Michael Cohen testifies before Congress

The hearing is now in recess for an hour.

Chairman Elijah Cummings said committee members were needed in another chamber for voting.

Michael Cohen’s testimony before the House Oversight Committee began at 10 a.m. ET on Capitol Hill. President Trump’s former fixer has been testifying for more than four hours.

Michael Cohen, the former vice chair of the Republican National Committee finance committee, said he was once a Democrat — until former casino mogul Steve Wynn made him change.

Cohen’s resignation last year came months after Wynn, who resigned as finance committee chairman in January 2018 as he faced allegations of sexual misconduct. 

Here’s how the exchange played out today:

Rep. Stacey Plaskett: What was your position with the GOP in the up to eight months ago? 

Cohen: I was vice chair of the RNC finance committee. 

Plaskett: You were vice chair of the finance of the Republican national committee, right? 

Cohen: Correct. I do want to say I was a Democrat until Steve Wynn found out I was a Democrat and made me switch parties. 

Plaskett: That would be the smart thing to do. 

See this exchange:

Asked directly if she thinks the President should be impeached, Rep. Jackie Speier told reporters she thinks “there’s growing evidence that an impeachment pleading can be made, but I think there’s more that needs to be evaluated.”

She added she wants to hear from Donald Trump Jr., Steve Bannon, and others. Speier insinuated she believes others have lied to congressional committees, given what she heard today from Cohen.

On how Republicans have conducted themselves, she said she thinks it’s “cheeky” given that many of them called out Cohen for lying previously when he was lying for the President.

Michael Cohen says that the threats on him and his family are “the most vial, disgusting statements that any one can ever receive,” adding he’s fearful of what President Trump — and his supporters — can do.

Cohen was originally scheduled to testify before Congress on Feb. 7, but that was postponed due to the threats he said his family had received.

Cohen said Trump’s tweets against him have spurred some of the threats.

“When you have access to 60-plus million people that follow you on social media and you have the ability within which to spark some action by individuals that follow him,” he said.

When asked about what he believed Trump could do to him, Cohen said this:

“I’ve had to turn over to Secret Service because they are the most vile, disgusting statements that any one can ever receive and when it starts to affect your children, that’s when it really affects you,” he said.

Michael Cohen said today that he hired someone to rig two online polls for President Trump.

He said Trump knew about it and directed him to do so.

This isn’t the first time Cohen has confessed to this.

In January, Cohen, responding to a report in The Wall Street Journal, said he paid the head of a small technology company thousands in 2015 to rig online polls at “the direction of and for the sole benefit of” Trump.

At his hearing today, Cohen said John Gauger, the owner of RedFinch Solutions LLC, used algorithms to rig the polls.

Some background: Gauger told The Wall Street Journal that Cohen asked him in early 2014 to help Trump score well in a CNBC online poll of business leaders and a 2015 Drudge Report poll of potential Republican candidates. Gauger’s efforts for the CNBC poll were unsuccessful, according to the paper, and Trump ranked low in the Drudge Report poll.

Watch the moment here:

President Trump’s former lawyer denied the existence of a tape that purportedly showed Trump striking his wife Melania, and saying he doesn’t believe that the President has ever hit the first lady.

Congresswoman Jackie Speier asked about the tape, rumored to be from an elevator, that went up for auction in 2016.

“The story goes that he struck Melania while in that elevator because there’s a camera inside — which I’m not so sure. I actually am certain it’s not true. I’ve heard about that tape for years,” he said.

Cohen continued: “I don’t believe that auction was real and I don’t believe anybody — I don’t believe Mr. Trump ever struck Mrs. Trump ever, I don’t believe.”

Cohen said he never saw the tape — and insisted that’s not something Trump would do.

“Mr. Trump would never, in my opinion,” he said.

Democratic Rep. Jackie Speier asked Michael Cohen about how many people and entities Trump asked him to threaten in the decade Cohen worked as the President’s personal lawyer.

Cohen eventually said the number is around 500.

Here’s how the exchanged played out:

Speier: How many times did Mr. Trump ask you to threaten an individual or entity on his behalf?

Cohen: Quite a few times. 

Speier: 50 times? 

Cohen: More.

Speier: 100 times? 

Cohen: More. 

Speier: 200 times? 

Cohen: More. 

Speier: 500 times? 

Cohen: Probably, over the 10 years.

Speier: Over the 10 years he asked you — 

Cohen: And when you say threaten I’m talking with litigation or an argument with —

Speier: Intimidation?

Cohen: A nasty reporter that is writing an article. 

Michael Cohen denied he’s ever visited Prague and the Czech Republic despite an explosive claim made in the infamous Russia dossier.

The dossier contains allegations against several of Trump’s campaign officials and associates of having secret contacts with Russians during the campaign. The dossier also claims Cohen secretly met Russian officials in Prague to coordinate Kremlin interference in the election and do damage control if the alleged collusion was exposed or if Clinton won.

