‘He Is a Racist… He Is a Conman… He is a Cheat’: Michael Cohen Says President Trump Committed Illegal Activities While in Office

‘He Is a Racist… He Is a Conman… He is a Cheat’: Michael Cohen Says President Trump Committed Illegal Activities While in Office

“He is a racist. He is a conman. He is a cheat.” Former attorney for President Donald Trump, Michael Cohen, 52, sat before a Congressional committee on Wednesday to “set the record straight” and provide information about his work with President Trump.

During his opening statement to the congressional committee, Cohen apologized to the Congress members for lying to them in 2017 before laying out claims that Donald Trump committed crimes while in office. 

Cohen shared with the committee that Mr. Trump allegedly signed reimbursement checks to him after he was instructed to use his personal money to pay off adult film actress Stormy Daniels. President Trump has unequivocally denied that he had an affair with Daniels, but according to Cohen, he did, and then he instructed members of his staff to pay for her silence. Trump reportedly continued to make payments after he assumed the office of the president. Cohen also expressed remorse for having allegedly lied to the First Lady of the United States about the affair. Cohen said, “lying to the first lady is one of my biggest regrets.”

Cohen also told the committee that President Trump knew about Roger Stone’s involvement in the WikiLeaks scandal. During his statement, Cohen said Trump was informed of the WikiLeaks e-mail dump – which led to the release of some of Hillary Clinton’s confidential emails – before the emails were released. Cohen did, however, say that he did not have any direct evidence to prove there was Russian Collusion.

The recently disbarred attorney also said to the committee, Trump “did not directly tell me to lie to Congress” in regard to President Trump’s business dealings in Russia during the Presidential election cycle. Cohen did say, however, that it was strongly implied.

According to CBN News, Cohen pled guilty to lying to Congress in November. In a 2017 statement, the former attorney lied to the Senate Intelligence Committee and gave a “false” account of an intended Trump Tower in Moscow. In a sworn statement Cohen testified that Trump and Russia had ended talks before January 2016. He has since gone back on this statement claiming that talks really ended into June 2016. 

Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison and his sentence is set to start in May. 

Photo courtesy: Getty Images/Alex Wong/Staff

Video courtesy: NBC News