Transcript
Jim Acosta (0:00)
Hey, this is a special edition of the Jim Acosta show. It's a special Michael Monday on a Thursday. And there's Michael Cohen right there. Michael, the reason why we're doing this now randomly on a Thursday morning while we're all watching the markets do their thing right now is because you and I have a special announcement to make. And that is we are doing this live town hall in New York on Tuesday at 6pm at the Theater555. We worked it all out and I'm excited about this. We're going to put out a post in just a little while that's going to explain how people can get tickets. And this is going to be a lot of fun.
Michael Cohen (0:38)
So you may remember that Jim and I were, I don't know, throwing out a couple of ideas when we were doing a Michael Monday show. And I said, hey, you know, a friend of mine owns this off Broadway theater and how great would it be if you and I had an opportunity within which to speak with the people and then take this on the road? I don't want people to think for a second that this is a one off. This is not. This is the beginning. In fact, I've come up with a couple of names that I haven't even shared yet with Jim. Now, that doesn't mean that's what we're going to call this, but they're just some ideas. And I'll tell you what I would love, as would Jim DM us, let us know which one or what name of the tour that you think we have. Because that's what we need.
Jim Acosta (1:24)
We got to come up with a name. That's true. So, I mean, for right now, it's just. Yeah.
Michael Cohen (1:28)
So let me give you a couple here.
Michael Cohen (1:30)
America Unfiltered Tour.
Jim Acosta (1:32)
I like it.
Michael Cohen (1:33)
Okay.
Jim Acosta (1:34)
America Unleashed. Could be something like that.
Michael Cohen (1:37)
It's another one. How about Justice Rising Tour?
Jim Acosta (1:40)
Ooh, I like that. Justice Rising.
Michael Cohen (1:42)
How about Local Voices Tour? I like going into the heartland of America.
Michael Cohen (1:50)
The no Spin Tour.
Jim Acosta (1:52)
I like that. How about no Bullshit Tour?
Michael Cohen (1:54)
We could. Well, we could do that too. Real Talk Tour.
Jim Acosta (1:59)
I like that too.
Michael Cohen (2:01)
Here's the one that I like the best. I always save the best for last. The no Fear Tour.
Jim Acosta (2:07)
Ooh, that's good. Those are all good. And somebody just put in a comment there or asked a question, you know, why are you guys on right now? In case you're just tuning in live right now, this is a special edition of Michael Monday Jim Acosta show. Michael and I are announcing. We are doing A live town hall at the theater 555 in New York City. Next Tuesday in New York, New York. The city is so nice, they named it twice. 6pm April 15, Tax Day. Hopefully everybody's paid their taxes. There might be one person out there who lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Maybe he didn't pay his taxes. But you know, Michael, since we're talking right now, and I know you have to run soon to go do a podcast, what the hell is going on with the markets? And what about this bullshit where the White House put out and said, oh, this is the art of the deal?
Michael Cohen (2:56)
Well, and the best is you start to listen to the sycophants, the enablers that are sitting around him that are like, Donald's the greatest negotiator. Just look at the book, the Art of the Deal. And while he's doing all of this, the market now is down about 1100 points. Points.
Jim Acosta (3:12)
Incredible.
Michael Cohen (3:12)
So it's doing a retreat. And they say that this is what he needed to do in order to get all of the world leaders to the table to negotiate so that we can have free and fair trade balance. In fact, in my substack of this morning, I turn around and I write, there can never be equal reciprocal tariffs.
Jim Acosta (3:37)
That's right.
Michael Cohen (3:37)
Not when you're dealing with the United States. Let me give you the one example that I used in my substack. Take Vietnam as an example. A poor country. What's Vietnam really known for? Manufacturing. Why? Because it's cheap. Think about your Nike sneakers. Anyone who has a pair. I don't care if it's old, it's new. I don't care if they're foam posits or that they're not. Take a look at the label. Made in Vietnam. Because Nike buys cost them to manufacture a.
Jim Acosta (4:08)
We've been doing this for years.
Michael Cohen (4:10)
About $3. $3, Jim. They sell it here for 100.
Jim Acosta (4:14)
No, Michael, what is Vietnam?
Michael Cohen (4:17)
Jim, my point is, what is Vietnam going to buy from America? This poor country, F16, fighter P, fighter planes, guns, defensive technology. What are they buying from the United States that we could ever have an equal reciprocal tariff? And the answer is, you can't. That's.