When asked about Prague, here’s what Cohen said today:

Rep. Ralph Norman: Have you ever been to Prague?

Cohen: I’ve never been to Prague.

Norman: Never have?

Cohen: I’ve never been to the Czech Republic.

Some background: Last year, Cohen’s lawyer at the time told the House Intelligence Committee that his client “has never traveled to Prague, Czech Republic, as evidenced by his US passport” and that Cohen “did not participate in meetings of any kind with Kremlin officials in Prague in August 2016.”

Cohen repeated his blanket denials.

He has cooperated with special counsel Robert Mueller, and prosecutors said in a court filing he provided “useful information concerning certain discrete Russia-related matters core to its investigation.” Cohen says he has shared “everything” with Mueller and that the Prague claims are false.

Federal prosecutors in New York are investigating unspecified criminal activity by President Trump, according to Cohen.

The Manhattan US Attorney’s office, which prosecuted Cohen, is examining both a conversation between Trump and Cohen that took place two months after the FBI searched Cohen’s properties in April 2018, according to Cohen, as well as other wrongdoing or illegal behavior by Trump.

“I’ve been asked by them not to discuss and not to talk about these issues,” Cohen told the House Oversight committee regarding the Manhattan US Attorney’s office when asked about the June 2018 talk he had with Trump, adding that the office was probing that matter.

New York federal prosecutors have pursued two Trump-related investigations since charging Cohen in August 2018: one concerning whether executives at the Trump Organization violated campaign-finance laws in an effort to reimburse Cohen for a hush money payment he made to adult-film star Stormy Daniels, and another into the Trump inaugural committee. It’s not clear whether the investigative activity Cohen disclosed during his testimony is related to either of those probes.

A spokesperson for the US Attorney’s office declined to comment.

Debbie Wasserman Schultz — a member of the House Oversight Committee who was personally affected by the hacking of the Democratic National Committee when she was the chair — said she believes Michael Cohen’s testimony.

She also said she believes the things Cohen alleged Trump did — but it’s too soon to be talking about impeachment.

During questioning, she asked if it was it was possible that the “whole family is conflicted or compromised with a foreign adversary.” Cohen said it was.

“I think he did two important things in his response to my question. One was he essentially implicated the likelihood that not only President Trump, but Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner and [others] in the Trump family would have been involved in being potentially compromised by Russia even before the beginning of the election,”

However, when asked if these are impeachable offenses, she said this:

Michael Cohen said he helped launch the website, shouldtrumprun.com, which he says eventually triggered Donald Trump’s campaign for president.

Rep. Jim Jordan asked Cohen: “You started the campaign for president of the United States for Donald Trump?”

“I certainly did, sir,” Cohen responded.

Cohen then explained that he had started the website after reading a newspaper that polled people on who they’d vote for in 2012.

He added: “6% said they’d vote” for Trump.

“So I brought it into his office and I said to him, ‘Mr. Trump, take a look at this, and he said wouldn’t that be great?’ And with that is where it all started,” Cohen said.

See the moment below:

Wikileaks tweeted that its publisher Julian Assange never has a phone call with longtime Trump associate Roger Stone, according to a statement it released during Michael Cohen’s testimony.

In the statement, Wikileaks said on March 16, 2016, it “launched a searchable archive for over 30 thousand emails & email attachments sent to and from Hillary Clinton’s private email server while she was Secretary of State.”

What Cohen said: In his testimony, Cohen said Trump had knowledge of Stone’s efforts to reach out to WikiLeaks ahead of the release of hacked Democratic emails during the 2016 campaign.

Earlier this year, Stone was indicted by a grand jury on charges brought by special counsel Robert Mueller, who alleges that the longtime Trump associate sought stolen emails from WikiLeaks that could damage Trump’s opponents while in coordination with senior Trump campaign officials.

Some very important context: The March 16, 2016, release was not the infamous election stuff. It was a searchable archive of emails from Clinton’s private email server while she was secretary of state. They had already been made public after a FOIA lawsuit.

However: It’s true that Assange previewed upcoming election-related leaks before the supposed phone call with Roger Stone. (In other words, it’s entirely possible that Stone just saw this one in the news and was bluffing when he spoke to Trump.)

Michael Cohen has testified that he’s cooperating with prosecutors still in the hopes they’ll ask a federal judge to reduce the sentence he’s already received.

Why? He’s seeking a Rule 35 motion.

The Rule 35 motion is the post-sentencing equivalent of the “5K” letter of cooperation that was sought after by many of special counsel Robert Mueller’s defendants who pleaded guilty before they were sentenced. Among the Mueller defendants, only Michael Flynn received a “5K” letter. Even Richard Pinedo, who helped investigators understand how the alleged Russian troll farm bought fake identities online and helped prosecutors identify the individuals they charged, didn’t get a “5K” letter from Mueller’s team.

Simply helping corroborate information to investigators isn’t typically enough to get a formal sentencing reduction letter. The cooperators have to provide “substantial assistance” to get a letter like this. “Substantial assistance” has a high legal threshold, which prosecutors have interpreted to mean the cooperator led them to another defendant or crime.

Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly said committee staff uncovered an email the White House had mistakenly released to lawmakers that revealed a meeting President Trump had requested in May of 2017 with Michael Cohen and Jay Sekulow, a member of the president’s legal team.

Cohen could not remember the meeting “off the top” of his head, but said, “I recall being in the White House with Jay Sekulow and it was in regard to the document production as well as my appearance before the House Select Intel but I’m not sure if that specifically is what you’re referring.”

Cohen said in that trip to the White House he had a conversation with Trump about his impending testimony.

“At the end of the day I knew exactly what he wanted me to say,” Cohen said.

He said he would check his documents and get a more fulsome answer for Connolly. 

Cohen said he thought Sekulow was in the meeting as a hand-off, “because he was going to be representing Mr. Trump going forward as one of his personal attorneys in this matter.”

Asked by Connolly if he was “coached” by the President on how he should testify before the Intelligence Committee, Cohen said “it’s difficult to answer” and repeated his previous testimony about the way Trump had back-handedly discussed Russia with him.

“He doesn’t tell you what he wants. What he does is again, ‘Michael, there’s no Russia, there’s no collusion, there’s no involvement, there’s no interference.’ I know what he means because I’ve been around him for so long. So if you’re asking me whether or not that’s the message, that’s staying on point, that’s the party line that he created that so many others are now touting, yes, that’s the message that he wanted to reinforce.”

Watch the exchange:

GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham said he believes Michael Cohen’s testimony helped President Trump’s insistence that his campaign did not collude with Russia during the 2016 election.    

What this is all about: Earlier today, Cohen said he has no proof that Trump colluded with Russia, but added that he has “suspicions.”

“Questions have been raised about whether I know of direct evidence that Mr. Trump or his campaign colluded with Russia. I do not, and I want to be clear.” he said. “But I have my suspicions.”

Meanwhile, Republican Sen. John Kennedy told CNN that he had a hard time believing anything Cohen said during his testimony. (Cohen testified behind closed doors to a Senate panel yesterday.)

Kennedy suggested that perhaps Cohen was “unstable” and said that he “wouldn’t cash his check” when it came to Cohen’s creditability.

As Michael Cohen testified before the House Oversight Committee, Stormy Daniels tweeted two words:

Why we’re talking about Daniels: Stephanie Clifford, better known as porn actress Stormy Daniels, alleges she had an affair with President Trump in 2006.

Cohen, Trump’s former attorney and personal fixer, paid Daniels $130,000 to prevent her from speaking publicly about her alleged affair with Trump.

She is also suing Cohen and Trump over the payment.

The last time Michael Cohen spoke to President Trump was about two months after the FBI raided his office and hotel room, the former Trump fixer told lawmakers.

Cohen couldn’t provide a specific date, and said he couldn’t give details about the conversation because it was under investigation.

In a tense exchange with North Carolina Rep. Virginia Foxx, Michael Cohen said he will not commit to not pursuing possible book, TV and movie deals in the future.

Here’s how it unfolded:

Foxx: Can you commit under oath that you have not and will not pursue a book or movie deal based on your experiences working for the President?

Cohen: No –

Foxx: You cannot commit to making money off of a book or movie deal based on your work?

Cohen: No. What I – there’s two parts to your question. The first part of your question, you asked me whether or not I had spoken to people regarding a possible book deal, and I have. And I have spoken to people who sought me out regarding a movie deal. 

Foxx: No, I didn’t ask you if you’ve spoken to anybody. I said can you commit under oath that you will not – that you have not and will not pursue a book deal?

Cohen: And I will not do that, no.

Foxx: Can you commit under oath that you will not pursue opportunities to provide commentary for a major news network based on your experiences working for the president?

Cohen: No.

Foxx: Can you commit under oath that you will not pursue political office in the state of New York?

Cohen: No.

Foxx: So you don’t commit to changing your ways, basically, because you want to continue to use your background as a liar, a cheater, a convicted liar, to make money. That’s what you want to do.

Cohen: And that’s going to get me a book deal and a movie deal and a – a spot on television? I don’t think so.

Foxx: Well, it appears that it will. I yield the remainder of my time.

Michael Cohen pointed out that many committee members had not asked about President Trump during his testimony today.

The remarks came in an exchange with Republican Congressman Jim Jordan.

He went on to say that he’s already talked about his mistakes.

“Yes, I’ve made mistakes and I’ll say it now again and I’ll pay the ultimate price and I am not here today and the American people don’t care about my they want to know what it is that I know about Mr. Trump and not one question so far has been asked about Mr. Trump,” Cohen said.

Watch the video here:

If you’re following today’s hearing closely, you’ll notice that GOP Rep. Jim Jordan is asking a lot of questions.

While every member on the committee gets five minutes to ask questions, they can also elect to yield some — or all — of that time to another member.

