In a damning depiction of Donald Trump, the president’s former lawyer on Wednesday cast him as a racist and a con man who used his inner circle to cover up politically damaging allegations, and lied throughout the 2016 election campaign about his business interests in Russia.
Michael Cohen, who previously pleaded guilty to lying to Congress, told lawmakers that Trump had advance knowledge and embraced the news that emails damaging to Hillary Clinton would be released during the campaign. But he also said he had no “direct evidence” that Trump or his aides colluded with Russia to get him elected, the primary question of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
Cohen, shaking off incessant criticism from Republicans anxious to paint him as a felon and liar, became the first Trump insider to pull back the curtain on a version of the inner workings of Trump’s political and business operations. He likened the president to a “mobster” who demanded blind loyalty from underlings and expected them to lie on his behalf to conceal information and protect him — even if it meant breaking the law.
“I am not protecting Mr. Trump anymore,” Cohen declared.
His matter-of-fact testimony about secret payments and lies unfolded as Trump met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, offering stark TV counterprogramming to the president’s official duties. At a Vietnam hotel and unable to ignore the drama thousands of miles away, Trump lashed out on Twitter, saying Cohen “did bad things unrelated to Trump” and “is lying in order to reduce his prison time.”
In testimony that cut to the heart of federal investigations encircling the White House, Cohen said he arranged hush money payments to women on Trump’s behalf and lied about them to the public and the first lady at the president’s behest. He agreed to say Trump was “not knowledgeable” about the transactions even though the president directly reimbursed him, and said he was left with the unmistakable impression Trump wanted him to lie to Congress about a Moscow real estate project, even if the president never directly told him so.
In one revelation, Cohen said prosecutors in New York were investigating conversations Trump or his advisers had with him after his office and hotel room was raided by the FBI last April. Cohen said he could not discuss that conversation, the last contact he said he has had with the president or anyone acting on his behalf, because it remains under investigation.
Michael Cohen was one of many lawyers who represented me (unfortunately). He had other clients also. He was just disbarred by the State Supreme Court for lying & fraud. He did bad things unrelated to Trump. He is lying in order to reduce his prison time. Using Crooked’s lawyer!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 27, 2019
The appearance marked the latest step in Cohen’s evolution from legal fixer for the president — he once boasted he’d “take a bullet” for Trump — to a foe who has implicated him in federal campaign finance violations. The hearing proceeded along parallel tracks, with Democrats focusing on allegations against Trump while Republicans sought to undermine Cohen’s credibility and the proceeding itself.
As Republicans blasted him as a convicted liar, a mostly unrattled Cohen sought to blunt the attacks by repeatedly acknowledging his own failings. He called himself a “fool,” warned lawmakers of the perils of blind loyalty to a leader undeserving of it and pronounced himself ashamed of what he’d done to protect Trump.
“You make mistakes in life and I’ve owned them and I’ve taken responsibility for them, and I’m paying a huge price, as is my family,” Cohen said during testimony that spanned roughly seven hours.
CNN: Cohen isn’t telling the truth when he said under questioning by Jim Jordan that he didn’t want a job in the White House.
Dana Bash: “He very much wanted a job in the White House.” pic.twitter.com/DK9VevYqIS
— David Rutz (@DavidRutz) February 27, 2019
Cohen will soon report to prison for a three-year sentence. At the same time, he is seen as a vital witness for federal prosecutors because of his proximity to the president during key episodes under investigation and their decade-long professional relationship.
The first of six Trump aides charged in the Trump-Russia investigation to testify publicly about crimes committed during the 2016 campaign and in the months that followed, Cohen also delivered biting personal commentary on a president he said never expected to win in the first place.
He recalled how Trump made him threaten schools he attended to not release his grades and SAT scores, mocked his own avoidance of the Vietnam War and denigrated blacks as “too stupid” to vote for him.
“He never expected to win the primary. He never expected to win the general election,” Cohen said. “The campaign – for him – was always a marketing opportunity.”
