In Washington, Trump’s former fixer spilled big secrets.
The moment was meant to be a grand diplomatic triumph, a headline-dominating spectacle that could lead to the disarmament of a dangerous nation while delivering a vital political victory.
Instead, President Donald Trump’s high-stakes summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un in Vietnam on Wednesday was in danger of being upstaged by a monumental betrayal unfolding half a world away in Washington.
Hours after Trump sat face-to-face with Kim in Vietnam, his former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, sat before Congress and testified that his longtime boss was a “conman” and a “racist” who lied about having advanced knowledge of Wikileaks plans to release an opponent’s stolen emails.
The spectacle was proof the Trump presidency has not yet exhausted its ability to surprise. As the president staged a historic summit abroad, a former confidant delivered testimony, both detailed and taunting, that threatened to humiliate the president and undermine his foreign policy goals.
The drama drew Trump’s attention even amid sensitive denuclearization talks. Even before the hearing began, the president unleashed an attack on his former fixer, who has pleaded guilty to lying to Congress and campaign finance violations and has been sentenced to three years.
In a tweet, Trump downplayed Cohen’s influence and claimed he was “lying in order to reduce his prison time.”
Later, as he sat for a photo with Kim, Trump bristled at reporters’ questions about Cohen. After the event, the White House took the extraordinary step of barring four U.S. reporters, including one from The Associated Press, from Trump’s dinner with Kim, citing the “sensitivities” of the meeting.
The president’s two-day summit with Kim in Hanoi began with a highly choreographed greeting and photoop, followed by a dinner, while the serious negotiating was set for Thursday.
“A lot of things are going to be solved I hope,” Trump said as dinner began. “I think it will lead to a wonderful, really a wonderful situation longterm.”
Kim said his country had long been “misunderstood” and viewed with “distrust.”
Possible outcomes of the leaders’ talks could include a peace declaration for the Korean War that the North could use to eventually push for the reduction of U.S. troops in South Korea, or sanctions relief that could allow Pyongyang to pursue lucrative economic projects with the South.