Many Republican representatives are giving their time to Jordan, the ranking member on the House Oversight Committee.

Jordan and Cohen have exchanged several tense moments during this hearing. Earlier, Cohen even said, “Shame on you Mr. Jordan,” after he claimed the congressman mischaracterized his testimony.

Michael Cohen said he protected Trump for a decade, but multiple factors contributed to his decision to start telling the truth, including “psyche, Charlottesville, watching the daily destruction of our civility.”

He said he’s partially responsible for the “silly” behavior in Congress today.

Meet the youngest Michael Cohen watch party viewer: 18-month-old Penelope, (accompanied by her mother Emily Fisher).

While Duffy’s Irish Pub’s two dozen patrons sipped coffee, Guinness, cans of beer and the bar’s specially crafted “Flipper Cocktail” at 11 a.m., Penelope sat in her mother’s lap, sipping milk, munching on Goldfish and drawing with colorful markers.

Fisher lives in the area and while she had already read Cohen’s testimony last night, she wanted to visit a favorite local watering hole to “just see my neighbors and patronize a local business. It’s such a DC thing,” she said of the Wednesday morning watch party.

The pair called it a day just before noon — it was almost naptime, Fisher said.

“I don’t love that I’m at a bar at 10 a.m. hearing testimony about the President calling places shitholes.” Fisher said. “It’s not my dream for her as a child in the world.”

“But I’m also not going to cry about it,” Fisher added. “We’ll go to a park this afternoon and make up for it.”

In a heated exchange, Rep. Paul Gosar, a Republican from Arizona, called Michael Cohen “a pathological liar.”

“No one should ever listen to you and give you credibility. It’s sad,” he said.

At one point, Cohen chimed in to ask: “Are you referring to me or the President?”

Here’s how the exchange went:

Gosar: You are a disgraced lawyer. We’ve been disbarred. I’m sure you remember, maybe you don’t remember, duty of loyalty, duty of confidentiality, attorney-client privilege. I think the gentleman over your right side actually understands that very, very well and wouldn’t do what you are doing here today. So let’s go back at this credibility. You want us to make sure that we think of you as a real philanthropic icon, that you’re about justice that you’re the person that someone would call at 3:00 in the morning. No, they wouldn’t. Not at all. We saw Mr. Comer dissect you right in front of this committee you conflicted your testimony, sir. You’re a pathological liar. You don’t know truth from falsehood. 

Cohen: Sir, I’m sorry. Are you referring to me or the President? 

Gosar: Hey, this is my time. 

Cohen: Are you referring to me, sir or the President? 

Gosar: When I ask a question I’ll ask for an answer. 

Watch the moment below:

Russian state TV “Rossiya 24”, which rarely covers Trump-related investigations in much detail, broadcasted some of Michael Cohen’s testimony live today, including questions about potential collusion and the Trump Tower Moscow deal.

“Among all accusations, the most important one, that started it all, the suspicion of collusion with Russia — well, Cohen does not have evidence of that which he started directly,” reporter Alexander Khristenko said during Rossiya 24’s coverage.

The network also focused on the Republican attack-line against Trump, that is not a credible witness due to his previous lies to Congress. For any viewers in Moscow, the Cohen hearing is unfolding in primetime, on Wednesday night.

Many other international networks are also airing Cohen live, including Al Jazeera English, BBC World News, France 24 and CBC.

Michael Cohen, responding to questions about who is paying his lawyer Lanny Davis, said he is working for free.

Rep. Jody Hice asked if liberal activist Tom Steyer is paying for Davis to represent Cohen.

“Not that I’m aware of,” Cohen responded.

Here’s how the rest of the exchange went down:

Hice: “Who is paying Lanny Davis? 

Cohen: “At the moment, no one.”

Hice: “He is doing all this work for nothing?”

Cohen: “Yes, sir, and I hope so.”

Later, Rep. Jim Jordan asked if Cohen plans to pay Davis in the future.

“When I start to earn a living,” Cohen responded.

Jordan said he has “never known a lawyer to wait three years to get paid.”

Michael Cohen said President Trump inflated his assets to be on the Forbes list of richest people, but deflated his assets to reduce his real estate taxes.

Cohen described how that process went down in this exchange with Rep. Lacy Clay:

Clay: To your knowledge, did the President or his company ever inflate assets or revenues? 

Cohen: Yes. 

Clay: Was that done with the President’s knowledge or direction? 

Cohen: Everything was done with the knowledge and at the direction of Mr. Trump. 

Clay: Tell us why he would do that and what purpose did it serve. 

Cohen: It depends upon the situation. There were times that I was asked, again with Allen Weisselberg, the CFO, to go back to speak with an individual from Forbes, because Mr. Trump wanted each year to have his net worth rise on the Forbes wealthiest individuals list. And so what you do is you look at the assets and you try to find an asset that has say, for example, 40 Wall Street, which is about 1.2 million square feet. Find an asset that is comparable, find the highest price per square foot that’s achieved in the area and apply it to that building. Or if you’re going off of your rent roll, go by the gross rent roll times a multiple and you make up the multiple which is something he had talked about. It’s based upon what he wanted to value the asset at. 

