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Cohen: Let America Decide 'Who Is Telling The Truth'

Cohen: Let America Decide 'Who Is Telling The Truth'

Michael Cohen. (Craig Ruttle/AP)

Tuesday, 26 February 2019 07:39 PM EST

U.S. President Donald Trump's former personal attorney Michael Cohen on Tuesday said he was looking forward to Wednesday's open hearing in the House where he plans to make his case for why people should believe him over Trump.

"I'm going to let the American people decide exactly who is telling the truth," Cohen said.

Cohen will reportedly tell lawmakers that Trump asked him several times about a proposed skyscraper project in Moscow long after he secured the Republican presidential nomination, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.

As Special Counsel Robert Mueller appears to near the end of his probe into whether Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election in collusion with Trump's campaign, Cohen's assertion that Trump was inquiring about the skyscraper project as late as June 2016, if true, would show Trump remained personally engaged in the venture well into his candidacy.

Cohen was set to offer lawmakers new information about Trump's private affairs over three consecutive days of in-depth discussion with congressional committees that began on Tuesday with a closed hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee.

The focus of the session, which lasted for roughly 9 hours, was mainly on what Cohen knows about Trump's dealings with Russia, as well as about Cohen's previous lies, two congressional sources said. Cohen apologized to the committee for lying to it in 2017, according to CNN.

Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate committee, suggested Cohen's testimony was important to its probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

"Two years ago when this investigation started, I said it may be the most important thing I'm involved in in my public life in the Senate and nothing I have heard today dissuades me from that view," Warner told reporters outside the hearing room.

Cohen was one of Trump's closest aides and once said he would "take a bullet" for him. But he turned against his former boss last year and is cooperating with prosecutors after pleading guilty to tax evasion, bank fraud and campaign finance violations.

Cohen has said Trump directed him to make hush-money payments to two women who said they had sexual relationships with Trump, in violation of campaign finance laws before the 2016 election.

Trump called Cohen a "rat" after he turned on him, and the White House again attacked Cohen's credibility on Tuesday.

"It's laughable that anyone would take a convicted liar like Cohen at his word, and pathetic to see him given yet another opportunity to spread his lies," White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said.

Trump has denied any collusion between his campaign and Moscow. Russia denies U.S. intelligence agencies' assertions that it interfered in the election.

Cohen has been disbarred, according to a decision by a New York state appeals court in Manhattan made public on Tuesday. Disbarment is automatic in New York for lawyers convicted of felonies.

Michael Monico, a lawyer for Cohen, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

© 2024 Thomson/Reuters. All rights reserved.


Newsfront
U.S. President Donald Trump's former personal attorney Michael Cohen on Tuesday said he was looking forward to Wednesday's open hearing in the House where he plans to make his case for why people should believe him over Trump.
donald trump, michael cohen, house, russia, investigation, hush money
492
2019-39-26
Tuesday, 26 February 2019 07:39 PM
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