'Conman', 'racist' are the choice of words Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen will use for Trump in a testimony he plans to give the Congress. Cohen will also state how Trump new beforehand on WikiLeaks plan to publish dirt on Hillary Clinton and that Trump had instructed him to lie about a real estate project Trump had in the works while running for president in 2016. In 2017, Cohen pleaded guilty of withholding this information.
Cohen will testify Wednesday before the House of Representatives Oversight Committee on the second of three scheduled days of testimony on Capitol Hill. The first session that took place Tuesday was behind closed doors.
“In July 2016, days before the Democratic convention, I was in Mr Trump’s office when his secretary announced that Roger Stone was on the phone. Mr Trump put Mr Stone on the speakerphone,” Cohen’s opening statement reads. Sotne, Trump's long-time advisor, had knowledge from Wikileaks head Assange about material on Hilary Clinton being published.
Cohen, 52, worked closely with Trump for more than 12 years becoming vice president of the Trump Organization, where he was the billionaire property magnate's behind-the-scenes "fixer."
Cohen, last year pleaded guilty to illegally using campaign funds for hush payments to two women who said they had affairs with Trump. Cohen's allegations further incriminate the president.
In the testimony Wednesday, Cohen will tell Congress again that he kept working on a Trump Tower project in Moscow well into the 2016 presidential campaign and did not stop in January of that year as he had originally told lawmakers. Trump has insisted he had no contacts with Russia during the campaign.
"In conversations we had during the campaign, at the same time I was actively negotiating in Russia for him, 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 plans to say.
"In his way, he was telling me to lie."
Cohen will also state that he is ashamed of his misplaced loyalty in working with the president.
"I am ashamed that I chose to take part in concealing Mr. Trump's illicit acts rather than listening to my own conscience," Cohen will say, the statement reads.
