Donald Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen grilled over damning accusations of 'Russian collusion' and 'racism'

Patrick Grafton-Green28 February 2019

Donald Trump’s former lawyer has been grilled over a series of damning accusations levelled against the US president, including claims of racism, allegations of Russian collusion and a leak of hacked Democratic emails.

In testimony given before the US House of Representatives, Michael Cohen branded Mr Trump a "racist," a "conman" and a "cheat".

He suggested Mr Trump implicitly told him to lie about a Moscow property project and knew in advance about a release of emails by WikiLeaks aimed at hurting his 2016 Democratic presidential rival Hillary Clinton.

The president tweeted that Cohen was “lying in order to reduce his prison time”.

Michael Cohen, former attorney to US president Donald Trump, testifies before Congress
EPA

The hearing delivered a damning depiction of Mr Trump's campaign and business operations from a former member of the president's inner circle.

Cohen, who once boasted he would "take a bullet" for Mr Trump, said: "I am ashamed of my weakness and misplaced loyalty, of the things I did for Mr Trump in an effort to protect and promote him.

"I am ashamed that I chose to take part in concealing Mr Trump's illicit acts rather than listening to my own conscience.

"I am ashamed because I know what Mr Trump is."

Mr Trump has denied charges of racism before
AFP/Getty Images

Democrats on the House Oversight and Reform Committee lifted an earlier restriction that the hearing not delve into Russia, while Republicans tried unsuccessfully to block the hearing as it got under way.

That was on the grounds that Cohen had not provided his opening statement long enough in advance.

The committee's top Republican, Representative Jim Jordan sought early on to undermine Cohen's credibility by calling him a "fraudster, cheat" and "a convicted felon".

"Certainly it's the first time a convicted perjurer has been brought back to be a star witness at a hearing," Mr Jordan said.

Representative Jim Jordan speaks to Michael Cohen
AP

Cohen, ahead of his appearance, said the American people could decide "exactly who is telling the truth" when he gave evidence before the House committee.

Clinton's emails

Cohen said in the prepared evidence that he was in Mr Trump's office in July 2016 when Mr Trump's longtime adviser Roger Stone telephoned him.

On speakerphone, Mr Stone told Mr Trump that he had communicated with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and that "within a couple of days, there would be a massive dump of emails that would damage Hillary Clinton's campaign", according to Cohen.

Mr Trump responded by saying "wouldn't that be great", Cohen said.

That month, WikiLeaks released thousands of emails hacked from the Democratic National Committee's server.

"A lot of people have asked me about whether Mr Trump knew about the release of the hacked Democratic National Committee emails ahead of time," Cohen said in the prepared evidence.

"The answer is yes."

Cohen's claims that Mr Trump had advance knowledge of the emails contradict the president's assertions that he was in the dark, but it was not clear what evidence Cohen had to support the allegation or even how legally problematic it would be for Mr Trump.

Special counsel Robert Mueller has not suggested that mere awareness of WikiLeaks' plans, as Mr Stone is purported to have had, is by itself a crime.

Russian collusion

Cohen said he does not have direct evidence the president colluded with the Russian government during the election, but that he has "suspicions".

Moscow Tower

Cohen said lawyers for Mr Trump had "reviewed and edited" a statement in which Cohen falsely said a proposal for a Trump Tower in Moscow had been abandoned in January 2016.

He has since said he continued pursuing the project for Mr Trump for months after that.

Mr Trump did not directly tell him to lie, but "he would look me in the eye and tell me there's no business in Russia and then go out and lie to the American people by saying the same thing", he said.

Cohen said that "in his way, he was telling me to lie".

Accusations of racism

Mr Cohen alleged he once heard Mr Trump say black people “would never vote for him because they were too stupid.”

He also claimed: “Mr Trump once asked me if I could name a country ran by a black person that wasn’t a s***hole”.

“This was when Barack Obama was President of the United States.”

He added under oath: “While we were once driving through a struggling neighbourhood in Chicago, he commented that only black people could live that way.”

Cohen begins a three-year prison sentence in May after pleading guilty to lying to Congress in 2017 and committing campaign finance violations while working for Mr Trump.

Additional reporting by Press Association

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