Michael Cohen's book asserts that Trump is in collusion with Russia and "will never leave office peacefully"

In an upcoming book, Michael Cohen, former lawyer to President Donald Trump, says Trump worked with Russia to win the 2016 presidential election.

Among many other accusations, Cohen alleges that Trump worked to get closer to Russian President Vladimir Putin and "his coterie of corrupt billionaire oligarchs," according to an excerpt published Thursday from the book, entitled "Disloyal, A Memoir".

Cohen said Trump lied when he told the American public that he had no dealings in Russia, because Cohen personally supervised Trump's efforts to secure a major real estate deal in Moscow during the campaign.

"Trump was in collusion with the Russians, but not in the sophisticated manner imagined by his detractors. I also knew that the Mueller investigation was not a witch hunt," Cohen wrote, although he did not provide details of the alleged collusion in the excerpt. "Trump had cheated in the elections, with Russian connivance, as you will discover in these pages, because doing anything - and I mean anything - to 'win' has always been his economic model and his way of life.

Trump has repeatedly and systematically denied any collusion with Russia in the 2016 elections.

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Cohen began serving a three-year prison sentence last year for financial crimes and lying to Congress. He was released in July to serve the rest of his sentence at home, fearing that unsafe prison conditions would put him at risk of coronavirus. The 53-year-old man has a history of high blood pressure and respiratory problems.

He has been described in the past as Trump's "fixer," but turned against his former boss, calling him a "crook" and "cheat" in a dramatic testimony before Congress last year.

In Thursday's excerpt, Cohen said he knew Trump better than even his wife or children because he was responsible for covering up the president's infidelities and misdeeds. Cohen wrote that he is convinced that Trump "will never leave office peacefully.

"The types of scandals that have surfaced in recent months will only continue to emerge with increasing levels of betrayal and deception," the excerpt says. "If Trump wins another four years, these scandals will only be the tip of the iceberg. I'm sure Trump knows he will face a jail sentence if he leaves office, the inevitable cold Karma to the notorious songs of 'Lock Her Up!

Trump publicly called Cohen a fraud and a liar following his decision to work with special advocate Robert Mueller and testify before Congress, tweeting that he was a "failed lawyer" and a "fraud". The White House called the book "fan fiction" in a statement after the release of the excerpt.

"He readily admits to lying on a regular basis but expects people to believe him now so he can make money from book sales," the statement said. "It is unfortunate that the media is exploiting this sad and desperate man to attack President Trump. »

Cohen does not try to portray himself as Trump's victim in the published excerpt, but rather as a self-proclaimed "bad guy" who helped the current president to rip off business partners and cover up extramarital affairs. He described the president's behavior as "like a mafia boss".

"From the golden showers at a sex club in Vegas, to tax evasion, to making deals with corrupt officials in the former Soviet Union to catch and kill plots to silence Trump's clandestine lovers, I was not just a witness to the president's rise - I was an active and enthusiastic participant," he wrote.

He also described fearing for his life as a result of his decision to testify against Trump and that he believed the president wanted him dead. At one point, Cohen said that he was even considering suicide because the death threats "had come in the hundreds".

"On my cell phone, in e-mails, in letters, in tweets, on Facebook, angry Trump supporters vowed to kill me, and I took those threats very seriously," Cohen wrote. "The president called me a rat and tweeted angry accusations against me and my family. All rats deserve to die, I was told.