Trump's lawyer unloads on US President, calls him 'conman, cheat and racist'

WASHINGTON: In riveting Congressional hearing against the backdrop of nuclear détente talks in distant Hanoi and war clouds over the Indian subcontinent, Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen unloaded on the US President, calling him a conman, a cheat, and a racist who lied to the American people.

The explosive testimony was accompanied by evidence that Cohen placed before the House Oversight Committee, including two checks for $70,000 that the President gave him to reimburse him for expenses involved in paying off a porn star he (Trump) allegedly had an affair with. The checks, including personal check signed by Trump, were cut after he (Trump) became the President, Cohen disclosed.

“He asked me to pay off an adult film star with whom he had an affair, and to lie to his wife about it, which I did. Lying to the First Lady is one of my biggest regrets. She is a kind, good person. I respect her greatly – and she did not deserve that,” Cohen said.

Cohen also said he did not know if Trump colluded with the Russians to win elections, but he had his suspicions, and it was possible that the whole Trump family was compromised with a foreign adversary.

Republic lawmakers loyal to Trump, who had tried to derail the hearing called by Democrats who control the committee now, attacked Cohen as a treacherous lowlife who was trashing the President because he did not get a White House job. But Cohen maintained he had actually rejected a White House job he was offered because he considered it a grater privilege being the President’s lawyer, and insisted his testimony came from a change of heart.

“Never in a million years did I imagine, when I accepted a job in 2007 to work for Donald Trump, that he would one day run for President, launch a campaign on a platform of hate and intolerance, and actually win. I regret the day I said “yes” to Mr. Trump. I regret all the help and support I gave him along the way,” Cohen said.

The former lawyer, already convicted and sentenced to three years in prison, also testified that Trump knew of and directed the Trump Moscow negotiations throughout the Presidential campaign and lied about it because because he never expected to win the election. He also lied about it because he stood to make hundreds of millions of dollars on the Moscow real estate project, Cohen added, painting a portrait of the President as a grafter who didn’t really care for America but was more into self-aggrandizement and wealth.

“Donald Trump is a man who ran for office to make his brand great, not to make our country great. He had no desire or intention to lead this nation – only to market himself and to build his wealth and power. Mr. Trump would often say, this campaign was going to be the “greatest infomercial in political history,” Cohen said in his opening statement, adding that the Presidential campaign for Trump “ was always a marketing opportunity.”

Amid a blizzard of searing questions about his own character and motivation, Cohen said he would neither seek nor accept a pardon from the President to escape the prison sentence.

The Congressional hearing, on going at the time of writing, was taking place even as Trump was in Hanoi for a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

“Michael Cohen was one of many lawyers who represented me (unfortunately). He had other clients also. 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. Using Crooked’s lawyer!” the President tweeted shortly before the hearing, suggesting that the political developments in Washington was very much on his mind.