Jim Acosta (4:35)
That's exactly right. Well, and. And the United States has been using Asia as essentially a manufacturing hub for the last, what, generation? Or so. I mean, this has been going on for 20 years. And Donald Trump has done this himself. I was just looking at the. The other day when Donald Trump was on with David Letterman back in 2012, and Letterman busted him for having his ties made in China and some of his clothing made in Bangladesh. This is what businesses have been doing for years, including Donald Trump. And the other thing that I'm going to be talking about this later today on my show, Michael, I've got Paul Krugman on. I'm a little worried that there's some kind of pump and dump thing going on here. I mean, Adam Schiff wants to investigate this. Trump puts out this truth social at 9am yesterday, says NOW's a good time to buy and then he lifts the tariffs. This is insanity.
Michael Cohen (5:23)
You know, it's incredible because many of those that are still, that are part of the Cabinet, right. Scott Bessens, the Howard Lutnicks, they still have interests in trading platforms. And you know, like for example, Ludnick is, he's long, you know, he's, he's, they do a lot of long bonds. This is if in fact that that's true, which I don't think that it is, I don't think Trump is magnanimous enough to do this for his cabinet, for his alleged friends. Trump, Trump has no friends. What he was doing was he was bragging or, or let me give you another one, maybe he was even doing his job and he was explaining what they were intending to do. Yeah, I don't know Cabinet members. And they went ahead and they use that information, which by the way, is insider trading and it is also illegal.
Jim Acosta (6:22)
I mean, to me, Adam Schiff has already said he's going to investigate this and there should be an investigation how the President of the United States can single handedly have this much influence over the markets, tank the markets, put out a post that says, you know, now's a good time to buy and then lifts the tariffs temporarily. That, to me, that doesn't smell good.
Michael Cohen (6:43)
Doesn't smell good at all. It smells like, it smells like horseshit. Right in Central Park. I mean, you know, during, during, before a good rain.
Jim Acosta (6:51)
Yeah, I know that smell.
Michael Cohen (6:53)
Temperature. I mean, this is, this is really wrong. It's an abuse of office to the nth degree. You fuck up the entire global economy.
Jim Acosta (7:05)
That's right.
Michael Cohen (7:06)
For what? And then you want to brag to people knowing that you're going to.
Jim Acosta (7:10)
That's crazy.
Michael Cohen (7:10)
A 90 day reprieve that I wish that I was permitted to ask if I was there at these briefing rooms. Somebody explained to me where was the strategy to create the chaos to have everybody go out and say there will be no reprieve off of these tariffs. They are set in stone. Donald Trump does not Go back and forth, only to tank the market. Exactly 7 to 8 trillion dollars to then turn around and then to do a 90 day. Why not have just done it at the very beginning? Why not just say in 90 days? Unless you come to the negotiating table and we get what I consider to be a fair and balanced trade deal, then I'm going to impose the tariffs. Instead of coming in with a sledgehammer to a mirror glare. Right to a mirror. Well, all you needed to do is take the mirror off the wall.
Jim Acosta (8:10)
We're asking, you know, for, you know, a rational explanation of something that is completely irrational or something that is completely crooked. And we need to find out one way or the other. And that is why you, you know, I'm sorry, You need Democratic power in one of the houses of Congress so they have the power of the subpoena, the power of the gavel to investigate this kind of stuff. And I have to wonder whether the Republicans have the guts to look into this, because you can't have this kind of. And of course, I know the answer to that. They don't have the guts to do this. I mean, the other thing that pisses me off is the way they came out. Caroline Levitt came out of the driveway of the White House and said, this is the art of the deal. Give me a break. Give me a break.
Michael Cohen (8:49)
The greatest is I listen sometimes to my buddy Ben Mysellis when we do our political beat down podcast, and he constantly calls this weapon of mass distraction. So during all of this tariff chaos, this tumult.
Michael Cohen (9:04)
All of a sudden, they're signing executive orders. One of the executive orders was water pressure. Water pressure in showerheads.
Jim Acosta (9:15)
He talks about this all the time.
Michael Cohen (9:17)
Water pressure in showerheads. And then you have the Secretary of Transportation, Duffy, coming out and going on Newsmax, of course, because nobody else would listen to the stupidity. Talking about how your toilet doesn't clean itself because there's no pressure in your toilet. When you turn the sink on, you have to wash your hands for five minutes because it's a drip, drip, drip. Or you can't get the shampoo out of your hair because there's no pressure.
