WASHINGTON, Feb 27 (Reuters) – It appears President Donald Trump committed a crime, the chairman of the U.S. House Oversight Committee said on Wednesday, but he declined to say whether he should be removed from office.
![Click to play video: 'Cohen says Trump had him threaten people with litigation hundreds of times'](https://i0.wp.com/media.globalnews.ca/videostatic/781/823/2019-02-27T18-49-00.706Z--1280x720.jpg?w=1040&quality=70&strip=all)
READ MORE: Michael Cohen says he fears what will happen if Trump loses 2020 election
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U.S. President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen accused him of breaking the law while in office and said for the first time that Trump knew in advance about a WikiLeaks dump of stolen emails that hurt his 2016 election rival Hillary Clinton.
In a dramatic televised hearing in Congress on Wednesday, Cohen said Trump approved hush payments to cover up extra-marital sexual relationships in violation of campaign finance laws, and signed a personal check for $35,000 in 2017 to reimburse Cohen for at least one of those payments.
WATCH: Cohen says Trump told him to say he wasn’t knowledgeable about alleged hush money payments
![Click to play video: 'Cohen says Trump told him to say he wasn’t knowledgeable about alleged hush money payments'](https://i1.wp.com/media.globalnews.ca/videostatic/766/183/2019-02-27T18-15-22.119Z--174.998_848x480_1449280067985.jpg?w=1040&quality=70&strip=all)
Cohen, 52, was a close aide of Trump for years and his testimony could increase the legal and political pressure on the Republican president, but he did not appear to disclose a “smoking gun” that could sink his former boss.
Cohen told a House of Representatives committee he had no direct evidence that Trump or his campaign colluded with Moscow during the election campaign.
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