When Donald Trump considered himself a friend of the Clintons, he came out swinging in favor of the former president during Bill Clinton’s sex scandals.
Now that he’s the presumptive Republican nominee, it’s a different story for Trump. His adviser and special counsel, Michael Cohen, told CNN that things have changed.
“He was a private citizen who was friendly with the Clintons, and he was trying to protect a friend, all right. Now, it’s a different game. It’s 2016, he is the presidential, he’s the Republican presidential nominee,” Cohen told CNN’s Chris Cuomo.
Trump’s statements in the 1990s were in defense of Bill Clinton, who was in the midst of sexual misconduct allegations. Now that he’s running for president, Trump has interjected Clinton’s past into Hillary Clinton’s campaign, even alluding to rape claims.
Cuomo pressed Cohen on the issue, noting that Trump once said the case against Clinton was a waste of time and that the impeachment was wrong. He specifically called into question a Trump comment on Fox News in 1998 where he called the former president a “victim” of unattractive women.
Cohen said that comment from twenty years ago no longer matters.
“Why would I trust you if you say all the things you said then were false?” Cuomo asked.
Cohen said Trump “was a private individual.” He also fired back at Cuomo’s questions, pointing out that Hillary Clinton praised the real estate mogul for his business sense years ago and now criticizes his leadership in political ads.
The testy interview lasted more than fifteen minutes. Watch it below.