Hush money payments. Personal finances. Loyalty. Cohen’s hearing covered a wide array of topics.
After months of anticipation, President Donald Trump’s former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen is testifying publicly before Congress on hush-money payments, his loyalty to the president and possible Russian collusion into the 2016 presidential election.
Cohen’s appearance before the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday includes fiery accusations against the president and fierce backlash from Republican members of Congress, who have derided Cohen as an unreliable witness.
Cohen previously pleaded guilty to lying to Congress and financial crimes, and Trump’s circle — including members of Congress — have derided Cohen as an opportunist. Cohen is slated to begin his prison sentence at the end of the spring.
Here are some key moments from Cohen’s testimony:
Cohen accused Trump of knowing about the Trump Tower meeting between Trump associates and Russian agents. Trump’s team has repeatedly changed its story in regards to a meeting with Russians at the Midtown Manhattan Trump Tower, which has become a focal point in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into alleged collusion during the 2016 election. Trump’s defenders have said that while the president’s eldest son, Donald Trump, Jr., attended the meeting, the senior Trump had no knowledge of it.
But Cohen recounted a meeting with Trump where Donald, Jr., approached his father and told him in a hushed tone that the “meeting is all set.” Cohen deduced that he was talking about the Trump Tower meeting, meaning the president knew of — and had a hand in planning — a meeting with a Russian lawyer with ties to the Kremlin ahead of the election.
Debbie Wasserman Schultz grilled Cohen about the 2016 election. Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) served as chair of the Democratic National Convention during the 2016 election when Russian hackers hacked Democratic emails, which were leaked by WikiLeaks. Cohen claimed during his opening statements that Trump knew about a dump of Democratic emails in advance, using his associate Roger Stone as an intermediary with WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange.
But when questioned by Wasserman Schultz if Trump knew about the Russian hacking efforts in advance, Cohen said he couldn’t say for sure.
“I cannot answer that in a yes or no. He had advanced notice that there was going to be a dump of emails, but at no time did I hear the specificity of what those emails were going to be,” Cohen said.
“But you do testify today that he had advanced knowledge of their imminent release,” Wasserman Schultz replied.
