Michael Cohen to accuse Donald Trump of criminal behavior during testimony before Congress: report

Cohen is also reportedly set to provide evidence of “lies, racism and cheating” on Trump’s part when he testifies

Published February 26, 2019 10:40AM (EST)

Donald Trump; Michael Cohen (AP/Evan Vucci/Getty/Drew Angerer)
Donald Trump; Michael Cohen (AP/Evan Vucci/Getty/Drew Angerer)

This article originally appeared on AlterNet.
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Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney, is set to meet with three congressional committees this week: the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday, the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday, and the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday. While the hearings on Tuesday and Thursday will be held behind closed doors, Wednesday’s House Oversight Committee hearing will be held publicly—and Cohen, according to the Wall Street Journal, is expected to accuse Trump of criminal behavior during his testimony.

The 52-year-old Cohen will not be allowed to publicly discuss special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation on Wednesday, but other Trump-related matters will be fair game—including a hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels, who alleges that Trump had an extramarital affair with her and paid her to keep quiet. And according to an anonymous source the Wall Street Journal interviewed, Cohen plans to discuss alleged criminal conduct on Trump’s part that is related to that payment. The Journal’s source, however, has not specified exactly how it is related.

According to the Journal’s source, Cohen will also provide evidence of “lies, racism and cheating” on Trump’s part during his testimony before members of Congress. Cohen, the Journal reported, is expected to discuss Trump’s private financial statements.

Cohen’s testimony is the subject of a Reddit discussion today. Many of the readers posted that although Cohen has a long history of unethical behavior, they were anxious to hear what he had to say.

A reader who went by Truth_In_ Whiskey posted that “Trump kept (Cohen) around because he did things an honest lawyer wouldn’t.” And the reader MostlyLostTraveler posted, “The next 24-48 hours should be interesting. I’d expect the Trump White House to muster up some sort of distraction.”

Cohen has pled guilty to a variety of crimes in federal court, ranging from campaign finance violations, tax evasion and bank fraud to lying to Congress in 2017 about the Trump Organization’s plans for a Trump Tower Moscow in Russia. The Long Island native has been sentenced to three years in federal prison, and he is expected to begin serving his time on May 6.


By Alex Henderson

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