He is expected to condemn the president before congress
Donald Trump's former lawyer is expected to condemn him before congress today. Michael Cohen is set to call the president of the United States a 'racist', a 'con man' and a 'cheat'.
This declaration will come in stark contrast to when Cohen said he would take a bullet for Trump - something he regrets ever saying, supposedly to keep the president happy.
“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,” Cohen will tell the House of Representatives’ oversight and reform committee.
“I am ashamed that I chose to take part in concealing Mr Trump’s illicit acts rather than listening to my own conscience.”
This copy of Cohen's speech first obtained by the
New York Times shows that he will add: “I am ashamed because I know what Mr Trump is. He is a racist. He is a conman. He is a cheat."
“He was a presidential candidate who knew that Roger Stone was talking with Julian Assange about a WikiLeaks drop of Democratic National Committee emails," he will go on to say.
Last summer Cohen pleaded guilty to a list of charges including tax evasion, bank fraud and finance campaign violations. He also pleaded guilty to another charge by brought by Robert Mueller’s office that he lied to Congress during discussions about the 'Moscow project' - the proposed construction of another Trump skyscraper in the Russian capital.
He will begin a three-year prison sentence shortly.
"I look forward to tomorrow to being able in my voice to tell the American people my story and I’m going to let the American people decide exactly who’s telling the truth,” he told reporters on Tuesday.
“In conversations we had during the campaign, at the same time I was actively negotiating in Russia for him, 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,” Cohen intends to say on Wednesday.
“In his way, he was telling me to lie.”
He will add: “Mr. Trump did not directly tell me to lie to Congress. That’s not how he operates.”
Cohen will also state that Trump never believed he would become president.
"To be clear: Mr. Trump knew of and directed the Trump Moscow negotiations throughout the campaign and lied about it. He lied about it because he never expected to win the election," Cohen will state.
"He also lied about it because he stood to make hundreds of millions of dollars on the Moscow real estate project."
Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, has claimed Cohen was a liar in a statement to the Washington Post.
“It’s pathetic. This is a lawyer who tapped his own client when he claimed he was being loyal. If you believe him you are a fool,” he said.
“He bragged he was connected to Russian organised crime and he may be. His father in law who gave him millions to [invest] was convicted of tax fraud in a money laundering operation. Let’s see if these Democrats want to ask about his many crimes having nothing to do with anyone but his coterie of business associates with questionable connections.”
