Ex-lawyer Cohen assails 'conman' Trump, gives no direct evidence of collusion

[webfact]

Ex-lawyer Cohen assails 'conman' Trump, gives no direct evidence of collusion

By Nathan Layne and Ginger Gibson

 

Michael Cohen, the former personal attorney of U.S. President Donald Trump, is sworn in to testify before a House Committee on Oversight and Reform hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., February 27, 2019. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer Michael Cohen accused him of breaking the law while in office and said for the first time that Trump knew in advance about a WikiLeaks dump of stolen emails that hurt his 2016 election rival Hillary Clinton.

 

In a dramatic televised hearing in Congress on Wednesday, Cohen said Trump approved hush payments to cover up extra-marital sexual relationships in violation of campaign finance laws, and signed a personal check for $35,000 in 2017 to reimburse Cohen for at least one of those payments.

 

Cohen, 52, was a close aide of Trump for years and his testimony could increase the legal and political pressure on the Republican president, but he did not appear to reveal a "smoking gun" that would sink his former boss.

 

Cohen told a House of Representatives committee he had no direct evidence that Trump or his campaign colluded with Moscow during the election campaign.

 

Possible collusion is a key theme of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, which has dogged the president during his two years in office Trump has repeatedly denied the allegation as has the Kremlin.

 

Assailing the president as a "conman" and a "cheat", Cohen said Trump knew ahead of time about WikiLeaks' release of emails in 2016 that undermined Democrat Clinton's presidential bid.

 

He also said Trump directed negotiations for a real estate project in Moscow during the White House race even as he publicly said he had no business interests in Russia.

 

"I wouldn't use the word colluding," Cohen said of Trump's dealings with Russia, adding that there was "something odd" about the president's good relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

 

The White House had no comment on Cohen's testimony but Trump earlier on Wednesday accused his former employee of lying.

 

"He did bad things unrelated to Trump. He is lying in order to reduce his prison time," Trump wrote on Twitter from Vietnam, where he was meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

 

Republican lawmakers at the hearing tried to undermine Cohen, portraying him as an irredeemable liar who had benefited from financial crimes he pleaded guilty to last year, and saying the hearing was an opening gambit in a Democratic push to impeach Trump.

 

"I don’t believe Michael Cohen is capable of telling the truth," said Republican Representative James Comer.

 

Cohen was mostly calm and contrite under the heated questioning from Republicans, and cautioned them not to make the same mistake he did in protecting Trump.

 

"I did the same thing as you're doing now, for 10 years. I protected Mr. Trump for 10 years," Cohen told the committee hearing. "The more people that follow Mr. Trump as I did blindly are going to suffer the same consequences that I am suffering."

 

ALLY TURNED WITNESS

Cohen was one of Trump's closest aides and fiercest defenders, working with him on business and personal deals for a decade.

 

But he turned against him last year and is cooperating with prosecutors after pleading guilty to tax evasion, bank fraud and campaign finance violations. Democrats took control of the House after last year's midterm elections and called Cohen to testify.

 

"I am ashamed because I know what Mr. Trump is. He is a racist. He is a conman. He is a cheat," Cohen said.

 

He said he was directed by Trump in 2016 to make a $130,000 payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels to cover up an extra-marital affair.

 

That payment could amount to an illegal in-kind contribution by Cohen to the campaign because it exceeded donation limits and was not disclosed in Trump's campaign finance reports, legal experts say.

 

Trump has denied having sex with Daniels and said the payments to her and another woman who claimed an affair were not illegal.

 

Cohen turned over to the committee a copy of a $35,000 check Trump signed on Aug. 1, 2017, one in a series he said was to reimburse him for paying off Daniels after Trump took office.

 

Cohen said Trump's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., co-signed another check, again for $35,000. A lawyer for Donald Jr. did not respond to a request for comment.

 

The sweeping claims against Trump, from a man who once said he would take a bullet for his boss, come as Mueller appears to be close to completing his investigation into possible collusion between Trump's campaign and Russian efforts to sway the vote.

 

Trump has called the Mueller investigation a "witch hunt."

 

U.S. officials have said the emails released by WikiLeaks were stolen by Russia as part of Moscow's campaign of hacking and propaganda during the presidential race aimed at sowing discord in the United States and harming Clinton.

 

Trump has previously denied knowing in advance about the release of hacked Democratic National Committee (DNC) emails during the election.

Cohen said he was in Trump's office in July 2016 when Roger Stone, a self-described "dirty trickster" and longtime political adviser to Trump, called the then Republican presidential candidate.

