Donald Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen plans to tell a House committee on Wednesday that Trump knew ahead of time that WikiLeaks had emails damaging to 2016 Democratic rival Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and that Trump is a “racist,” a “conman” and a “cheat.” That’s according to prepared testimony leaked to several media outlets.
In the document, which Euronews’ partner NBC News has not independently authenticated, Michael Cohen also alleges that the president not only lied about his ongoing efforts to build a Trump Tower in Moscow during the election but urged Cohen to lie about them without directly saying so.
But it is Cohen’s description of a conversation between Trump and longtime adviser Roger Stone days before WikiLeaks released a trove of DNC emails on the eve of the 2016 Democratic National Convention that is the big allegation in the document.
“I was in Mr. Trump’s office when his secretary announced that Roger Stone was on the phone,” Cohen will say, according to the draft statement. “Mr. Trump put Mr. Stone on the speakerphone. Mr. Stone told Mr. Trump that he had just gotten off the phone with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and that 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. Mr. Trump responded by stating to the effect of ‘wouldn’t that be great.'”
Last year, special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating the Trump operation’s ties to Russia and possible obstruction of justice, indicted a dozen Russians in connection with the DNC hacks. Stone has been indicted by Mueller on charges of obstruction, making false statements and witness tampering.
Trump, who is in Vietnam for a nuclear summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-unn, attacked Cohen after the testimony was leaked.
“Michael Cohen was one of many lawyers who represented me (unfortunately),” Trump wrote. “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!”
Cohen is being advised by Lanny Davis, a former lawyer for President Bill Clinton; Trump refers to his defeated 2016 opponent, Hillary Clinton, as “Crooked Hillary.”