Fixer’s ‘no Russia link’ claim earns the president’s praise

DONALD TRUMP lambasted his former “fixer” Michael Cohen as a “shameful liar” but praised him for not suggesting that his 2016 campaign colluded with Russia.

Mr Trump’s summit with Kim Jongun in Vietnam was overshadowed in the US by blistering public testimony Mr Cohen gave to Congress.

He accused Mr Trump of acting “like a mobster” and of being a “racist, cheat and conman”. However, he said he had no direct evidence Mr Trump colluded with Russians to win the election.

The president denounced Mr Cohen’s appearance in front of the Democrat-controlled House oversight committee, which is investigating his financial dealings, as “fake”. He added: “Having it during this very important summit is sort of incredible.”

Mr Trump added: “He [Mr Cohen] lied a lot. But it was very interesting because he didn’t lie about one thing – he said no collusion with the Russian hoax. I was a little impressed by that frankly.” Mr Cohen, 52, was Mr Trump’s personal lawyer and worked for him for a decade. He has already been convicted of crimes including lying to Congress and campaign finance violations, and is due to start a three-year jail sentence in May.

In his evidence, he claimed Mr Trump personally reimbursed him, while president, for a hush-money payment to Stormy Daniels, a porn actress.

He also claimed Mr Trump implicitly told him to lie to Congress, had known in advance about the Wikileaks release of Russian-hacked Democrat emails in 2016, and that he pursued a deal for a Trump Tower in Moscow while the Republican presidential nominee.

Elijah Cummings, Democrat chairman of the oversight committee, said Mr Cohen’s evidence had convinced him Mr Trump committed a crime while in office. However, other Democrats felt the allegations had not produced a “smoking gun” and called suggestions of impeachment proceedings “premature”. Democrat leaders in Congress said they would wait for the results of Robert Mueller’s investigation into possible Russian collusion.