NEW YORK — Jay Goldberg, a longtime lawyer for Donald Trump — who negotiated Trump’s divorces from Ivana Trump and Marla Maples decades ago — says he received a call from the President last Friday seeking advice and warned the President to be careful about his longtime friend Michael Cohen, who he predicted could end up cooperating with prosecutors.
‘Anybody who is facing 30 years never stands up,” Goldberg says he told the President. “Without exception, a person facing a prison term cooperates.”
Goldberg also added that in addition to cooperation, the person “may also wear a wire.”
Goldberg was adamant that anyone facing a long prison term “will testify because they need the government’s affection,” he said. “That way, the government can say they have testified in a truthful manner.”
Goldberg said the President had no response.
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He said the President called Friday morning and first spoke with Goldberg’s wife. Goldberg said he made his message very clear: “I said that people who face a long prison term invariably become government witnesses.”
He also told Trump not to speak to the special counsel. “They can jam you up even if you’re telling the truth,” he said he told the President.
Goldberg said he views his role as a longtime adviser and attorney for the President “as telling him what my experience shows.”
The Wall Street Journal first reported Friday’s conversation between Goldberg and Trump. The President also spoke with Cohen the same day.
Goldberg also suggested a lawyer from a prominent firm as a potential addition to the legal team, but the attorney declined. Criminal defense lawyer Fred Hafetz confirmed that Goldberg approached him about joining Trump’s legal team, as first reported by the WSJ, and that he declined.
“That is correct. I have no further comment,” Hafetz said in an email to CNN.
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