Trump Lawyer Attacked Spoof News Site Over Column
The Trump administration has been described as 'beyond parody' before, but hit new levels this week after emails shared by satirical newspaper The Onion show Donald Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, sent them a cease and desist letter on behalf of his then-client for a piece making fun of the president.
It sounds like a regular Onion headline, but Politico have backed up the emails' veracity. The emails demanded that The Onion "immediately remove" a "disgraceful" 2013 spoof column written in Trump's voice.
In the emails, in which it's not entirely clear that either Cohen or Trump realise the piece was indeed a spoof. Cohen calls the piece - entitled 'When You're Feeling Low, Just Remember I'll Be Dead In About 15 Or 20 Years' - an "absolutely disgusting piece that lacks any place in journalism, even in your Onion."
Cohen's email goes on to threaten that "this commentary goes way beyond defamation and, if not immediately removed, I will take all actions necessary to ensure your actions do not go without consequence".
He signs off, "Guide yourselves accordingly."
In response, The Onion tweeted: "Our editorial board would like to formally announce that we have finally read Michael Cohen’s 2013 email regarding his client Donald Trump and would like to discuss the matter further at his convenience."
A longer defence of the original piece said that the column had "simply endeavoured to offer any of The Onion’s over 10 billion readers who had found themselves depressed about the state of the world a hopeful reminder that he would mentally and physically deteriorate and most likely die very soon."
It also tweeted that it would happily take down its piece "in exchange for influence over the president's decision-making".
In the spirit of transparency, here is Mr. Cohen’s letter, printed in full: https://t.co/uPnzZYUtyZ pic.twitter.com/HWAhxudr2d
- The Onion (@TheOnion) May 21, 2018
Cohen is at the centre of the Stormy Daniels saga, having paid the porn actress $130,000 a month before the 2016 election. It's alleged that that was part of a non-disclosure agreement about an alleged affair between Daniels and Trump in July 2006, four months before Trump's son Baron was born.
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