By Frank Spotorno, with Dan Murphy
Now that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has charged former President Donald Trump with a crime, I wanted to remind the DA, the Judge and Trumps attorneys about my shocking experiences with Michael Cohen. Cohen, who worked for the Trump organization for many years, is the key witness for Bragg in the criminal case against Trump.
I wanted to remind the court and the public about an unfortunate interaction between Mr. Cohen, myself and Dan Murphy in 2015, when Cohen asked me to “bring my friends with baseball bats” and remove a number of Mexican protestors outside of Trump Tower.
In 2015 I began to volunteer for the Trump for President campaign, based on our shared belief that our country needed to re-shore some of the millions of manufacturing jobs back to America.
I began visiting Trump Tower in the days and weeks after Trump kicked off his presidential campaign June 16, 2015. I already knew a few Trump employees from my work in the elevator industry in NYC.
Eventually, I was introduced to Michael Cohen, who was then the Trump Organization’s vice president and special counsel. I volunteered my services to try and help Trump win the presidency. That brief conversation with Cohen led to more discussions and eventually an exchange of cell phone numbers.
As a card-carrying union member, I was also active in leading protests against construction projects that did not hire union employees. In July and August 2015, opponents to Trump and his anti-immigration stances began to protest outside Trump International Hotel in Washington. I was asked to travel to Washington to highlight the fact that the hotel was being built with union labor, and to contrast the Trump opponents with a group of Trump supporters.
The same protests in DC ended up in Manhattan, outside of Trump Tower. Cohen wanted to have supporters of Trump also show up at Trump Tower. At this time, I gave Cohen’s cell number to Dan Murphy, who had been working on my political campaign for Congress.
Dan and I wrote about this incident in 2018. Dan writes,
“Frank also gave me Cohen’s cell number and told me to call him to coordinate. I was surprised to find that Cohen answered my phone call on the first attempt – from an unknown 914 area code number. I briefly explained to Cohen who I was and on behalf of Frank, offered to help. We briefly discussed the protests outside of Trump Tower, and then Cohen spit out the words I will never forget:
“We need Frank to get down here with his friends and bring baseball bats,” said Cohen.
I immediately knew what Cohen was asking me to do, but I was stunned and shocked at what he had said, and I wanted to make sure that I had heard him correctly. After a few awkward moments of silence, I simply replied, “What did you say?”
“Frank should come down here with his guys and bring their baseball bats,” repeated Cohen.
Stunned once again, I replied, “I will speak with Frank and get back to you,” and quickly hung up.
Frank Spotorno is a proud union member, supporter, and organizer. He is also a proud Italian American. Cohen, in my view – and based on what he said to me – believed that Frank would or could do something based on his membership in a union and his heritage.
I took offense to what Cohen had implied in our conversation, and I called Frank and told him what was discussed. Frank was also surprised that he was indirectly being asked to do something that he would never do. Based on Frank’s support for then-candidate Trump, we agreed not to discuss the matter with anyone else and for me not to write about it.
According to many media reports, Cohen had a practice of tape recording his conversations with many people, including Trump. After our conversation I thought about how foolish and reckless Cohen had been during a conversation with someone he never met or knew. I wondered to myself… What if I had recorded the conversation with Cohen?
We both agreed that now was the best time to tell our story about Michael Cohen and my uncomfortable conversation with him three years ago,” end of 2018 story. https://yonkerstimes.com/my-uncomfortable-conversation-with-michael-cohen/
Michael Cohen asked me to commit a criminal act, and inflict violence on Mexican immigrants and migrant groups who were exercising their First Amendment right to protest. I find Cohen’s request of me to be a true indication of his racist views, not only towards Mexican immigrants, but Italian-Americans as well.
Does Cohen believe that all Italian-Americans are thugs, and would attack Mexican immigrants with baseball bats? What if those same protesters ended up in the hospital because of his instructions?
Is Michael Cohen a racist? I believe so, but I will let you decide. But I do want DA Bragg and the Judge to know about this incident. Michael Cohen can’t be trusted and should not be called by the State of NY as their key witness, take the stand, and swear an oath on the Bible to tell the truth.
This is not about Trump or Biden. This is about someone who tried to get me to commit a violent criminal act. Perhaps he should go back to jail instead of being called to testify.
I also want to know if the FBI was recording Cohen’s conversations back in 2015. It is possible that there is a recording of this conversation.
We will be forwarding this story to Trump attorney Joe Tacopina and are willing to sign an affidavit and if necessary, testify against Michael Cohen.
He’s a lying, racist who showed his true prejudice against Latinos and Italian-Americans.
