Michael Cohen defends himself after he’s heard laughing while business partner drools over daughter

Michael Cohen has defended himself after he was heard on tape laughing while a friend praised his daughter Samantha’s body and tried to guess the size of her breasts – saying he has nothing to apologize for.  

The 54-year-old spoke exclusively with DailyMailTV host Thomas Roberts soon after the tape was published on Tuesday, firmly stating: ‘Unlike the president I don’t make sexual remarks about my daughter.’ 

Trump has come under fire numerous times for off-color comments made about Ivanka, going so far to remark in 2006 that if she wasn’t his daughter ‘perhaps I would be dating her.’ 

Cohen insisted he was trying to ignore his former business partner Simon Garber as he drooled over Samantha’s photos, said that he was not taking part in the leering or offering any approval of it – and blamed those in the Trump orbit for their conduct towards young women.

‘My ex-partner is no different than so many other grown men like the president who are disturbed,’ he told Roberts.

‘He’s not the first person to make a comment, the president did the same thing.’ 

Cohen has claimed in his new bombshell book Disloyal that Trump whistled at Samantha when she was aged 15 playing tennis, remarking ‘what a piece of a**. I would love some of that.’ 

Cohen also took another shot at Trump, appearing to believe his team is behind the tape’s release, saying: ‘It’s a very sick and twisted thing that they are doing. It doesn’t surprise me one bit. There is no low that the President and his family won’t sink to.’  

Cohen said he’s confident Samantha, now 24, won’t be upset over the recording and will hold no grudge against him, saying he’s proud of her. 

Cohen said: ‘First of all, I don’t talk about my daughter’s body. I’m a great dad.

‘I will always tell anybody, if you ask me to describe her: brilliant, bold and beautiful. That’s just what she is. She’s absolutely brilliant. She’s bold, I wouldn’t do a photo shoot.

‘I’m 100 percent proud of my daughter that she’s comfortable enough with herself to have done this. I’m flattered she was asked in the first place.

‘She does have a beautiful figure, she works hard on it, she posed as a model for [Victoria’s Secret photographer] Russell James.’  

Although Cohen believes the leak of the tape is ‘sick and demented’, he said he isn’t afraid to continue to speak out against Trump. 

Cohen said: ‘They can’t hurt me anymore. As I talked about in my [book] prologue, I’m broken. Right now my only interest and the focus of all of my energy is making amends for my actions, to my wife, my daughter, my son and the country.’ 

Cohen also warned that if Trump is re-elected President, he will try to secure two more terms, claiming: ‘He doesn’t want to be president, he wants to be the king. He wants to be a dictator. 

‘He acted the same way in the Trump world, but you are talking being a CEO of a company versus the king of the country. 

‘If he wins re-election, the first thing that is on his mind is not what you call fixing the divisiveness, fixing the country. The only thing that’s on his mind is how to change the constitution so he can have a third and fourth term. 

‘And I’m not f***ing kidding either. That’s what’s on his mind.’ 

The audio tape comes on the heels of Samantha supporting her father’s claims in his new book that Trump made creepy comments towards her when she was just 15 years old.  

On Monday, Samantha sat down for an interview with CNN to talk about a series of ‘creepy’ comment – a week after Cohen’s new book Disloyal: A Memoir hit bookshelves.

In the book, Cohen claims that in 2012 Trump whistled at his then-teen daughter as she was playing tennis, remarking ‘what a piece of a**. I would love some of that.’

After Cohen told Trump that she was his daughter, he allegedly replied ‘when did she get so hot?’, and then beckoned her over to come and kiss him on the cheek.

Speaking about the encounter, Samantha said it gave her the impression that Trump was interested in ‘younger women.’

Trump, who was married to Melania at the time, also allegedly warned Samantha to ‘be careful, I’ll be dating your friends in a few years’.

‘I didn’t get the impression he was hitting on me directly,’ Samantha said. 

‘But I had the impression that he was interested in younger women and that, you know, women would age out for him and that when one woman became too old, he’d find a new younger one.’

While the nature of the alleged comments went ‘over her head’ at the time, Samantha said what she remembers most clearly of the exchange is how degrading Trump had been towards her father.

Samantha claimed Trump had remarked: ‘Well there’s no way she got her looks from you. Thank god you married a beautiful woman.’

