Michael Cohen, US President Donald Trump's former personal attorney, arrives to testify before the House Oversight and Reform Committee in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on Feb 27, 2019. — AFP: Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen called the president a conman, a cheat and a racist in explosive testimony prepared for a hearing in Congress Wednesday.
And Cohen said White House lawyers “reviewed and edited” his testimony in 2017 when he lied to Congress about the Trump Tower negotiations. “I am ashamed because I know what Mr. Trump is. He is a racist. He is a conman. He is a cheat,“ Cohen said. Trump, in Vietnam for a second nuclear summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, responded to the release of the statement by trying to discredit Cohen.“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.”Cohen, 52, arrived in Congress early for the hearing, appearing relaxed and confident, surrounded by Capitol police.
On Thursday he will testify in a closed session at the House Intelligence Committee, also investigating Russian election interference, as well as Trump’s business relations with Russians.Late Tuesday Representative Matt Gaetz, a close Trump ally, tweeted a veiled threat addressed to Cohen.