Rep. Adam Schiff, who chairs the House Intelligence Committee where former Trump attorney Michael Cohen will testify, said Wednesday that if his allegations are true, President Donald Trump committed criminal acts while in office.
“If Mr. Cohen’s allegations are correct, it means the president, while in office, literally while in the Oval Office was engaged in criminal activity, and that is furthering this campaign fraud scheme,” the California Democrat told CNN's "New Day."
"That’s pretty breathtaking when you think about it, that the president of the United States is allegedly paying hush money as president of the United States, and misleading the country about it, and that's pretty serious business," he added.
According to Cohen, Trump was aware of payments made to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal during the 2016 campaign, after they claimed they'd been involved in affairs with them.
During Wednesday's testimony, the former attorney, who was disbarred earlier this week, presented a copy of a check for $35,000, telling members of the House Oversight Committee that Trump wrote a "personal check for the payment of hush money as part of a criminal scheme to violate campaign finance laws."
Schiff said Cohen's statements move the "needle" concerning criminal activities "right into the White House."
He added, however, that special counsel Robert Mueller will have the more "complete picture" on Trump, and noted that Cohen's testimony must be taken in context with what Mueller's investigation eventually reveals.
Cohen will appear before Schiff's committee on Thursday, where he will testify behind closed doors. He also testified in private before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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