Greed _ not treason _ drove President Donald Trump to seek Vladimir Putin's help in the 2016 election, ex-Trump fixer Michael Cohen says in his bombshell new book.
Trump wanted to build a 120-story tower in Moscow's Red Square, with 30 floors devoted to a five-star hotel with an Ivanka Trump-branded spa, according to a report on Cohen's book published by The Washington Post on Saturday.
Trump planned to give the penthouse apartment to the Putin for free "as a way to suck up" to him, Cohen writes.
"The whole idea of patriotism and treason became irrelevant in his mind," Cohen writes. "Trump was using the campaign to make money for himself: of course he was."
Trump and Putin were united in their hatred of Hillary Clinton, Cohen says. He notes that Putin was angry with Clinton for her support of mass protests against him in 2011.
"What appeared to be collusion was really a confluence of shared interests in harming Hillary Clinton in any way possible, up to and including interfering in the American election _ a subject that caused Trump precisely zero unease," Cohen wrote.
Cohen's book, "Disloyal: A Memoir," is to be published Tuesday.
In a statement to The Washington Post, the White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany attacked Cohen's credibility: "Michael Cohen is a disgraced felon and disbarred lawyer, who lied to Congress. He has lost all credibility, and it's unsurprising to see his latest attempt to profit off of lies."
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