Jim Acosta (9:46)
I got great water pressure. I don't know. This whole thing. I've talked about this a lot. You go to the hardware store, you get a better showerhead, folks. I mean, that's just. I don't know what Donald Trump is doing. If he can get, you know, Stephen Miller to go over to the Home Depot or Jason Miller to go over to Lowe's and Pick up a different shower head, I think he'd be just fine. I don't understand the other thing. The other thing that really ticks me off right now. And you're talking about distractions. They did this yesterday when they were so embarrassed by Trump caving on the tariffs. He put out these executive orders targeting Miles Taylor and targeting Chris Krebs, who was the former head of the cybersecurity office over at the dhs. He was the one that said that it was a free and fair and honest election back in 2020, which pissed Trump off to no end. And Miles Taylor wrote the anonymous book A Warning. And Trump put out executive orders launching investigations into those two men. And I put a post on Twitter that said, and I don't post there often because Elon Musk has turned it into a sewer, but I did post that. That is un American. It is un American to launch investigations of U.S. citizens for their opinions. And somebody needs to go down there. Somebody in the Republican Party needs to go down there and get a hold of this guy, because he is completely out of control. The President of the United States is completely out of control.
Michael Cohen (11:02)
Well, I'm glad you brought that up, because yesterday was the seven year anniversary of the raid on my home, hotel and law office. Seven years. Wow. I want to also bring up the fact that I've warned America that this is going to happen. You did. And I've said, if it can happen to me, it can happen to you. I took my case. I wrote about my whole book, Revenge, the New York Times bestseller. That one was number eight. Disloyal was actually number one. But Revenge talks about the whole thing. They weaponized Bill Barr, weaponized the Department of Justice against Trump's critics. And why? Why did they do this against me? Because I refused to waive my First Amendment constitutional right and I published the book Disloyal. Well, I hate to say it to Chris Krebs and I hate to say it to Miles Taylor, who I know very well and I like.
Jim Acosta (12:00)
Both good guys.
Michael Cohen (12:01)
Yeah, they're both fucked. Because when the full weight of the government comes down on you, I don't care who you are, I don't care if you're Elon Musk. When Trump with his doj, with Pam Bondi, with Keshe Patel and others, when they want to bring the full force of government into your doorstep, into your home, your hotel, your law office, wherever the hell you're at, there is nothing that you can do. You basically surrender, as I did. You accept whatever it is that they want you to plead to. And then you hope that you don't get 100 years or a firing squad under this administration, there is nothing that they're going to be able to do to stop this. Well, that's the scary part.
Jim Acosta (12:48)
You're right, Michael. And this is why this town hall that we're going to do on Tuesday is so important.
Michael Cohen (12:53)
Because I was going to say the same thing.
Jim Acosta (12:56)
Are I like no Fear Tour? I do like it because our, our country is on the line. Our democracy is on the line. The President of the United States, let's face it, folks, he is totally out of control. Within the first 100 days in office, some of us predicted this. Michael predicted it. I predict it. He would come back into office more radical than he's ever been before. He would be unleashed. And he is doing exactly what some of us predicted. And for him to go after Miles and go after Chris Krebs and that.
Michael Cohen (13:25)
Just the next group, they're just the next group.
Jim Acosta (13:29)
You're right. That's right.
Michael Cohen (13:30)
I may have been the litmus test, but they are just the next evolution of the damage that's going to be taking place. In fact, I have right over here. Hold on one quick second. I actually have right over here the decision by Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein, okay. Federal Court Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein, who responded when I was unconstitutionally remanded, saying the court finds that respondents, and in this case respondents of Bill Barr and the entire group now just sub him out for Pam Bondi purpose in transferring Cohen from release on furlough and home confinement back to custody, was retaliatory in response to Cohen desiring to exercise his First Amendment rights to publish a book critical of the President and to discuss the book on social media. Let me be very clear. That habeas decision is not going to benefit anybody any longer because of the Dobbs decision, which basically overturned Bivens, which now you have. It's going to be a nightmare. Let me be clear. And I warned America, as you did right in many of our interviews together over the years. Yeah, we warned America that this is going to be. That this is going to happen. And that's what we're going to be talking about. That's what we're going to talk all the states. We're going to go to red Ruby red districts, we're going to blue districts. We're going to go to everybody. Because even people who are Democrats are concerned. They're concerned about our Democratic Party. What the fuck are they doing? How are they Fighting back. I don't want to hear Adam Schiff stand there and turns out, well, we're going to open up an investigation. So. No, you're not. Because the chair of the department, the chair of that committee is not going to sign off on it.
