Michael Cohen, a former personal attorney of Donald Trump, hit out at the ex-US president for holding a rally in Alabama on Saturday as the state grapples with a surge in COVID-19 cases.
“What it says to me about Donald Trump, and what it should say to every American out there, is that it’s irresponsible, it’s ignorant and worse than that it’s immoral,” Cohen said Saturday on MSNBC.
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Trump’s event, set for Saturday evening in Cullman, Alabama, comes as the state grapples with a huge spike in COVID infections, owing in part to the highly infectious Delta strain and poor vaccination rates. Due to the threat posed by COVID-19, Cullman municipal officials announced a state of emergency on Thursday.
The emergency declaration in Cullman will allow the city to provide additional resources for the city’s hospital, AL.com reported yesterday.
During his interview on Saturday, Cohen too talked about the rise in COVID-19 cases, and the shortage of hospital beds in Alabama.
“And he thinks now is the time to host a money grifting super-spreader rally? I mean what’s going on in this man’s mind?… And here’s the answer: It’s because he doesn’t care about anyone or anything, even the few supporters that he still has remaining,” Cohen added.
Cohen, Trump’s former longtime fixer, was sent to a federal prison in 2018 after admitting to using Trump campaign funds to pay off two women who claimed they had engaged in sexual relations with Trump before he became president.
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Now, the 54-year-old has become a frequent critic of the former president.
Meanwhile, Trump’s rally, hosted by the Alabama Republican Party, is scheduled to take place at York Family Farms in Cullman, which is about 50 miles north of Birmingham. In an email to supporters Friday, the Trump campaign promised an “EPIC Rally in Alabama.”
It’s unclear how many tickets for the rally have been ordered for the rally.
The delta variation has wreaked havoc in Alabama, which has the sixth-highest number of COVID cases per capita. Alabama also has the lowest immunisation rate in the country, with state authorities recently having to discard out over 65,000 coronavirus vaccinations that had expired due to poor demand.