Watch more: CNN’s Chris Cillizza explains how Cohen became Trump’s worst enemy:

In his questioning, GOP Rep. Mark Meadows introduced a guest he brought to today’s hearing: Lynne Patton, a high-ranking political official in the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

In a stunning exchange, Meadows claimed Patton, who is black, doesn’t agree with Cohen’s assessment that Trump is a racist, since she was hired to work for him.

Cohen responded that — by that logic — he also should not work for the President. Cohen is the son of a Holocaust survivor.

Meadows: Mr. Cohen, do you know Lynne Patton? 

Cohen: Yes, I do. 

Meadows: I asked Lynn to come today in her personal capacity to shed some light. How long have you known Ms. Patton? 

Cohen: I’m responsible for Ms. Patton joining the Trump organization in the job that she currently holds. 

Meadows: Well, I’m glad you acknowledge that because you made some very demeaning comments about the President that Ms. Patton doesn’t agree with. In fact, it has to do with your claim of racism. She says that as a daughter of a man born in Birmingham, Alabama, that there is no way that she would work for an individual who was racist. How do you reconcile the two of those? 

Cohen: And neither should I as the son of a Holocaust survivor. 

Watch the exchange here:

Michael Cohen said he practiced the tactic of “catch and kill” – where a publication buys the rights to a story and then buries the story as a favor to someone – for President Trump.

“I was involved in several of these catch-and-kill episodes. But these catch-and-kill scenarios existed between David Pecker and Mr. Trump long before I started working for him in 2007,” Cohen said.

Why this matters: Cohen worked with the National Enquirer’s owner, American Media Inc., to bury stories that could have harmed Trump’s chances of winning the presidential election.

Media companies, of course, are usually in the business of publishing bombshell stories, not covering them up. But the National Enquirer operates differently. Trump and Pecker, the Enquirer’s publisher and longtime friend of the President, have had a mutually beneficial relationship for years. Buying the rights to a potentially harmful story and then burying it as a favor – a tabloid practice called “catch and kill”– was one of the benefits.

In December, federal prosecutors struck a non-prosecution agreement AMI, which admitted to making a payment of $150,000 in cooperation with members of Trump’s presidential campaign in order to prevent former Playboy model Karen McDougal’s claims of an affair with Trump from being made public during the 2016 race.

Michael Cohen just called out Rep. Jim Jordan and claimed the Republican congressman mischaracterized his testimony.

Jordan said that Cohen’s “instinct to blame others is strong” and said he isn’t remorseful for his actions.

Cohen interrupted the congressman, saying, “Shame on you, Mr. Jordan. That’s not what I said. Shame on you.”

Here’s how it played out:

Jordan: “I would just make one point. We just had a five-minute debate where Mr. Cohen disputes what is the southern district of New York found, what the judge found, that he was actually guilty of committing bank fraud. If this statement back here doesn’t say it all, Cohen’s consciousness of wrongdoing is fleeting, his instinct to blame others is strong. His remorse is nonexistent. He just debated a member of Congress saying I really didn’t do anything wrong —” 

Cohen: “Mr. Jordan, that’s not what I said. And you know that’s not what I said … I said that I pled guilty and I take responsibility for my actions … Shame on you, Mr. Jordan. That’s not what I said. Shame on you.”

Watch the exchange below:

Michael Cohen said it’s possible that the entire Trump family was compromised by Russia in the months before the 2016 election.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Democrat from Florida, asked if the President’s son, daughter and son-in-law were involved in the Trump Tower Moscow project.

“Was Ivanka, Jared or Don Jr. still involved in the Russian tower deal at that time?” she asked.

“The company was involved in the deal, which meant that the family was involved in the deal,” Cohen said.

Wasserman Schultz followed up: “If Mr. Trump and his daughter Ivanka and son Donald Jr. are involved in the Russian Trump tower deal, is it possible the whole family is conflicted or compromised with a foreign adversary in the months before the election?”

“Yes,” Cohen said.

In an exchange with GOP Rep. Jim Jordan, Michael Cohen disclosed that he was offered a job in the White House.

But Cohen said he turned the job down after being advised it would violate attorney-client privilege.

Here’s the exchange:

Jordan: “Mr. Cohen, how long did you work in the White House?”

Cohen: “I never worked in the White House.”

Jordan: “That’s the point, isn’t it, Mr. Cohen?”

Cohen: No, sir.”

Jordan: “Yes, it is.”

Cohen: “No, it’s not, sir.” 

Jordan: “You wanted to work in the white house…”

Cohen: “No sir

Jordan: “… you didn’t get brought to the dance.” 