 

Cohen said Stone told Trump he had been speaking with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who told him there would be a dump of emails within a couple of days that would damage Clinton's campaign.

 

The DNC emails drove a wedge between supporters of Clinton and her rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, Senator Bernie Sanders. Although Clinton won the nomination, that rift weakened her candidacy.

 

"Mr. Cohen's statement is untrue," Stone said in an email, but did not specify which parts of the statement he meant.

 

Stone was indicted by Mueller on charges of lying to Congress about his communications with others related to WikiLeaks email dumps.

 

Cohen apologised for initially lying to Congress in 2017, when he said efforts to build a Trump skyscraper in Moscow had ceased by January 2016. He now says they continued through June 2016, during the height of the election campaign, and that Trump's lawyers "reviewed and edited" those false statements to Congress.

 

Cohen said Trump on multiple occasions inquired about the Moscow real estate project while telling the public he had no business dealings in Russia.

 

"He lied about it because he never expected to win the election. He also lied about it because he stood to make hundreds of millions of dollars," Cohen said.

 

(Reporting by Nathan Layne and Ginger Gibson; additional reporting by Karen Freifeld, Doina Chiacu, Sarah N. Lynch and Mark Hosenball; Writing by John Whitesides; Editing by Will Dunham and Alistair Bell)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-02-28

[TopDeadSenter]

33 minutes ago, webfact said:

 

"I wouldn't use the word colluding," Cohen said of Trump's dealings with Russia, adding that there was "something odd" about the president's good relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin

Yet another smoking gun turns out to be a damp squib. Clearly this Cohen has cracked under pressure and some serious mental illness is presenting itself. A lawyer calling somebody a "conman" and a "cheat", I loved that part. Give him a course of lithium and put the poor guy out to graze in some asylum, there is no point in hounding him any more.

 Now as per the title - "no direct evidence of collusion" from an insider. Once again may I humbly suggest there was no collusion, and even if certain Russian nationals wanted Trump to win, this did not cause Hillary to lose. Hillary did that all on her lonesome. The sad excuses and employing spymaster Mr Steele to gin up some plausible excuses as to why it wasn't Hillary's fault and the rest is history.

[stevenl]

40 minutes ago, TopDeadSenter said:

Yet another smoking gun turns out to be a damp squib. Clearly this Cohen has cracked under pressure and some serious mental illness is presenting itself. A lawyer calling somebody a "conman" and a "cheat", I loved that part. Give him a course of lithium and put the poor guy out to graze in some asylum, there is no point in hounding him any more.

 Now as per the title - "no direct evidence of collusion" from an insider. Once again may I humbly suggest there was no collusion, and even if certain Russian nationals wanted Trump to win, this did not cause Hillary to lose. Hillary did that all on her lonesome. The sad excuses and employing spymaster Mr Steele to gin up some plausible excuses as to why it wasn't Hillary's fault and the rest is history.

Incredible how you and others here can keep on denying anything that stands right in front of them.

[Chomper Higgot]

Cohen hands over documents proving Trump broke Campaign finance law and that Trump lies about his business connections in Russia.

 

That’ll do for now.

[wreckingcountry]

“No direct evidence of collusion “ ? The alternative view that isn’t reality ! No point even listing the “direct evidence “


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

[Tug]

Some have that tds really bad lol Donald is in deep direct evidence of a felony Donald’s check and this is what we see publicly what happened behind closed doors at the classified briefings?what does mr muller have?im not surprised at the rasist allegations and the underhanded rip off business tactics Donald is a truly nasty piece of work a real low life

[Berkshire]

2 hours ago, TopDeadSenter said:

 Now as per the title - "no direct evidence of collusion" from an insider. Once again may I humbly suggest there was no collusion, and even if certain Russian nationals wanted Trump to win, this did not cause Hillary to lose. Hillary did that all on her lonesome. The sad excuses and employing spymaster Mr Steele to gin up some plausible excuses as to why it wasn't Hillary's fault and the rest is history.

Geez man, Hillary again?  Your boy Trump is going down in flames and all you can do is bring up Hillary?  Nobody cares about her anymore.  It's about Trump and his crime family.  What the heck is wrong with you? 

[lannarebirth]

2 hours ago, TopDeadSenter said:

Yet another smoking gun turns out to be a damp squib. Clearly this Cohen has cracked under pressure and some serious mental illness is presenting itself. A lawyer calling somebody a "conman" and a "cheat", I loved that part. Give him a course of lithium and put the poor guy out to graze in some asylum, there is no point in hounding him any more.