WATCH Arizona Republican @RepGosar shuts down Michael Cohen, then goes schoolyard: ‘Liar, liar, pants on fire.’ (GOP put sign up in hearing room) #12News #AZ04 pic.twitter.com/wJhlP33dtc
— BrahmResnik (@brahmresnik) February 27, 2019
Cohen gave lawmakers his first-person account of how he arranged to buy the silence of two women alleging a relationships with Trump. He described a February 2017 conversation with Trump in the Oval Office in which the president reassured him that reimbursement checks sent through Federal Express were coming but would take some time to get through the White House system.
He said the president called him a year later to discuss the public messaging around the payments, and had even once put his wife, Melania, on the phone so that he could disavow knowledge.
“Lying to the first lady is one of my biggest regrets,” Cohen said. “She is a kind, good person. I respect her greatly, and she did not deserve that.”
In an allegation relating to Mueller’s probe, Cohen said he said he overheard Trump confidant Roger Stone telling the candidate in the summer of 2016 that WikiLeaks would dump damaging information about Clinton.
Trump put Stone on speakerphone and Stone told him that he had communicated with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and that “within a couple of days, there would be a massive dump of emails that would damage Hillary Clinton’s campaign,” according to Cohen. Damaging emails that U.S. officials say were hacked by Russia were later released by WikiLeaks.
Trump responded by saying “wouldn’t that be great,” Cohen said.
Stone disputed that account Wednesday.
Cohen’s claims that Trump had advance knowledge of the emails contradict the president’s assertions that he was in the dark, and it is not clear how legally problematic that could be for Trump anyway. Mueller has not suggested that mere awareness of WikiLeaks’ plans, as Stone is purported to have had, is by itself a crime.
Cohen also suggested Trump implicitly told him to lie about a Moscow real estate project. Cohen has admitted lying about the project, which he says Trump knew about as Cohen was negotiating with Russia during the campaign. Cohen said Trump did not directly tell him to lie, but “he would look me in the eye and tell me there’s no business in Russia and then go out and lie to the American people by saying the same thing.”
Cohen said he does not have direct evidence that Trump colluded with the Russian government during the election, but that he has “suspicions,” including after a June 2016 meeting between the president’s oldest son and a Kremlin-connected lawyer.
“I wouldn’t use the word ‘colluding.’ Was there something odd about the back-and-forth praise with President Putin?” Cohen said. “Yes, but I’m not really sure I can answer the question about collusion.”
Federal prosecutors in New York have said Trump directed Cohen to arrange the payments to the women in the run-up to the 2016 campaign. Cohen has said he acted out of “blind loyalty.”
He said he was presenting the committee with a copy of a check Trump wrote from his personal bank account after he became president to reimburse Cohen for the hush money payments. He claimed he had other exhibits as well, including some financial statements.
On the matter of racism, Cohen said the president made comments “disparaging African-Americans, saying at one point that black people would never vote for him because they were “too stupid.”
He said that Trump once confided to him that, despite his public explanation of a medical deferment from the Vietnam War, he never had any intention of fighting there.
“You think I’m stupid, I wasn’t going to Vietnam,” Cohen quoted Trump as saying.
“I find it ironic, President Trump, that you are in Vietnam right now,” Cohen said.
(AP)
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13 Responses
Since when has YWN joined the Mafia? Using “rat” in this context is what Mafia dons (aka murderers) use to describe people who cooperate with law enforcement. Aren’t we supposed to cooperate with law enforcement? “Dina d’malchusa dina” and all that? Mr. Trump isn’t Jewish, so there’s no question of mesirah involved. And if calling Mr. Cohen a “rat” if he gives information about Mr. Trump that also implies that Mr. Trump is a Mafia-type person, and that he’s done something illegal.
Good idea to change your headline to something more parve. The article seems OK, but it implies that our President is a mafioso-type lawbreaker.
