For ten years, Michael
Cohen was Donald Trump’s attack dog. By his own estimate, the president’s
former fixer threatened more than 500 people or entities at Mr Trump’s request.
But in sworn testimony before the House Oversight Committee on February 27th,
and armed with documents, Mr Cohen called his former boss “a racist…a con man…and
a cheat” who is “fundamentally disloyal” and a threat to American democracy.
Mr Cohen’s
accusations were not entirely new. But hearing them made openly before
Congress, under penalty of perjury, crystallised how extraordinary they are. Mr
Cohen said that Mr Trump knew in advance that WikiLeaks would release stolen
emails damaging to Hillary Clinton’s campaign. That would make the campaign
complicit in an attack by a foreign intelligence service.
Mr Cohen also
entered into evidence a pair of cheques—one signed by Mr Trump from his
personal account and the other from his trust account, each for $35,000, both
from 2017, after he took office—which he said were reimbursements for hush
money paid to a pornographic-film actress. Mr Cohen says that as late as
February 2018, Mr Trump told Mr Cohen to say that he did not know about these
payments.
He also brought
three financial-disclosure statements to illustrate his claim that Mr Trump
inflated his net worth when he wanted people to think he was rich, and deflated
it to minimise his taxes. In 2012-13, according to the statements, his net
worth rose from $4.6bn to $8.7bn—due largely to his “brand value”, which Mr
Trump did not mention in 2012 but by 2013 was somehow worth $4bn. Mr Cohen also
said that Mr Trump inflated the value of his assets to an insurance firm, which
would count as fraud.
Mr Cohen said Mr
Trump, “knew of and directed the Trump Moscow negotiations throughout the
campaign and lied about it.” He said he briefed Mr Trump, as well as Donald
junior and Ivanka, about the project around ten times in 2016. Mr Cohen said he
knew of no “direct evidence that Mr Trump or his campaign colluded with
Russia.” But, he said, “I have my suspicions,” noting Mr Trump’s desire to win
at all costs.
Republicans on
the committee implied that Mr Cohen’s testimony was a plot to land a lucrative
book or film contract. And they highlighted that he was convicted of lying to
Congress, among other things, and will soon begin a three-year prison sentence.
Mr Cohen accused
Trump of conduct more serious than Bill Clinton’s lies about an extramarital
affair. The prospect of impeachment is closer now than it was before Mr Cohen
testified.
From The Economist (edited)
