Former lawyer refusing to protect Trump any longer dishes up the dirt on president

IN A damning depiction of Donald Trump, the US president’s former lawyer cast him as a racist and a conman who used his inner-circle to cover up politically damaging allegations about sex and who lied throughout the 2016 election campaign about his business interests in Russia.

A day after publicly testifying before the House of Representatives oversight committee, Michael Cohen returned to Capitol Hill yesterday, this time to testify behind closed doors to the House intelligence committee.

“I am not protecting Mr Trump any more,” Cohen declared. “My loyalty to Mr Trump has cost me everything: my family’s happiness, friendships, my law licence, my company, my livelihood, my honour, my reputation and soon my freedom.

“I will not sit back, say nothing and allow him to do the same to the country,” said Cohen.

Members of Trump’s Republican Party have painted Cohen as a disgruntled liar who cheated on his taxes and filed false paperwork about his own personal accounts. Democrats tried to portray Cohen as a former sinner.

Cohen says Trump signed cheques while in office to reimburse him for making a $130 000 hush money payment to Stormy Daniels, an adult film actress who said she had an affair with Trump in 2006. The money had been paid back in monthly instalments.

Cohen said Trump had inflated and deflated his net worth as it suited him, to be listed as one of the world’s wealthiest men or to reduce his tax bill. He claimed Trump had rigged an art auction using money from his charitable foundation.

“Mr Trump is all about winning,” Cohen said.

He could not confirm having any information on collusion between Trump and Russia but said alleged that Trump had a business relationship with a Russian mobster who had an office at Trump’s building in New York.

Cohen said Trump had been made aware that there was going to be a dump of “damaging” emails from Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic Party. He also indicated that Trump had held a meeting with a Russian official to possibly obtain “dirt” on Hillary Clinton.

Cohen refused to rule out that he would seek a book or movie deal after he was released from prison. Last year, he was sentenced to three years after pleading guilty to charges that included lying to Congress.