1. He’s a lousy witness since he already is a disbarred lawyer (and since he was a lawyer at the time, much of what he said may be inadmissable under the attorney-client privilege as well as the hearsay rule), and a convicted (and confessed) liar.
2. Knowing about the Wikileaks isn’t illegal. No one has accused Trump of “leaking” to Wikileaks.
3. For a real estate businesssman to do a deal with the Russians would not be illegal. In some cultures (Catholic Church in particular) leaders are requried to take a “vow of poverty” but in America many have been self-supporting business types, and Trump porbably didn’t expect to be elected when he was trying to build a hotel in Russia.
4. To pay a woman of “low repute” (that’s a common phrase what we don’t talk about on YWN) “hush money” is not illegal, though she might be liable for prosecution for extortion.
5. What would be significant was contact with the Russians whereby Trump agreed to be a pliable president if only the Russians would act to sabotage Clinton’s campaign and otherwise subvert the election – and Cohen doesn’t seem to know about that (suggest it didn’t happen and is merely a Democratic fantasy).
YAAAAAWN.
We must believe him.
All lawyers are dishonest.
But now that he got disbarred, and is no longer a lawyer, he is honest again!
So, akuperma, you’re OK with a president who pays off prostitutes to keep silent during his election campaign? And if he deliberately hides that campaign expense, there is a violation of election law. But you’re a Torah Jew, you know all the exceptions.
I listened to several hours of the hearing and amazed that none of the Republicans asked any substantive questions about Mr Trump. Every question was an attempt to disparage Mr Cohen who has clearly said that he lied in the past and committed crimes relating to bank loans and income taxes.
He seems to have considerable detail and has submitted documents to support today’s testimony. He has provided names of people who can be called to corroborate his testimony. He did work for a corrupt man and admitted to lying to protect his client. He did deny several allegations that have been made about Trump which seems to show some credibility. Overall a fascinating hearing with more witnesses to come.
With every attack on his character and past lies, republicans targeted and iluminated themselves as hypocrites beshita. Who was he working for? Who told him to lie? Why would trump, who only hires the best people, be fooled into hiring such bumbling lier? Trump looked stupider and stupider.
Why as his personal lawyer and privy to all isn’t he just as “guilty” of the same crimes he accuses the president of?
Also, how can the same congress he was found guilty of lying to believe anything he says now?
Does anyone think this group of Dems would believe a word he said if he trashed Hillary and Clinton? The MSM would be laughing and making fun of him trying to come off as an honest man now. But now as he dumps on Trump he’s a saint.
yaakov doe, you “listened to several hours of the hearing “? Get a life.
huju, Cohen knows he is going to jail wether he testified or not. He probably saw an opportunity to bring down Trump knowing that it might reduce his sentence. He is just trying to fit in with the rest of the Trump haters to try and receive more support. He is playing a mind game. Trump is not a racist, he freed 53,000 non violent offenders from prison, many of them being black. He stood beside Muhammed Ali and Rosa Parks and donated a few million to the Harlem youths. His daughter is a Jew and as we know most racists are anti-semites as well. And I am telling you he is not the only politician who has paid off people to keep quiet or brush things under the rug. Hillary did a great job of that as we know. And she has not been thrown into prison for some reason even though their is evidence against her. And she can be charged with obstruction of justice because somehow tons of emails disappeared. So Trump aint the only one.
I’m confused….
What’s the difference between a convicted liar (Cohen) and a liar who hasn’t been convicted yet (Trump)?
Everyone agrees and knows that they’ve both lied in the past…. however, at least one of them is saying DEFINITE lies still (Trump) and one hasn’t said anything recently that hasn’t been debunked yet (Cohen).
Don’t Jews believe in some level Teshuva, even for someone that’s not religious?
The “RAT” headline – why is YWN playing into Trump’s rhetoric?
“Don’t Jews believe in some level Teshuva, even for someone that’s not religious?”
you dont do teshuva by being mevayesh someone berabim for no good reason other than his lawyer is best friends with the clintons