Names and faces

■ President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, stars in a new Democratic attack ad in which he describes Trump as a liar and warns Americans not to trust him. Cohen, who was by Trump’s side for more than a decade, assails Trump from the perspective of someone intimately acquainted with the president’s personal and financial history. “I was complicit in helping conceal the real Donald Trump,” Cohen says. “I’m here to tell you he can’t be trusted — and you shouldn’t believe a word he utters.” The 60-second television commercial from American Bridge 21st Century, the Democrats’ largest super PAC, aired Thursday morning on CNN and Fox News — on the last day of the Republican convention. It aired again Thursday evening ahead of Trump’s acceptance speech. In the ad, the image slightly grainy, Cohen speaks directly to the camera from inside his home, where he is currently under house arrest. Cohen was serving a three-year sentence in federal prison for crimes he committed while working for Trump, but he was released in May amid fears of coronavirus spread. In 2018, Cohen pleaded guilty to charges of tax evasion, lying to Congress and violating campaign finance laws related to hush-money payments he gave two women during the 2016 campaign who alleged they had affairs with Trump — relationships the president has denied. Cohen has written a tell-all book about his years with Trump to be released ahead of the November election. The book’s foreword, which was recently made public, outlined a number of scandalous actions that Cohen claims to have observed, facilitated or covered up.

■ The lawyer for R. Kelly said Thursday the R&B singer, who is awaiting trial on child pornography and other charges, was assaulted by a fellow detainee at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago. Attorney Steve Greenberg revealed in a tweet that he learned of the attack on his client Wednesday. Greenberg says he has received conflicting information on the extent of Kelly’s injuries. “We have not been provided any information from the jail, nor has Mr. Kelly called,” Greenberg wrote. “We are hopeful that he was not seriously injured.” A spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Prisons, citing privacy and safety reason, wouldn’t confirm or deny Greenberg’s report of the attack on Kelly. Kelly, 53, faces several dozen counts of state and federal sexual misconduct charges in Illinois, Minnesota and New York, from sexual assault to heading a racketeering scheme aimed at supplying him with girls. The Grammy Award winning singer has denied ever abusing anyone.

Cohen

Kelly