President Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, testified to the members of the Chamber’s Supervisory Committee. Michael Cohen declared that Trump was aware of the efforts of his adviser Roger Stone contacting WikiLeaks before his disclosure of damaging information about the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton, in addition to repeated racist comments, according to a copy of his public testimony presented to Congress.
The former personal lawyer of the President of the United States says he is ashamed to have given his loyalty and says that Trump is a racist and a cheat.
During his testimony, Michael Cohen stated: “Trump is a racist, swindler and cheater. ”
Michael Cohen presented evidence that Trump allegedly reimbursed him money
and declared that Trump knew that Roger Stone spoke with WikiLeaks about the Clinton emails.
Cohen, who pleaded guilty to giving false information to the United States Congress, says he regrets working with Trump and never imagined that a hate-based campaign would take him to the White House.
This is what he said:
- Cohen said he’s sorry about the day he said “yes” to his boss.
- “Never in a million years I imagined, when I took a job in 2007 to work for Donald Trump, who would someday run for the presidency, to launch a campaign on a platform of hatred and intolerance and gain actively.
- I’m sorry about the day. I said yes to Mr. Trump, “he said. “I am sorry for all the help and support you brought on the road”
- Cohen said he regretted being loyal to Trump and was ashamed to have “chosen to participate in the concealment of Mr. Trump’s provocative acts.”
- Cohen said that while President Trump has made racist statements publicly, it’s “even worse” when he talks to closed doors.
- “He once asked me if I could name a country run by a Negro who wasn’t a * * * * * *. This was when Barack Obama was president of the United States “
- “And while we were driving through a neighborhood in Chicago, he commented that only blacks could live that way. And he told me that black people would never vote because they were too stupid. “
- Michael Cohen said he has no evidence to suggest that President Trump or his campaign have partnered with Russia during the 2016 presidential election, “but I have my suspicions,” he added.
Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Elijah Cummings, asked Michael Cohen about the checks he brought as evidence in this Wednesday’s testimony.
Cohen said one of the checks, which he said was signed by President Trump, was made to reimburse him for the “money to pay silences I paid in his name.”
“Then let me make sure that I understand it. Donald Trump sent him a check out of his personal account as he served as President of the United States to reimburse Mrs. Clifford for money payments. Is that what you’re saying? To the American people today, Cummings asked.
“Yes, Mr. President,” answered Cohen.
Cohen apologized to Congress this Wednesday for lying in his previous testimony to them, saying he did it to protect President Trump.
“The last time I attended before Congress, I came to protect Mr. Trump. Today I’m here to tell the truth about Mr. Trump, “he said.
Cohen, who was sentenced to three years ‘ imprisonment for crimes involving the organization of payments during the 2016 elections to silence women claiming matters with Trump, said he is working on “a path of redemption.”
Cohen said that President Trump inflated his assets to be on the Forbes list of the richest people, but he deflated his assets to reduce his real estate taxes.
Cohen described how the process was in an exchange with Rep. Lacy Clay
Clay: According to your knowledge, did the president or his company inflate assets or income once?
Cohen: Yes.
Clay: Did you get the knowledge or the address of the president?
Cohen: Everything was done with the knowledge and under the direction of Mr. Trump.
Clay: Tell us why you would do that and what it served.
Cohen: It depends on the situation. There were times when I was asked, again with Allen Weisselberg, the director of finance, to speak to an individual of Forbes again, because Mr. Trump wanted each year to increase his wealth on the list of Forbes ‘ richest individuals.
So, what you do is look at the assets and try to find an asset that says, for example, 40 Wall Street, which is approximately 1.2 million square feet (more than 111 million square meters). Find an asset that is comparable, find the highest price per square foot that has been achieved in the area and apply to that building. Or if you’re getting out of your maximum rent, use the net of income and multiply and you invent that multiple, which was something I had talked about. It is based on what he wanted to value the asset.
Michael Cohen said that it is possible that Russia has committed the entire Trump family the months leading up to the 2016 elections.
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Florida, asked if the president’s son, daughter, and son-in-law were involved in the Trump Tower project in Moscow.
“Ivanka, Jared or Don Jr. were still involved in the agreement of the Russian tower at that time?” she asked.
“The company was involved in the agreement, which meant that the family was involved in the deal,” Cohen said.
Wasserman Schultz continued: “If Mr. Trump and his daughter Ivanka and his son Donald Jr. participated in the deal of the Trump Tower in Russia, is it possible for the whole family to be in conflict or committed to a foreign adversary in the months leading up to the election?”
“Yes,” said Cohen.
In an exchange with Republican Party Rep. Jim Jordan, Michael Cohen revealed that he was offered a job at the White House.
But Cohen said he turned down the job after he was informed that he would violate the attorney-client privilege.
Here’s the exchange:
Jordan: Mr. Cohen, how long did you work at the White House?
Cohen: I never worked in the White House.
Jordan: That’s the point, isn’t it, Mr. Cohen?
Cohen: No, sir
Jordan: Yes, it is
Cohen: No, it’s not, sir.
Jordan: I wanted to work in the White House…
Cohen: No, sir
Jordan:… You weren’t taken to the prom.
Cohen: Sir, I was extremely proud to be a personal lawyer for the President of the United States. I didn’t want to go to the White House. They offered Me jobs. I can tell you a story of Mr. Trump rebuked Reince Priebus because he had not accepted a job where Mr. Trump wanted him to do it, which is to work with Don McGahn in the office of the White House Attorney general. One second. What I said at the time, and I brought a lawyer in who produced a memo of why I shouldn’t go in, because there would be no attorney/client privilege. and to handle some of the issues I talked about in my statement, it wouldn’t be the right one for me.
Jordan: This is what I see. I see a guy who worked for 10 years and is here destroying the guy he worked for for 10 years, didn’t get a job at the White House, and now he’s behaving like everyone else who got fired or didn’t. You didn’t get the job they wanted like Andy McCabe. Like James Comey, the same kind of selfish motivation after you didn’t get what you wanted. That’s what I see here today and I think that’s what the American people see.
COMMENTS