Michael Cohen testimony in US Congress updates: 'Donald Trump is a racist, conman and cheat; my loyalty to him cost me everything'

FP Staff February 28, 2019, 04:10:42 IST

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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04:06 PM (IST)

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.

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Cohen testimony wrapping up

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A rising Democratic star questions Cohen

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Who signed off hush money cheques? Michael Cohen has bombshell answers

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Michael Cohen testimony is well into its fifth hour now

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Stormy Daniels is “proud” of Michael Cohen today

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Big day for Watergate parallels as Cohen testimony drags into fourth hour

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Washington watchers say Republicans weren’t prepared for the Cohen kitchen sink

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Donald Trump called his 2016 campaign the greatest “infomercial” of all time

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Cool and pugnacious, Cohen punches back 

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“Trump asked me to threaten his schools to never release his grades or SAT scores”

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House testimony resumes soon after a short break, 2 hours have passed and it’s going to get more heated

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Sleazy content from 2016 election campaign flaots to the surface in Cohen hearing

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Michael Cohen has lost his legal license 24 hours ago

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“Shame on you”: Cohen swats down Republicans 

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Split screen Washington on the networks and on social platforms. For every tweet, there’s another one

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Don Jr. attacks Cohen as testimony questioning turns ugly

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Donald Trump’s son pokes holes in Michael Cohen’s big moment on the Hill

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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.

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Entire Trump family may have been compromised in Russia dealings, says Cohen

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Watergate era prosecutors react to Michael Cohen testimony

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We just checked in on Donald Trump’s Twitter handle, nothing yet on Cohen

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“I don’t know if Trump campaign colluded with Russia”

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Trump said black people too “stupid” to vote for him, says Michael Cohen

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“Lying to the First Lady is one of my biggest regrets”

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Michael Cohen turns the knife in, says Donald Trump told him to lie to Melania Trump about affair with porn star

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In Michael Cohen tell-all, Trump’s Russia links come into clear view

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Michael Cohen tears into Donald Trump, unloads litany of accusations

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“I am ashamed of what I did for Mr. Trump”: Michael Cohen

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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. 

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“The American people have a right to hear from Mr. Cohen”

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Republicans paint Cohen as a liar ahead of testimony, in line with White House storyline

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Republicans try to postpone hearing and fail; 24 say yes, 17 vote no and the Cohen hearing begins

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Sparks fly as Republicans move to postpone Cohen hearing

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Did Donald Trump know about hush money payments? Cohen will say yes

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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.

04:06 PM (IST)

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.

04:06 PM (IST)

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.”

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Michael Cohen plans to call Donald Trump a “conman”, “cheat” and “racist” in House testimony today

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