Trump lawyer-turned-critic Michael Cohen to apply for “anti-weaponization fund”

Michael Cohen, a Trump lawyer-turned-critic who served prison time due to his work for the president, is planning to apply for money from the Justice Department’s new “anti-weaponization fund,” he told CBS News on Thursday.

“I am working through the process on my own and will submit the letter directly to the DOJ once completed,” Cohen told CBS News in a text message. 

The controversial $1.776 billion fund was announced earlier this week, offering financial compensation to people who allege the legal system was “weaponized” against them. It’s part of a settlement between President Trump and the Justice Department to resolve a lawsuit brought by the president against the Internal Revenue Service over the leaking of Mr. Trump’s tax returns.

He said he is applying because he believes the issues that prompted Mr. Trump to sue the government are “identical to what had happened to me.”

“The basis for which Trump instituted the $10 billion action are the same causes of action that have affected me as well—has cost me my law license, my businesses, finances, family happiness, business relationships and opportunities,” Cohen said.

Cohen said that he is still working on a draft of his letter seeking relief. In a portion of his draft obtained by CBS News, Cohen wrote: “If the weaponization fund truly exists to support individuals destroyed by politically motivated law enforcement tactics, selective prosecution, government leaks, abuses of power and intentional destruction of reputation then there is perhaps no clearer example than what happened to me.”

NBC News was first to report on Cohen’s plan to apply for the fund.

Cohen was among Mr. Trump’s most trusted legal advisers before he became president in 2016. He was often referred to as Mr. Trump’s personal “fixer,” and once described himself as “the guy who would take a bullet for the president.” He is now a loud Trump critic.

Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison in 2018 after he pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations related to payments he arranged to women alleging affairs with Mr. Trump. He was also sentenced to two months in prison for lying to Congress over a proposed Trump Tower Moscow project, a charge brought by special counsel Robert Mueller. At his sentencing, Cohen claimed his loyalty to Mr. Trump led him to “take a path of darkness instead of light.” 

“My weakness can be characterized as a blind loyalty to Donald Trump, and I was weak for not having the strength to question and to refuse his demands,” Cohen said at his sentencing.

In 2024, Cohen testified in a New York state criminal case against Mr. Trump, who was later convicted of falsifying business records related to the same payments to women that were at the center of Cohen’s criminal charges. Mr. Trump has long denied having affairs with the women and denied any criminal wrongdoing.

Cohen testified at trial that the president received regular updates on efforts to cover up salacious stories about him when he ran for president in 2016 and personally signed off on a scheme to falsify records related to them.

This would not be the first time that Cohen has sought relief for what he views as mistreatment by the government. Five years ago, he sued the federal government and Mr. Trump, alleging he was abruptly taken out of a COVID-era home confinement program in 2020 and forced to return to prison in an act of retaliation due to his criticism of the president. A judge dismissed his lawsuit, citing prior court precedents.

Cohen is among the first known Trump critics to signal plans to apply for the “anti-weaponization fund.”

The Justice Department said in a statement Monday that “there are no partisan requirements to file a claim,” and decisions on who will get relief will be determined by a panel of five people appointed by the attorney general.

Many of the other figures who have taken an interest in applying are Trump allies, including former Trump adviser Michael Caputo, who became the first known applicant when he asked the Justice Department for $2.7 million on Tuesday. Some Jan. 6 riot defendants have also suggested they may apply.

The fund has drawn criticism from members of both parties and from ethics watchdogs. The progressive Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington called it “the most brazen act of self-dealing in the history of the presidency.”

The Justice Department has defended the fund, with acting Attorney General Todd Blanche comparing it to other settlement funds created by the government and arguing it would remedy “years and years of weaponization.”