 Now as per the title - "no direct evidence of collusion" from an insider. Once again may I humbly suggest there was no collusion, and even if certain Russian nationals wanted Trump to win, this did not cause Hillary to lose. Hillary did that all on her lonesome. The sad excuses and employing spymaster Mr Steele to gin up some plausible excuses as to why it wasn't Hillary's fault and the rest is history.

 

Frankly, I'm prepared to accept that Trump did not directly collude with the Russians in a prosecutable way, or if he did collude it was by proxy which is basically the same thing the Clinton campaign did. Let's call it a wash.  But c'mon man, putting all that aside, this is one first class POS you're defending. And I say that as one who does not denigrate his efforts with North Korea and actually appreciates his stance towards Chinese trade. That said, it's time for this reprobate to move along and I think pretty soon he's going to come to the same conclusion.

[spidermike007]

No doubt Trump is finished. At a minimum he will serve out his remaining 22 months as a weak lame duck. The chances of him even running in 2020 are diminishing by the day. I found Cohen's testimony not only to be credible, but to be damning. Having such dirty laundry aired in public like that, is going to have to turn some heads, and get some people thinking about the man that Cohen referred to as a gangster, (as I have known him to be for over 30 years, after practicing commercial real estate in New York City, during the 1980's) occupying the White House. No doubt the SDNY is going to come up with some pretty strong stuff. He has been practicing crime in NY for four decades, and it is catching up with him. Becoming president, will end up being the biggest mistake, of this sorry man's career. 

[klauskunkel]

[bendejo]

"Collusion" is just one item on a long list.

 

 

[Joe Mcseismic]

There is a very simple reason why you can believe Cohen's facts this time round.

He HAS to tell the truth. Robert Mueller and the Southern District of Manhattan already know everything regarding these facts and they will have been corroborated. If Cohen changes the story, they will know he is lying.

Why would Cohen lie again? It would mean yet another charge of lying to Congress and an increase in his custodial sentence.

 

Very telling that not a single Republican tried to defend the President, or, tried to dispute a single fact.

In the name of loyalty to Trump, they tried to tear down the credibility of a man who is in trouble because of his previous loyalty to Trump.

Obviously, these Republicans (yes, you Jim Jordan) have no idea what irony is.

[Caldera]

My takeaway is that the Trump Organization is a crime syndicate that needs to be disbanded, badly and with urgency. I trust that the New York state authorities are working hard to make that happen. Some more employees - past and present - might crack.

[Guest Jerry787]

CONMAN Trump, tell venezuela about integrity , honesty and democracy, he does the same to Siria...
and ppl approve and believe him...

[tlandtday]

2 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

No doubt Trump is finished. At a minimum he will serve out his remaining 22 months as a weak lame duck. The chances of him even running in 2020 are diminishing by the day. I found Cohen's testimony not only to be credible, but to be damning. Having such dirty laundry aired in public like that, is going to have to turn some heads, and get some people thinking about the man that Cohen referred to as a gangster, (as I have known him to be for over 30 years, after practicing commercial real estate in New York City, during the 1980's) occupying the White House. No doubt the SDNY is going to come up with some pretty strong stuff. He has been practicing crime in NY for four decades, and it is catching up with him. Becoming president, will end up being the biggest mistake, of this sorry man's career. 

You are naive at worst both Trump and Cohen are weasels but no doubt Cohen is the biggest rat of all.

[NickJ]

2020....MAGA. 

[Mansell]

I thought it was laughable how the main Republican defense was stating that Cohen was a liar, even to the pathetic childish "Liar, liar, pants on fire." Their Republican president has lied on average 8 times a day for two years.....I guess he should burst into spontaneous combustion any time soon.

[thaibeachlovers]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

Cohen, 52, was a close aide of Trump for years and his testimony could increase the legal and political pressure on the Republican president, but he did not appear to reveal a "smoking gun" that would sink his former boss.

 

Cohen told a House of Representatives committee he had no direct evidence that Trump or his campaign colluded with Moscow during the election campaign

Those that hoped he was the "answer to all their prayers" in removing Trump are AGAIN sadly mistaken.

Not this time.

[tlandtday]

3 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Those that hoped he was the "answer to all their prayers" in removing Trump are AGAIN sadly mistaken.

Not this time.

Understand the average attention span has declined dramatically and this will be long forgotten by next Tuesday particularly for such a questionable witness.  

[tlandtday]

20 minutes ago, Mansell said:

I thought it was laughable how the main Republican defense was stating that Cohen was a liar, even to the pathetic childish "Liar, liar, pants on fire." Their Republican president has lied on average 8 times a day for two years.....I guess he should burst into spontaneous combustion any time soon.

