Michael Cohen described his ex-boss – U.S. President Donald Trump – as a “racist,” a “con man” and a “cheat” in copies of an opening statement he is expected to deliver to the House Oversight and Reform Committee on Wednesday.
Cohen, a former lawyer to Trump, alleged in the statement that the president knew during the campaign that his associate Roger Stone was speaking with Wikileaks about a dump of emails that had been hacked from the Democratic National Committee, according to reports by both The New York Times and CNN on Tuesday.
And that was just one allegation in a 20-page statement that members of the House committee are expected to hear first-hand on Wednesday morning.
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Cohen’s testimony will come one day after he spoke before the Senate Intelligence Committee in a closed-door hearing, and one day before he testifies before the House Intelligence Committee, once again out of the public eye.
It will also come before he’s expected to serve a three-year prison sentence after he pleaded guilty to lying to Congress, tax fraud and a campaign finance violation, which was connected to “hush money” paid to two women to keep them from speaking out about their alleged affairs with Trump.
Reports of Cohen’s opening testimony suggest he will touch on topics such as “hush money” paid to adult film actress Stormy Daniels and the 2016 Trump Tower meeting between Donald Trump Jr., Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, then-campaign chair Paul Manafort, Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya and others with Russian connections about possibly offering damaging information about Hillary Clinton.
READ MORE: Cohen to testify about Trump’s reported Russia dealings, Stormy Daniels payments – sources
At one point in his testimony, Cohen is expected to say that he was in Trump’s office in July 2016, “days before the Democratic convention.”
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On that day, copies of the testimony showed, Cohen alleged that his then-boss took a call from Roger Stone on speakerphone.
Cohen is expected to allege that “Mr. Trump responded by stating to the effect of ‘wouldn’t that be great.'”
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The testimony is also expected to cover Cohen’s knowledge of the 2016 meeting at Trump Tower.
He’s expected to stress that does not know of direct evidence that Trump or his campaign colluded with Russia.
“But, I have my suspicions,” copies of the testimony read.
Cohen is expected to recount how, in the summer of 2017, he started reading in the media that the Trump Tower meeting had taken place.
“Something clicked in my mind,” his testimony said.
“I remember being in the room with Mr. Trump, probably in early June 2016, when something peculiar happened.”
READ MORE: Everything you need to know about ex-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen’s testimony to Congress this week
At that time, Donald Trump Jr. entered the room, walked behind his father’s desk – an “unusual” move for anyone to pull in Trump’s office – leaned in and said in a low voice, “the meeting is all set,” Cohen is expected to tell Congress.
“I remember Mr. Trump saying, ‘OK good… let me know.'”
Cohen’s expected testimony went on to say that Trump had said his son had the “worst judgment of anyone in the world,” and that he would “never set up any meeting of any significance alone – and certainly not without checking with his father.”
Cohen is also expected to testify that he knew “nothing went on in Trump world, especially the campaign, without Mr. Trump’s knowledge and approval.”
“So, I concluded that Don Jr. was referring to that June 2016 Trump Tower meeting about dirt on Hillary with the Russian representative when he walked behind his dad’s desk that day – and that Mr. Trump knew that was the meeting Don Jr. was talking about when he said, ‘that’s good… let me know.”
Of Stormy Daniels, Cohen is expected to testify that Trump asked him to “pay off an adult film star with whom he had an affair, and to lie to his wife about it, which I did.
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“Lying to the First Lady is one of my biggest regrets. She is a kind, good person. I respect her greatly – and she did not deserve that.”
The prepared testimony shows that Cohen is prepared to provide a copy of a $130,000 wire transfer from himself to Daniels’ lawyer, as well as a copy of a cheque that Trump wrote from his personal bank account to reimburse him for the money.
The cheque, Cohen is expected to assert, was written on Aug. 1, 2017 – while Trump was president.
“The President of the United States thus wrote a personal check for the payment of hush money as part of a criminal scheme to violate campaign finance laws,” he’s expected to say.
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Of race, Cohen is expected to say, “the country has seen Mr. Trump court white supremacists and bigots. You have heard him call poorer countries ‘s***holes.’
“In private, he is even worse.”
In the testimony, Cohen is expected to say that Trump uttered racist remarks about black people while driving through a neighbourhood in Chicago – among other allegations.
CNN asked the White House for comment on the testimony. The White House referred the network to a statement from press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders that was issued on Tuesday.
“Disgraced felon Michael Cohen is going to prison for lying to Congress and making other false statements. Sadly, he will go before Congress this week and we can expect more of the same.
“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.”
WATCH: Michael Cohen arrives on Capitol Hill for closed-door hearing
Neither Cohen nor his lawyer, Lanny Davis, immediately returned the Times’ request for comment.
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