The president’s former lawyer will publicly accuse Donald Trump of a crime over three days of Capitol Hill testimony this week.
Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer, plans to offer up a document to lawmakers that he claims will show the president engaged in criminal conduct related to a hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels, according to a person familiar with his planned congressional testimony.
The person said the document will refute a claim by Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s attorney, that Cohen used a $35,000 a month retainer from Trump as reimbursement for paying off Daniels. Cohen — who will soon report to prison for a three-year sentence tied to a litany of tax fraud and lying charges — is scheduled to appear Wednesday in a public House hearing, and will also testify privately on Tuesday and Thursday before Senate and House investigators.
During his testimony, Cohen also plans to address a much-discussed BuzzFeed report that the president ordered him to lie to Congress about business dealings in Russia during the campaign. The story initially sparked impeachment speculation, but was later thrown into question when special counsel Robert Mueller’s office took the rare step of issuing a carefully worded denial of certain elements of the piece.
“He’ll explain exactly why he lied and how he came to lie,” said the person familiar with Cohen’s testimony.
More broadly, Cohen will go into personal and character accusations against Trump, saying the president made racist remarks in front of him such as questioning the intelligence of African-Americans, according to the person.
As word of Cohen’s expected damning accounts leaked out Tuesday morning, the White House and Trump supporters began pushing back against the president’s former lawyer, highlighting his criminal record and deceitful history.
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Michael Cohen plans to offer up a document to lawmakers that he claims will show that Donald Trump engaged in criminal conduct related to a hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels https://t.co/J85hL4HfxD
— POLITICO (@politico) February 26, 2019
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