By: Tomi Simmons
“I have fixed things, but I am no longer your ‘fixer’ Mr. Trump,” said Michael Cohen at the hearing in front of Congress on February 27, 2019. Cohen’s testimony was his reflection of his time with the President. Within the opening statement, according to the transcript of Cohen’s testimony from The New York Times, Cohen referred to President Trump as a “racist, cheat,” and a “con man.”
The concrete evidence that Cohen used in his opening statement included:
- A copy of a check to reimburse Cohen for making a hush money payment to an adult film star for President Trump.
- Financial statements from 2011, 2012, 2013 from Deutsche Bank.
- An article that contains President Trump’s handwriting on it having to do with a self-portrait that he arranged for a bidder and then reimbursed the bidder with a check from his nonprofit charity.
- Letters that Cohen wrote on Trump’s behalf threatening his high schools, colleges, and SATs to not release past grades or scores.
The first time Cohen stood in front of Congress he said it was to protect Trump; this time he was there to tell the truth. Months ago, Cohen, President Trump’s former personal lawyer, pleaded guilty to tax fraud, excessive campaign contributions and illegal corporate contributions.
Cohen made several accusations about Trump, one of them including Cohen being forced to pay “hush money” to women who claimed that they had an affair with President Trump. After this, Cohen went on to say that Trump directed him to lie about the reimbursement to the public.
The question of Russia being involved in America’s elections with Trump’s knowledge was also brought up. The inquiries were about the Trump Tower that was supposed to be built in Moscow in 2016. Cohen assured that Trump knew about these plans and negotiated with Moscow throughout the election. He alluded to a meeting as well between Trump and Russians who claimed to have had negative rumors about Hillary Clinton. Cohen added that President Trump knew that WikiLeaks would steal the emails from the democrats, as well.
Cohen recalled moments that he had with Trump where the president made generalizations about African Americans. Cohen claimed Trump, while in Chicago, said that “only black people could live this way.” In addition, it was stated that Trump during the 2016 campaign said, “black people would never vote for him because they were too stupid.”
All of these accusations were in the opening statement of Cohen’s testimony. Congress asked many questions of Cohen, and overall, the hearing lasted close to seven hours. Now it is up to Congress what is true and untrue about Michael Cohen’s testimony.