Jim Acosta (15:23)
I hear you. I know, I know. And that is why it's vitally important that you and I do this. We get on the road, we're going to have folks like Michael Fanone get involved. We have other great folks getting involved. And I know, Michael, you've been working on some guests. I've been working on some Congress members.
Michael Cohen (15:38)
Legislators, you know, lawyers, constitutional lawyers. Yeah. You know, we're going to have, we're going to have some Harry Dunn's of the world. It's going to be incredible. Each and every, each and every tour is going to be unique and it's going to be very eye opening, let me put it to you that way, because you have to have no fear right now if you have fear, like many of these law firms that are capitulating or these news outlets. That's why I'm so thankful to Jim and I'm thankful to our teams who are able to get Substack involved in this as well. It just goes to show you how important this app is and the importance of people like Jim and the Jim Acosta show and myself. So please, to my subscribers, make sure you subscribe to Jim Acosta and to.
Jim Acosta (16:31)
Jim and vice versa, make sure you.
Michael Cohen (16:33)
Subscribe to mine too. Because together, together, we become an unstoppable community. And if this stuff doesn't stop, we're all in really, really serious trouble.
Jim Acosta (16:46)
Yeah, well, and I've been talking about this all along. The great American pushback. That's what this is all about. We're pushing back on the lies, we're pushing back on the bullshit. We're pushing back on any kind of effort to destroy this democracy, this country that we all hold dear and love so much. Michael, I know you have to go do your podcast. I'm going to let you go. But rest assured, everybody, we're going to get the details out. We're going to tell you how you can get tickets in New York next Tuesday evening. If you're in New York, we'd love to see you come by. Paid subscribers are going to get the chance to get at those tickets first than other folks. And don't worry if you missed this event. We're going to do some other events. It's all happening organically. We're kind of workshopping this as we go, but we're making it happen. We're making it. Thanks, Michael.
Michael Cohen (17:28)
We're kind of doing it the way Trump is doing the tariff strategy on the fly.
Jim Acosta (17:32)
On the fly. But we're not tanking the economy in the process.
Michael Cohen (17:36)
No, we're saving it.
Jim Acosta (17:38)
Exactly.
Michael Cohen (17:38)
Thank you. And thank you, buddy subscribers.
Jim Acosta (17:41)
All right. And I'll see everybody later today at 4:00 for the Jim Acosta show, by the way.
Michael Cohen (17:45)
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
Jim Acosta (17:46)
Oh, yeah, we will be streaming. Yeah.
Michael Cohen (17:48)
It will be streamed on Substack on and probably many outlets as well. So stay tuned. This is just the very first announcement.
Jim Acosta (17:57)
Exactly.
Michael Cohen (17:58)
Many more to come.
Jim Acosta (17:59)
Details to come. Stay tuned.
Michael Cohen (18:01)
Okay, thank you.
Jim Acosta (18:01)
See you soon, Michael. Okay, bye bye, Jim. Bye bye. Okay, everybody. So that's just the latest on this. It's happening. Michael and I have been talking about this for how many weeks now. We've got a theater, we've got a date. We're working on guests. I've got Michael, Michael's going to bring it like you've never seen it before. And so stay tuned. We're working on all of this. I don't have a cast of thousands here behind the scenes. I've got my special producer Matt on the case, lots of others on the case, the great people at Substack on the case. So stay tuned. It's got all details coming. In the meantime, I'll see you at 4:00 Eastern right here on Substack. My guest, Paul Krugman, the great economist formerly of the New York Times, now on Substack, completely a national treasure. I can't wait to talk to him. Jessica Yellen, my old colleague at the place I used to work and also going to be talking to the authors of the new book Fight, Jonathan Allen and Amy Parnes. They've come out with a great campaign book. They're also on LATER today. So stay tuned for that. And somebody just said Mary Trump, that's a great idea. Okay, I'm going to ask her. I don't know. I can't make any promises. We're working on guests. But in the meantime, I'll see you guys later today at 4:00. Have a great day.
Michael Cohen (19:14)
Bye.
