Michael Cohen, the former lawyer, fixer and "keeper of secrets" of president Donald Trump, described his former boss as a "racist, a conman and a cheat" in a blistering prepared statement released in advance of his testimony before the House on Wednesday.
Cohen's scathing depiction of Trump is only the tip of a massive iceberg of facts and detailed information he presented to U.S. senators at a closed-door hearing that lasted some nine hours. Combined with the public testimony Cohen will make before the House Oversight Committee tomorrow, and at another closed-door hearing at the Senate on Thursday, the sum total of Cohen's revelations will likely lead to calls for Trump's impeachment at the Democrat-controlled House.
Cohen began his testimony by apologizing to the Senate Intelligence Committee for the lies he told during his 2017 testimony. He was grilled for nine hours by both Republicans and Democrats, who refused to detail Cohen's testimony to them.
More answers will be forthcoming today when Cohen publicly testifies at the House. In his eagerly anticipated House testimony, Cohen will express remorse over his service to Trump. He will tell lawmakers he is no longer interested in protecting the president, who repeatedly claimed he had no knowledge of the payments.
"I am ashamed that I chose to take part in concealing Mr. Trump's illicit acts rather than listening to my own conscience," Cohen will say. "I am ashamed because I know what Mr. Trump is. He is a racist. He is a conman. He is a cheat."
Cohen will testify to Trump masterminded and implemented "a criminal scheme to violate campaign finance laws" regarding the payment to Daniels. In his prepared remarks, Cohen is expected to tell the committee that Trump knew his longtime associate Roger Stone "was talking with Julian Assange about a WikiLeaks drop of Democratic National Committee emails."
Cohen will talk about a phone conversation in July 2016 he witnessed between Trump (then a presidential candidate) and Stone. Cohen said Stone told Trump "that he had just gotten off the phone with Julian Assange and that Mr. Assange told Mr. Stone that, within a couple of days, there would be a massive dump of emails that would damage Hillary Clinton's campaign." Two days later saw Trump make his infamous appeal to Russia to find Clinton's 30,000 lost emails.
Cohen said Trump responded by saying, "Wouldn't that be great."
Cohen, however, will also say he doesn't have direct evidence Trump or his campaign colluded with the Russians to say the 2016 presidential election in his favor.
Cohen will also say Trump knew full well about the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between top campaign officials and a Russian lawyer and spy offering embarrassing information on Hillary Clinton.