Cohen: “Sir, I was extremely proud to be personal attorney to the president of the United States of America. I did not want to go to the White House. I was offered jobs. I can tell you a story of Mr. Trump reaming out Reince Priebus because I had not taken a job where Mr. Trump wanted me to, which is working with Don McGahn at the White House general counsel’s office. One second. What I said at the time – and I brought a lawyer in who produced a memo as to why I should not go in, because there would be no attorney/client privilege. And in order to handle some of the matters that I talked about in my opening, that it would be best suited for me not to go in and that every president had a personal attorney.

Jordan: “Here’s what I see. I see a guy who worked for 10 years and is here trashing the guy he worked for for 10 years, didn’t get a job in the White House, and now, now you’re behaving just like everyone else who got fired or didn’t get the job they wanted like Andy McCabe, like James Comey, same kind of selfish motivation after you don’t get the thing you want. That’s what I see here today and I think that’s what the American people see.” 

Watch the moment:

Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., who are apparently watching the hearing, disputed Cohen’s claim on Twitter. They tweeted:

House Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings just asked Michael Cohen about checks he brought as evidence in today’s testimony.

Cohen said one of the checks — which he said was signed by President Trump — was made out to him to reimburse him for “illegal hush money I paid on his behalf.”

“So let me make sure I understand. Donald Trump wrote you a check out of his personal account while he was serving as president of the United States of America to reimburse you for hush money payments to Ms. Clifford. Is that what you are telling the American people today?” Cummings asked.

“Yes, Mr. Chairman,” Cohen responded.

Michael Cohen is wall to wall across America right now. Not only is his testimony being carried live on CNN and all the other cable news networks, but he is also appearing on the country’s biggest broadcast networks.

ABC, CBS and NBC are all showing the hearing live, and will continue to air it for several hours, according to representatives for the networks. This means that Cohen’s damning testimony will reach an even bigger audience, likely to be in the tens of millions.

Broadcast’s power has receded in recent years, but it still makes a big statement when the broadcasters decide to interrupt their usual talk shows and game shows for big news events.

In the minutes before the hearing began, television anchors emphasized the stakes of this day.

Fox-affiliated stations don’t carry news events as often as ABC, CBS and NBC stations do, but Fox News is providing an optional special report to those stations as well.

Michael Cohen said he wouldn’t accept a pardon from President Trump.

“I have never asked for it, nor would I accept a pardon from President Trump,” he said.

In his opening statement, Cohen apologized again for lying to Congress and the country:

Cohen went on to claim Trump and his lawyer tried to intimidate him so he wouldn’t appear before the committee.

House Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings asked Michael Cohen, who previously pleaded guilty to lying to Congress, if he understands the “gravity” of testifying under oath today.

Here’s how the exchange went down:

Cummings: Mr. Cohen, before I start, I want to make sure you really understand something. You have admitted lying to Congress, to this very body. And now you’re going to prison for it. Do you, Mr. Cohen, recognize the gravity of your offenses? You are a lawyer, right? 

Cohen: As of yesterday, I am no longer a lawyer. I have lost my law license amongst other things. 

Cummings: But you understand the gravity of this moment? 

Cohen: I most certainly do, Mr. Chairman. 

Cummings: I want you to really hear this, Mr. Cohen. We will not tolerate lying to this Congress by anybody. We’re in search of the truth. Do you understand that? 

Cohen: I do. 

House Democrats are going to bring people from Trump’s orbit in front of Congress all year long. After complaining that the GOP-led Congress did nothing to investigate the President for two years, Democrats are taking advantage of their majority powers.

“We will continue after today to gather more documents and testimony in our search for the truth,” Chairman Elijah Cummings said.

“Mr. Cohen’s testimony is the beginning of the process— not the end. The days of this Committee protecting the President at all costs are over.”

Michael Cohen said he has no evidence suggesting President Trump or his campaign colluded with Russia during the 2016 presidential election.

“Questions have been raised about whether I know of direct evidence that Mr. Trump or his campaign colluded with Russia. I do not, and I want to be clear.”

Then he added, “But I have my suspicions.”

Among the audience for this morning’s hearing is Lynne Patton, a high-ranking political official in the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Patton is sitting behind Republican committee member Mark Meadows of North Carolina, a conservative who is very close with President Trump.

She tweeted about the hearing and Michael Cohen’s allegations:

HUD spokesperson Raffi Williams released this statement: “Lynne is on leave today and is at the hearing in her personal capacity.”

Some background: Patton has a long history with both the Trump family and Michael Cohen. Cohen introduced Patton, a paralegal, to the Trumps. She went on to serve as vice president of the Eric Trump Foundation and even planned Eric’s wedding in 2014. Her appointment in 2017 to head HUD’s New York and New Jersey office was met with criticism, and she has continued to court controversy in office with her outspoken activity on social media.

It’s unclear why Patton, who works out of Manhattan, is on Capitol Hill. Asked for comment about her presence, Meadows told CNN “she has information.” Patton is black, and Cohen testified Wednesday that Trump is a “racist” who has said disparaging things about black people.

