President Donald Trump’s former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen is expected to offer damming testimony about his former boss during a public hearing before the House Oversight Committee Wednesday.
The hearing will begin at 10 a.m. ET and will be available on most cable news and broadcast networks including CNN, ABC, NBC, MSNBC and Fox News, as well as NPR. Video can also be streamed online via C-SPAN and the House Oversight Committee’s website.
Along with his public appearance before the House Oversight Committee, Cohen testified privately before the Senate Intelligence Committee yesterday, and he’ll speak privately to the House Intelligence Committee tomorrow, February 28th.
Several news outlets have teased what Cohen may reveal during his testimony, including that Trump engaged in criminal conduct while in office. He is expected to discuss the how he and Trump orchestrated the $130,000 hush money payment to Stormy Daniels, and reportedly produce two reimbursement checks, one signed by Trump and the other by his son, Donald Trump, Jr.
On Wednesday morning, The New York Times reported that Cohen would also tell Congress that Trump knew, via Roger Stone, that WikiLeaks would publish the hacked Democratic emails prior to the 2016 election (Stone has since been indicted by the Mueller investigation).
Cohen is expected to go into detail about several aspects of Trump’s finances, complete with supporting documents. He will reportedly explain how Trump inflated his net worth to gain media attention, and deflated it to reduce his property taxes. He’s also expected to also provide anecdotal evidence of Trump’s “lies, racism and cheating.”
Hours before the hearing, Trump lashed out at Cohen on Twitter in an attempt to discredit his former lawyer and downplay the extent of their working relationship. “Michael Cohen was one of many lawyers who represented me (unfortunately),” Trump said. “He had other clients also. He was just disbarred by the State Supreme Court for lying & fraud. He did bad things unrelated to Trump. He is lying in order to reduce his prison time. Using Crooked’s lawyer!”
Michael Cohen was one of many lawyers who represented me (unfortunately). He had other clients also. He was just disbarred by the State Supreme Court for lying & fraud. He did bad things unrelated to Trump. He is lying in order to reduce his prison time. Using Crooked’s lawyer!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 27, 2019