‘I was desensitized to men making creepy comments about me,’ she said.

‘But I was not desensitized to someone blatantly insulting and degrading my father in front of me – someone who I looked up to and loved very much, and that was very upsetting to me, and that made me think, okay, maybe Trump doesn’t want to treat my father so well.’

In the five-minute audio tape, Cohen does appear to agree with his friend that his daughter is ‘something’. While the audio is not dated, it appears from the men’s conversation that it was  recorded in late 2013 or early 2014. 

In the audio, the two men talk about their families, with Cohen praising his son Jake’s baseball talent, claiming that at age 14, he was already 6ft tall and throwing 77mph fast balls.

The conversation turns to Samantha, with the man saying: ‘Your daughter I hear is amazing,’ later adding that she’s ‘hot’.

Cohen agrees and laughs a bit, saying: ‘She’s gorgeous. Thanks, yeah.’

The man asks to see a photo of her, saying: ‘Let me see your daughter… Boys tell me that people drool over her. ‘

Cohen replies: ‘She’s something.’

Upon seeing Samantha, the man raves about her appearance and comments on her body and breasts.

Cohen does nothing to stop the man talking in explicit terms about his teenage daughter’s body, and continues to offer up more photos of her, bragging about a photo shoot she did with famed Victoria’s Secret photographer Russell James.

He said: ‘You know, she just did a photo shoot for Victoria’s Secret. I’ll show you the picture.’

A photo from Samantha’s Instagram account posted on December 13, 2013, shows her posing with James, who sheepishly blocks out the 18-year-old’s cleavage with his hands.

She wrote: ‘The amazing Russell James!’ 

Cohen makes a point to tell the friend he’s ‘very friendly’ with the then-CEO of Victoria’s Secret Sharen Jester Turney, bringing the conversation back to knowing her multiple times. There’s also mention of Mikhail Prokhorov, a Russian politician and former owner of the Brooklyn Nets. 

Turney ran the lingerie company from 2006 until February 2016 when she suddenly stepped down. 

From the audio, it appears Cohen is going through photos on his phone with the man, pointing out a Victoria’s Secret model that was ‘his date for the night’.

The man asks who another woman is and Cohen says it was Real Housewives of New York former cast member Aviva Drescher.

The friend appears to continue scrolling through the photos, telling Cohen: ‘Let me browse! Show me your daughter.’

Cohen half jokes: ‘Leave my daughter alone.’

The man proclaims it’s only ‘boy’s talk’ and Cohen says ‘yeah I know’ and continues his story about being at the Victoria’s Secret fashion show with CEO Turney.

However, the friend seems more interested in if Cohen can get him tickets to the Victoria’s Secret fashion show than listening to his story.

Cohen brushes him off and tries to bring the conversation back to Victoria’s Secret photographer Russell James.

Cohen said: ‘So Russell James, who is probably the most important photographer, maybe in the country. You’ve never heard about Russell James?

The man replies: ‘I don’t give a s**t’.

 Cohen shows a picture of James to the friend, saying: ‘So she did the Victoria’s Secret fashion shoot….’

The friend cuts Cohen off and goes into a rant, appearing to question why Cohen would allow Samantha to get into modeling.

He goes off topic and talks about models doing cocaine. The men’s conversation shifts to business, with Cohen saying he would take someone out for dinner that night.

Cohen repeatedly bringing up his ties to Victoria’s Secret is odd, considering he hasn’t ever been known to have a close relationship with the company.  

Jeffrey Epstein had also been known to bring up his connection to the company and his relationship with its billionaire owner Les Wexner to lure minors into his sex trafficking ring. 

Cohen has previously landed in hot water for comments made about his daughter. 

Back in 2017, he was ridiculed on social media for posting an ‘inappropriate’ picture of her. 

The then-Trump fixer posted a black and white photograph of Samantha, then aged 21, during a modeling shoot, in which she was wearing black lingerie and leggings.

He wrote: ‘So proud of my Ivy League daughter…brains and beauty channeling her Edie Sedgwick.’ 

Cohen seemed unfazed by the criticism. He even replied directly to one person who wrote: ‘POTUS wants to date his daughter, the VP calls his wife ‘mother,’ and DJT’s attorney posts spank-bank material of his daughter.’

Cohen wrote back to the person: ‘Jealous?’