In his opening statement, Michael Cohen claimed that President Trump knew about the released of hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee before they dropped.

Cohen went on to describe Trump’s knowledge of the emails:

Trump, he said, responded “wouldn’t that be great.”

Watch the moment here:

Michael Cohen said that while President Trump has publicly made racists statements, he is “even worse” when talking behind closed doors.

Cohen then recounted some of the private statements Trump made to him:

The circumstances of this hearing following Cohen’s cooperation with special counsel Mueller make it extremely difficult for him to lie or dodge questions.

The Special Counsel’s Office made it clear in court that they believe what Cohen told him. They almost certainly have asked him about his interactions with the President regarding Russia and Roger Stone, given their allegations about Stone in court and how thorough they’ve been—and will likely know if his statements today are perjury.

Prosecutor Jeannie Rhee went out of her way to speak about how careful Cohen was since pleading guilty.

She said at his sentencing:

The Special Counsel’s Office said Tuesday it would decline to comment on Cohen’s truthfulness “beyond what was said in court.”

President Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen said the President “knew of and directed” negotiations about theTrump Tower project in Moscow:

Cohen added that Trump’s team “reviewed and edited” a statement he gave to Congress about the project:

Remember: Cohen has pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about the Russia investigation.

Michael Cohen apologized to Congress today for lying in his previous testimony before them, saying he did so to protect President Trump.

Cohen, who was sentenced to three years in prison for crimes that included arranging payments during the 2016 election to silence women who claimed affairs with Trump, said he working on “a path of redemption.”

Watch the moment here:

In his opening statement, GOP Rep. Jim Jordan wasted no time in going after some non-lawmakers: Tom Steyer and Lanny Davis.

Steyer is the liberal billionaire who has spearheaded an expensive effort to impeach President Donald Trump. He’s also spent tens of millions of dollars this decade trying to elect Democrats and promote an agenda to address climate change.

Davis, Cohen’s lawyer who is sitting behind him at today’s hearing, is a long-time Washington hand.

He was President Bill Clinton’s White House counsel (he left before the Lewinsky scandal) and has represented clients such as the Washington Redskins, Alex Rodriguez, Martha Stewart and Penn State University in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky sexual abuse scandal.

President Trump’s attorney Michael Cohen said he regrets the day he said “yes” to his boss.

“Never in a million years did I imagine when I accepted a job in 2007 to work for Donald Trump that he would one day run for the presidency, to launch a campaign on a platform of hate and intolerance and actively win. I regret the day I said yes to Mr. Trump,” he said.

“I regret all the help and support I gave him along the way,” he said.

Cohen said he had “misplaced loyalty” and he is ashamed that he “chose to take part in concealing Mr. Trump’s illicit acts.”

Here’s how he put it:

President Trump’s former fixer Michael Cohen was just sworn in ahead of his testimony before Congress.

Cohen said he did.

Remember: In November, Cohen pleaded guilty to lying to Congress, a charge from special counsel Robert Mueller’s office.

GOP Rep. Jim Jordan, ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, criticized Chairman Elijah Cummings for holding a hearing and allowing Michael Cohen to testify:

Jordan claimed the hearing was orchestrated by Cohen’s legal consultant and spokesman, Lanny Davis.

“So now Clinton loyalist, Clinton operative Lanny Davis has persuaded the chairman of the oversight committee to give a convicted felon a forum to tell stories and lie about the president of the United States so they can all start their impeachment process. Mr. Chairman, we are better than this. We are better than this,” Jordan said. 

Watch Rep. Jordan’s comments:

House Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings said that if Michael Cohen lies in his testimony today, he will personally turn over those lies to the Department of Justice.

Here’s what he said in his opening statement:

He continued: And the American people, by the way, voted for accountability in November, and they have a right to hear Mr. Cohen in public so they can make their own judgements.”

A little bit of context here: In November, Cohen pleaded guilty to lying to Congress, a charge from special counsel Robert Mueller’s office.

In his opening statement, House Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings explained why his committee asked Michael Cohen, President Trump’s former fixer, to testify today:

He went on to describe a check that Cohen will present during the hearing to support his testimony. It is dated Aug. 1, 2017 for the amount of $35,000. Cohen will say in his testimony the check was signed by the President and was part of the reimbursement for “illegal hush money I paid on his behalf.”

Watch Cummings’ comments here:

Shortly before leaving his hotel in Hanoi, Vietnam, en route to his meeting with North Korea dictator Kim Jong Un, President Trump tweeted this about Michael Cohen’s testimony:

“He is lying in order to reduce his prison time,” he said.

Although the President has attempted to downplay their connections, Cohen was the his former lawyer, confidant and fixer.

The hearing started just moments ago, and Republicans swiftly tried to delay it. The committee held a roll call vote on the issue.

The GOP objection: Republican Congressman Mark Meadows said the testimony was not supplied to to the committee in the required 24 hours ahead of time.

Of note: Most major news organizations — including CNN — had a copy of the testimony last night.

