Cohen returns to Hill for private questioning

Two GOP lawmakers say attorney lied during testimony.

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s former lawyer returned to Capitol Hill on Thursday for hours of closed-door questioning after publicly branding his former boss a racist and a con man who lied about business dealings in Russia and directed him to conceal extramarital relationships.

Michael Cohen was speaking privately to the House intelligence committee for the last of three appearances before Congress this week.

Cohen, who pleaded guilty last year to lying to Congress and reports to prison soon for a three-year sentence, gave harsh testimony about Trump on Wednesday. He said Trump knew in advance that damaging emails about Democrat Hillary Clinton would be released during the 2016 campaign — a claim the president has denied — and accused Trump of lying during the 2016 campaign about a Moscow real estate protect.

Cohen also said Trump directed him during the campaign to arrange a hush money payment to a porn actress who said she had sex with the president a decade earlier. He said Trump arranged to reimburse Cohen, and Cohen brought to the hearing a check from the president’s personal bank account that he said was proof of the transaction.

Two of Trump’s most vocal defenders, GOP Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio and Mark Meadows of North Carolina, sent a referral to the Justice Department alleging Cohen lied in his testimony. Their letter to Attorney General William Barr details several Cohen statements they said were false, including claims he “never defrauded any bank” and did not want a job in Trump’s White House.

Cohen’s testimony unfolded as Trump was in Vietnam meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Trump said he tried to watch as much of Cohen’s marathon hearing as he could but called the hearing “fake” and said it was a “terrible thing” for Democrats to hold it during his summit.

He seized on Cohen’s concession that he had no direct evidence that Trump or his aides colluded with Russia to get him elected, the primary question underpinning special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. Trump said he was a “little impressed” that Cohen had said that to the House Oversight and Reform Committee.

Cohen, shaking off criticism from Republicans, was the first Trump insider to pull back the curtain on a version of the inner workings of Trump’s political and business operations.

“My loyalty to Mr. Trump has cost me everything: my family’s happiness, friendships, my law license, my company, my livelihood, my honor, my reputation and soon my freedom,” Cohen said. “I will not sit back, say nothing and allow him to do the same to the country.”

In testimony that cut to the heart of federal investigations encircling the White House, Cohen said he arranged the hush money payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels at Trump’s behest and agreed to lie about it to the public and the first lady. And he said he was left with the impression Trump wanted him to lie to Congress about a Moscow real estate project, though the president never directly told him so.

Cohen said the last contact he has had with Trump or anyone acting on the president’s behalf took place about two months after the FBI raided his office and hotel room last April. He declined to give details because he said “this topic is actually something that’s being investigated right now” by federal prosecutors in New York.

The appearance marked the latest step in Cohen’s evolution from legal fixer for the president — he once boasted he’d “take a bullet” for Trump — to a foe who has implicated him in federal campaign finance violations.