Michael Cohen’s daughter speaks out about ‘creepy’ encounter with Trump at age 15

Former attorney claimed US president made remarks in 2012

The daughter of Donald Trump’s former attorney, Michael Cohen, has recalled “creepy” comments the president allegedly made about her when she was just 15 years old.

Samantha Cohen, who is now 24 years old, spoke to CNN about a series of comments Mr Trump made about her, following the release of her father’s memoir on 8 September, which revealed the alleged exchange.

Mr Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to tax evasion and campaign finance violations, including paying hush money to women who claimed to have had affairs with Mr Trump, and reported to prison on 6 May 2019, before being released earlier this year.

In the disgraced attorney’s book recounting his time working with the president, named, Disloyal: A Memoir, Mr Cohen claimed that Mr Trump whistled at his 15-year-old daughter as she played tennis in 2012, and said: “what a piece of a**. I would love some of that.”

The president was then told by Mr Cohen that she was his daughter, and Mr Trump allegedly replied: “when did she get so hot?” before he called her over and kissed the 15-year-old on the cheek, according to the Daily Mail.

Mr Cohen also alleged that the president warned his daughter to: “Be careful,” and added: “I’ll be dating your friends in a few years”.

Speaking on CNN on Monday, the now 24-year-old said that the encounter revealed in her father’s book, made her think that the president is interested in “younger women”.

Ms Cohen said that she did not get the impression that Mr Trump, who had been married to his wife Melania Trump for seven years at the time of the incident, was hitting on her “directly”.

However, she added on Monday: “I had the impression that he was interested in younger women and that, you know, women would age out for him and that when one woman became too old, he'd find a new younger one.”

The 24-year-old told CNN that the comments went “over her head” at the time, as she said that women and girls become “desensitised” to that kind of behaviour.

However, Ms Cohen claimed that she does clearly remember Mr Trump’s alleged disparaging comments about her father that day.

She said that he told Mr Cohen: “‘Well there’s no way she got her looks from you. Thank god you married a beautiful woman.’”

Ms Cohen said: “I was desensitised to men making creepy comments about me,” and added: “But I was not desensitised to someone blatantly insulting and degrading my father in front of me.

“Someone who I looked up to and loved very much, and that was very upsetting to me, and that made me think, okay, maybe Trump doesn't want to treat my father so well.”

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told CNN on Monday in response to the claims: “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.”

Last week in an interview with Vanity Fair, Ms Cohen also criticised the president’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, and described her as “phony”.

Ms Trump lived in the same building as Ms Cohen when she was growing up, but the 24-year-old claimed to CNN: “She never paid me much attention. If I saw her in the lobby without my father, she would just look past me and ignore me.”

She added: “She's just, she's cold. I always felt like maybe I wasn't good enough for her attention. But that was my impression.”