I don't understand why everything has to be tit for tat?  Can we not address the competency or credibility of someone without pointing a finger at someone else.  This Trump Derangement Syndrome makes it like dealing with six year olds.

[spidermike007]

1 hour ago, tlandtday said:

You are naive at worst both Trump and Cohen are weasels but no doubt Cohen is the biggest rat of all.

 

Perhaps a rat, but a rat with some honor. He decided enough was enough. Tens years of covering up for this man was enough. And of course, there was the matter of prison. Most RICO cases, and many of the mafia godfathers were brought down by rats. It is the nature of the judicial system to use rats, to squeeze out the real gangsters. Trump is finished. He is toast. His life of crime is finally catching up with him. Hopefully, Don Jr. and Ivanka will also see the inside of a cell. America deserves that justice. 

 

 

[howbri]

A proven liar testifying to a pack of proven democrat liars.

[mtls2005]

4 hours ago, Mansell said:

I thought it was laughable how the main Republican defense was stating that Cohen was a liar, even to the pathetic childish "Liar, liar, pants on fire."

 

Yes, Meadows, Jordan, Gosar, Higgins - Yikes, what a bunch of idiots. No coherent strategy. No trying to poke holes in his testimony. No trying to defend Trump. Meanwhile, I thought AOC's line of questioning was brilliant, very professional and "prosecutorial".

 

The references to the Stone call, and the Jr. meeting seem to point towards Conspiracy to Defraud The United States?

 

Nixon's defenders, in Congress and out in the hinterlands defended him right up until he resigned. Not much backbone in the Republican Party, then or now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ulic]

Of course, Cohen is telling the truth. Those who don't believe him and believe Trump probably believed Lance Armstrong when he said he never took drugs, or that Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and Mark Maguire never too drugs either. That said I don't really care. I think Trump is a dufus but the American voters put him in office and he has done or tried to do everything he said he was going to do. From moving the American embassy to Jerusalem, lowering taxes, appointing conservative judges from his named list weaken EPA standards and streamline regulations. People may not like what he stands for or his policies, but he has in his bull in a china shop ham-handed way delivered or is trying to deliver on his promises. Do I think Cohen is right on all of his assumptions, no. I don't believe Trump is a racist. I believe he is not sensitive to the issues of blacks/Hispanics, and he holds poor people in low regard, regardless of race. He likes and gets along with wealthy successful minorities, couldn't give a shit about the rest. He is a silver-spoon shameless self promoter-bullshiter egomaniac, but then again I believe almost everyone who runs for president of the USA has to be a bit of an egomaniac. Just my opinion. 

[Kelsall]

3 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

 

Perhaps a rat, but a rat with some honor. He decided enough was enough. Tens years of covering up for this man was enough. And of course, there was the matter of prison. Most RICO cases, and many of the mafia godfathers were brought down by rats. It is the nature of the judicial system to use rats, to squeeze out the real gangsters. Trump is finished. He is toast. His life of crime is finally catching up with him. Hopefully, Don Jr. and Ivanka will also see the inside of a cell. America deserves that justice. 

 

 

This shows how hatred can overshadow common sense.  In America anyone is innocent until proven guilty.  Trump has never been charged with a crime and of course never convicted.  All this started because he became president.  Nothing but politics.  Trump is not worried because he has nothing to worry about.  The whole thing is a laughable attempt to overthrow a duly elected president. 

[Nyezhov]

3 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

Perhaps a rat, but a rat with some honor.

Sorry dude, there is no such thing.

 

And as to Cohen: Falsus in Uno, falsus in Omnibus. No Prosecutor wants to risk the humiliation of losing a case against the biggest Defendant ever because of Cohen.

[mtls2005]

32 minutes ago, Kelsall said:

In America anyone is innocent until proven guilty. 

 

Tell that to Trump. Maybe take out a full page ad?

 

 

 

He seems to ignore this maxim almost daily attacking his foes on the twitter machine.

 

 

[joecoolfrog]

6 hours ago, tlandtday said:

You are naive at worst both Trump and Cohen are weasels but no doubt Cohen is the biggest rat of all.

So what ?

Cohen has been prosecuted and will do time , Trumps turn now !

[joecoolfrog]

6 hours ago, NickJ said:

2020....MAGA. 

Make all Gaols airtight ?

[joecoolfrog]

6 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Those that hoped he was the "answer to all their prayers" in removing Trump are AGAIN sadly mistaken.

Not this time.

Cohen is just part of the puzzle.