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Washington: There’ll be much talk of a “rat,” hush money for onetime paramours and the 2016 presidential campaign. But did US president Donald Trump break the law? That’s the key question Michael Cohen will be expected to answer with documents on Wednesday during a Capitol Hill drama that sounds more like a mobster movie every day. Trump’s formal personal lawyer and “fixer” is set to go public before a Democrat-led House panel and talk about the decade in which he would “take a bullet” for his boss. [caption id=“attachment_5719061” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]
Donald Trump’s former fixer and lawyer Michael Cohen. AP[/caption] “I am no longer your ‘fixer,’ Mr. Trump,” Cohen is to say in prepared remarks. Cohen, who reports to prison in May under a plea deal, could do damage to Trump’s cherished reputation and brand. He’s expected to talk in detail about what he says is evidence of Trump’s misconduct — perhaps even criminal behavior. Republicans say Cohen can’t be believed; after all, he’s lied to Congress before. What’s undisputable: Cohen has Trump’s attention half a world away at a summit in Vietnam. The drama unfolds at 10 a.m. EST - that’s 8:30 pm IST. The witness will sing and his former client will likely be following along from halfway across the world. Cohen, 52, is scheduled to raise his right hand and swear to tell the truth before the House Oversight and Reform Committee, chaired by Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md. Ahead of his appearance, copies of his prepared statement reached The Associated Press and other news media Tuesday night and offered a preview of scathing remarks directed at Trump. Trump knew ahead of time that WikiLeaks had emails damaging to his rival Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, Cohen says in the prepared testimony. Cohen also suggests that Trump implicitly told him to lie about a Moscow real estate project, the one Cohen has pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about. In the prepared remarks, Cohen brands the president a “racist,” a “conman” and a “cheat.” He says that Trump made racist comments about African-Americans and mused that black people would never vote for him because they were too stupid. Other topics: Cohen claims Trump inflated assets to make a list of the richest Americans and deflated assets to pay lower taxes on his golf courses. Trump managed a hush money payment to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal just before the 2016 election, Cohen claims. A key point is whether Cohen has evidence that Trump knew the payments might have violated campaign finance laws. Telling the truth is a big issue for Cohen, and much about the path forward for Democrats rides on his credibility. Cohen is set to serve prison time for lying to the House and Senate intelligence committees in 2017. Leaving a closed hearing Tuesday, Cohen said he wants to “clear the record and tell the truth.”
Michael Cohen testimony in US Congress updates: 'Donald Trump is a racist, conman and cheat; my loyalty to him cost me everything'
There’ll be much talk of a “rat,” hush money for onetime paramours and the 2016 presidential campaign. But did US president Donald Trump break the law? That’s the key question Michael Cohen will be expected to answer with documents on Wednesday during a Capitol Hill drama that sounds more like a mobster movie every day. Trump’s formal personal lawyer and “fixer” is set to go public before a Democrat-led House panel and talk about the decade in which he would “take a bullet” for his boss.
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After 7 hours of grilling, the Michael Cohen testimony wraps up
The Michael Cohen testimony in US Congress started at 10 am, ended at half past 5 in the evening and took the form of a personal nightmare for US president Donald Trump. Over seven and a half hours of hearing, the Democrat controlled Congress now has a giant list of people they need to talk to and corroborating evidence to prove that Donald Trump did indeed commit campaign finance violations tied to his campaign for the 2016 elections. See the blow by blow details in the thread that follows.
Cohen testimony wrapping up
A rising Democratic star questions Cohen
Who signed off hush money cheques? Michael Cohen has bombshell answers
Michael Cohen testimony is well into its fifth hour now
Stormy Daniels is “proud” of Michael Cohen today
Big day for Watergate parallels as Cohen testimony drags into fourth hour
Washington watchers say Republicans weren’t prepared for the Cohen kitchen sink
Donald Trump called his 2016 campaign the greatest “infomercial” of all time
Cool and pugnacious, Cohen punches back
“Trump asked me to threaten his schools to never release his grades or SAT scores”
House testimony resumes soon after a short break, 2 hours have passed and it’s going to get more heated
Sleazy content from 2016 election campaign flaots to the surface in Cohen hearing
Michael Cohen has lost his legal license 24 hours ago
“Shame on you”: Cohen swats down Republicans
Split screen Washington on the networks and on social platforms. For every tweet, there’s another one
Don Jr. attacks Cohen as testimony questioning turns ugly
Donald Trump’s son pokes holes in Michael Cohen’s big moment on the Hill
No thanks, says Cohen to possibility of Trump pardon
Michael Cohen said he wouldn’t accept a pardon from President Trump. “I have never asked for it, nor would I accept a pardon from President Trump,” he said.
Entire Trump family may have been compromised in Russia dealings, says Cohen
Watergate era prosecutors react to Michael Cohen testimony
We just checked in on Donald Trump’s Twitter handle, nothing yet on Cohen
“I don’t know if Trump campaign colluded with Russia”
Trump said black people too “stupid” to vote for him, says Michael Cohen
“Lying to the First Lady is one of my biggest regrets”
Michael Cohen turns the knife in, says Donald Trump told him to lie to Melania Trump about affair with porn star
In Michael Cohen tell-all, Trump’s Russia links come into clear view
Michael Cohen tears into Donald Trump, unloads litany of accusations
“I am ashamed of what I did for Mr. Trump”: Michael Cohen
Expect this cheque to headline Michael Cohen hearing
Republicans are railing against Cohen and ripping his reputation to shreds before the man is allowed to speak. “We are legitimising dishonesty”, they are saying.
“The American people have a right to hear from Mr. Cohen”
Republicans paint Cohen as a liar ahead of testimony, in line with White House storyline
Republicans try to postpone hearing and fail; 24 say yes, 17 vote no and the Cohen hearing begins
Sparks fly as Republicans move to postpone Cohen hearing
Did Donald Trump know about hush money payments? Cohen will say yes
Trump’s former lawyer? Deal guy is more like it
Yes, Michael Cohen was Donald Trump’s lawyer but not the way it is commonly understood – Cohen was the deal guy for the Trump empire, the knockoff version, the US president’s keeper of secrets and second in that department only to the Trump brood of children from various marriages. Special counsel Robert Mueller has met Michael Cohen several times over the last few months, their latest meeting came on 20 November. Cohen has spent more than 70 hours briefing Mueller’s investigators. For someone who said he’d “take a bullet for Donald Trump”, Cohen has turned the gun on the US president. Cohen’s testimony before the House Oversight Committee promises to be a circus and will cover a lot of ground in Trumpworld’s dirty tricks department.
Michael Cohen is dangerous because he has nothing to lose
Cohen is going to jail, in part, for lying to the same US Congress where he is testifying today. Predictably, Trump’s allies will say that he worked for a man for a decade that he is now calling names. Republicans will pounce on Cohen’s testimony as an example of opportunism by a man who is going to be jailed. But the reason today is so compelling is because Cohen was in Trump’s inner circle for a decade. He is angry and he has nothing to lose, he’s going to have a lot to say and by all available accounts, Donald Trump will be watching every single moment of this and raging about it.
Cohen will say he suspects Don Jr. told his father about Moscow deal
Expect Cohen to say this: “I remember being in the room with Mr. Trump, probably in early June 2016, when something peculiar happened. Don Jr. came into the room and walked behind his father’s desk — which in itself was unusual.”
Michael Cohen plans to call Donald Trump a “conman”, “cheat” and “racist” in House testimony today