TRUMP KNEW OF HILLARY EMAIL LEAK: COHEN
WASHINGTON: Michael Cohen called President Donald Trump a racist, con man and cheat on Wednesday, and alleged his former boss knew in advance of the WikiLeaks dump of hacked emails of Hillary Clinton’s campaign chair and the Democratic party, contrary to his claims to the contrary.
At a Congressional hearing, Cohen spoke at length about Trump lying publically about a Trump Tower project in Moscow and alleged he had lied about it during the campaign. He presented a copy of a cheque he had received from Trump as reimbursement for hush money payments to women who had claimed to have had affairs with the president. He also spoke about the threatening letters he wrote to Trump’s schools and colleges telling them not to release his mark sheets without his consent.
Deposing before the House oversight committee, Trump’s former attorney and fixer set out by expressing remorse for working for Trump and his “misplaced loyalty” to him and apologised, as he has several times before, for lying to Congress at his previous hearing. “The last time I appeared before Congress, I came to protect Mr Trump,” he said, “Today, I’m here to tell the truth about Mr Trump...He is a racist. He is a con man. And he is a cheat.”
The hearing got off to a contentious start, with Republicans on the Democratic-led committee citing rules and regulations to ask for a postponement. They were overruled, and focussed on attacking Cohen as a liar and questioning his character.
Cohen alleged Trump knew in advance of the release of hacked emails of the Clinton campaign and the democratic party through a long-time associate Roger Stone who was in direct touch with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Trump has denied he had known of the leak.
Cohen said he lied about a Trump Tower project in Moscow in his previous hearing. Negotiations had continued till way late into the presidential campaign, much after Trump had become the Republican nominee, he said.