators come as Cohen feels increasingly isolated from the President, whom he has been famously loyal to for more than a decade ...
Prosecutors have not charged Cohen with any crime yet, but the stress of the April 9 raid and the ongoing review of materials seized in that raid are taking a toll.
Several defense lawyers say that if Cohen is ultimately indicted, they don't expect him to be charged with any wrongdoing until the government completes its review of the evidence seized in the raid. The court-appointed special master overseeing the review of material for attorney-client privileged information said it could be completed as soon as June 25.
According to another Cohen friend, whether he decides to cooperate with federal investigators would depend on what is ultimately in any indictment. If the indictment is deemed relatively less serious than expected, for example, it's possible that Cohen would choose to plead guilty. CNN reported on Friday that Cohen had not yet met with prosecutors to discuss a potential deal, and it's unclear whether either side is seeking one.
Michael Cohen hires new lawyer in ongoing New York criminal probe (ABC News)
Trump's personal attorney is 'willing to give info' about the President (CNN)
BREAKING: MICHAEL COHEN, HOLDING HIS CARDS CLOSE TO THE VEST, HAS HIRED A NEW LAWYER (Vanity Fair)