Michael Cohen
President Donald Trump's attorney Michael Cohen has come under fire after tweeting a photo of his daughter in lingerie. Reuters/Stephanie Keith

US President Donald Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen has sparked a fierce debate on social media after tweeting a photo of his 21-year-old daughter Samantha Blake dressed in lingerie. Cohen posted the black and white photograph of his daughter wearing a black lace bra and black pantyhose on Twitter on Sunday along with the caption: "So proud of my Ivy League daughter... brains and beauty channeling her Edie Sedgwick."

He later wrote that the image was a "modelling shot" recreating the famous sixties photograph of American socialite, actress and model Edie Sedgwick, who was a friend and muse of artist Andy Warhol.

More from IBTimes UK:

Social media users, however, immediately criticised Cohen's post as inappropriate, "super creepy" and "bizarre".

"If my Dad tweeted a photo of me in my underwear I would throw up," one Twitter user wrote. Another tweeted: "Yes, she's gorgeous, however most fathers don't share lingerie pics of their daughters on soccial media Mr Creepypants."

"POTUS wants to date his daughter, the VP calls his wife 'mother', and DJT's attorney posts spank-bank material of his daughter", one user tweeted to which Cohen replied: "Jealous?"

Many social media users argued that his response was creepier than his original post.

One Twitter user named Shannon Coulter posted the original photo of Sedgwick, which showed the model sitting on a man whilst smoking a cigarette.

"Edie Sedgwick bucked social norms for women in the mid-1960's. If you'd been her dad, you'd have been angry and terrified," she tweeted, pointing out the differences between the original and Samantha's photo.

Some people drew comparisons between Cohen's post and President Trump's earlier, repeated remarks about his daughter Ivanka's looks.

In a Rolling Stone interview in September 2015, Trump said: "Yeah, she's really something, and what a beauty, that one. If I weren't happily married and, ya know, her father..." In another infamous 2006 interview for the The View, he said: "If Ivanka weren't my daughter, perhaps I'd be dating her..."Isn't that terrible? How terrible? Is that terrible?"

This isn't the first time Cohen was criticised for his controversial remarks.

In 2015, Cohen responded to allegations that Trump raped his then wife Ivana Trump, saying legally, "you can't rape your spouse." He later apologised after his comments quickly triggered fierce uproar.

His daughter Samantha, however, defended her father saying she didn't have an issue with his latest tweet. She just finished a gruelling semester at the University of Pennsylvania and was asked to model for an up-and-coming photographer Abi Polinsky.

"My father, who has always been supportive of my endeavors, was merely expressing his pride," she told DailyMail. "There is nothing inappropriate in the picture and those who seek to make it something it is not are merely Trump haters who are using this as an opportunity to stir up drama."

She said she found it "hypocritical" that people who consider themselves liberal would "criticize a woman embracing her body."

"There is nothing inappropriate about my taking the photograph or my father's decision to share it," she continued. "I am ashamed at these people for their reactions and believe it indicated more about their own perverted mindsets as nothing they are saying has any merit nor is it rooted in any truth."

Donald Trump Twitter