Watch the moment here:

House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings just called today’s hearing featuring testimony from Michael Cohen to order.

Rep. Mark Meadows quickly requested that the committee postpone the hearing, saying representatives were not given enough time to review evidence.

Michael Cohen is expected to discuss a scheme to obtain reimbursement for the $130,000 payment he made in 2016 to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels, to silence her for an affair she alleged with President Trump. (Trump has denied the affair.)

Federal prosecutors have previously explained the scheme in court filings, saying that Cohen falsely submitted invoices to the Trump Organization, at the direction of “executives” of the company, during the year 2017, for a total of $420,000. The reimbursements were to be paid in monthly installments of $35,000, according to prosecutors.

In court filings, prosecutors cited two Trump Organizations executives (“Executive-1” and “Executive-2”) who were involved in the reimbursement scheme, but didn’t name them.

At today’s hearing, Cohen is expected to say that one of the checks he received to reimburse him was from Trump’s personal bank account and was signed by Trump.

Though federal prosecutors with the Manhattan US Attorney’s office didn’t reference any such check in their charges against Cohen, they obtained evidence of the check from Trump’s personal account during their investigation, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Cohen is also expected to testify that other checks he received were signed by Donald Trump Jr. and Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg, who received immunity in the investigation of Cohen. A spokesperson for the Trump Organization declined to comment on Cohen’s expected testimony.

A spokesman for the Manhattan US Attorney’s office declined to comment.

At 9:59 a.m. ET, President Donald Trump’s ex-fixer, ex-lawyer and ex-confidant Michael Cohen walked into the House Oversight Committee chambers.

Rep. Gerry Connolly, a Democrat from Virginia, just said questions about Russia are “fair game” during today’s hearing.

He continued: “Given the fact that the witness has talked about the Russian relationship both with respect to the tower in Moscow throughout the 2016 campaign and the Julian Assange role in the Wikileaks document dumps that involved the Russians. Russia is now fair game.” 

This goes against what Democrats said last night: The House Oversight Committee previously instructed its Democratic members not to deviate from agreed upon lines of questioning at Michael Cohen’s hearing Wednesday — prompting grumbling from several Democrats who want to press Cohen about a range of matters related to Russia.

In a memo to Democrats obtained by CNN, the Oversight staff wrote that the committee “wants to take great care not to inappropriately interfere with any ongoing investigation or prosecution,” advising members to “consult closely with Committee staff in advance about potential lines of questioning.”

It had only been 12 days since the FBI raided the offices of Michael Cohen, President Trump’s then-personal attorney, when he praised his fixer and confidant on Twitter.

In a series of tweets, the President called Cohen, “a fine person with a wonderful family…who I have always liked & respected.”

The President’s tweets came to an abrupt end on Aug. 22, 2018. Michael Cohen stood in court and pleaded guilty to eight counts of campaign finance violations, tax fraud and bank fraud.

Cohen implicated the President in his admission of guilt in court.

President Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen just arrived on Capitol Hill ahead of his testimony in front of the House Oversight Committee. That’s going to kick off at 10 a.m. ET.

 CNN’s Manu Raju laid out what we’re expecting:

“Expect a lot of fireworks in the hearing that’s going to take all day long,” Raju said.

Watch the moment here:

President Trump’s former fixer Michael Cohen, who is scheduled to testify before Congress at 10 a.m. ET today, will accuse Trump in a congressional hearing of being a racist and a conman in testimony that will offer a rare televised glimpse into the cloud of scandals that have haunted Trump’s presidency.

According to testimony released ahead of his appearance, Cohen will say Trump knew that his former political adviser Roger Stone was aware of pending releases of stolen emails intended to damage Hillary Cinton’s presidential campaign.

Trump responded, according to Cohen: “Wouldn’t that be great.”

The disclosure will revive speculation that the President colluded with representatives of Russia to interfere in the 2016 election, which evolved into an effort by Moscow to help Trump win in his duel against Clinton.

Why this matters: Cohen’s allegations, if true, would amount to the first time anyone with direct knowledge of the situation has said the President had advance knowledge of the WikiLeaks dump of Clinton emails.

Michael Cohen, President Trump’s former personal attorney, shared his enthusiasm about testifying ahead of today’s hearing.

Last week, he tweeted:

President Trump’s former fixer Michael Cohen will testify publicly today before the House Oversight Committee.

House Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings wrote a memo outlining the scope of Cohen’s public testimony, including…

Why this matters: Cohen’s three-year prison sentence is set to start on May 6. Cohen was sentenced in December for tax crimes, campaign finance violations tied to hush money payments to women and lying to Congress during his 2017 testimony about how long negotiations for a Trump Tower Moscow extended into the 2016 campaign.

Cohen was initially scheduled to testify in front of the committee on Feb. 7, but that appearance was canceled by Cohen and his legal team, who cited “threats against his family” after Trump and his attorney, Rudy Giuliani, made public remarks concerning Cohen’s father-in-law.