Rep. Gaetz threatens Michael Cohen ahead of public hearing

[BmorePat87]

Cohen's opening remarks:

https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/27/politics/cohen-testimony-read/index.html

Highlights include:

-Cohen addresses credibility issues, says he's providing evidence to prove he is not lying.

- "He is a racist. He is a conman. He is a cheat."

- Trump knew Roger Stone was talking to Julian Assange to find out when the DNC emails would leak

- He has a physical copy of a personal Check from Trump, written after he was president, to repay Cohen for paying off Stormy

-He arranged for someone to buy a portrait of himself, repaid them using his charity, and then hung the portrait up at one of his golf clubs

-Cohen says that negotiations with Moscow continued months into Trump's presidency, beginning during the Iowa caucus. Cohen said Trump did it because he didn't think he'd win and figured he'd make hundreds of millions from a Trump Tower in Russia. Trump never told him directly to lie about Congress, but had his other lawyers edit Cohen's statements before Congress. During the campaign while Cohen was actively negotiating land deals with Russia, Trump would always say to him "there's no business in Russia" as a way of saying "never admit this is happening".

-"Over time, I saw his true character revealed. Mr. Trump is an enigma. He is complicated, as am I. He has both good and bad, as do we all. But the bad far outweighs the good, and since taking office, he has become the worst version of himself. He is capable of behaving kindly, but he is not kind. He is capable of committing acts of generosity, but he is not generous. He is capable of being loyal, but he is fundamentally disloyal"

-Trump referred to his campaign as the "greatest infomercial in political history", never expecting to win but expecting the campaign to do wonders for his brand.

-Trump knew the DNC emails would be leaked before they were

-When Obama was President, Trump asked Cohen to name one country with a black leader that "wasn't a shithole".

-He commented on a bad neighborhood in Chicago that "only black people would live this way" and that they were "too stupid" to ever vote for him

-Trump often directed Cohen to tell small businesses he did business with that they would either receive no payment or a reduced payment after work was completed

-Trump had Cohen take out a personal line of credit to pay Stormy so it wouldn't be linked to Trump. Trump then paid him back with a series of checks over a number of months

-Trump cut wages at his company in 2008 and then showed Cohen his $10m tax refund, calling the government stupid

-Cohen was directed to handle the PR for Trump's Vietnam deferments. When Cohen asked for information on treatment for the bone spurs, Trump said there was no surgery and “You think I’m stupid, I wasn’t going to Vietnam.”

-Cohen wasn't included on the Trump Tower meeting, but he recalls a time in the weeks before it when Don Jr walked behind Trump's desk (which no one is allowed to do) and quietly told him that the meeting was set. Cohen says that nothing was done in that campaign without Trump's approval, and that Trump did not trust Don Jr to handle anything important without him directly signing off on it.