Cohen: Trump 'a con man' but no evidence of collusion

Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen testifies to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Feb. 27, 2019 (Screenshot)

Calling his former boss, President Trump, a "racist," a "con man" and a "cheat," Michael Cohen testified to Congress on Wednesday that while he overheard Roger Stone telling Trump he had spoken to Julian Assange of WikiLeaks, he saw no "direct evidence" of collusion.

The WikiLeaks publication of emails stolen from the Democratic National Committee -- allegedly by Russian hackers -- are a focal point of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of alleged Trump campaign collusion with the Russian government.

Cohen, who served as Trump's personal lawyer for a decade, also told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that Trump implicitly directed him to lie to Congress about efforts to build a Trump Tower in Moscow.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., who was the DNC chairwoman when the emails were stolen, asked Cohen if, given his knowledge of Trump, he believed his former boss would collude with Russia to win the election.

Cohen refused to speculate but said he had "suspicions" and offered a characterization of the president.

"Mr. Trump is all about winning. He will do what is necessary to win," Cohen said.

Wasserman Schultz asked Cohen if the president lied about colluding.

"I wouldn't use the word colluding. Was there something odd about the back and forth praise with President Putin? Yes ... but I was not part of the campaign."

The ranking member of the committee, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, pointed to incidents of Cohen lying for his own personal gain, contesting the lawyer's testimony that he lied only to protect Trump.

Cohen has been sentenced to three years in prison for lying to Congress in previous testimony.

Conflict with Stone's testimony

He said in the hearing Wednesday that in July 2016, he heard Trump speak to Stone via speakerphone.

"Mr. Stone told Mr. Trump that he had just gotten off the phone with Julian Assange and that Mr. Assange told Mr. Stone that, within a couple of days, there would be a massive dump of emails that would damage Hillary Clinton's campaign," Cohen said in his prepared testimony.

"Mr. Trump responded by stating to the effect of 'wouldn't that be great,'" he said.

Stone claims he has never spoken with Assange and had no direct knowledge of WikiLeaks' dump of Hillary Clinton-related emails shortly after the release of the Access Hollywood tape that damaged Trump's candidacy.

Stone was indicted Jan. 24 in Mueller's investigation on seven charges of lying in his House Intelligence Committee testimony regarding WikiLeaks.

Cohen presented as evidence a check he says Trump wrote from his personal bank account after he became president "to reimburse me for the hush money payments I made to cover up his affair with an adult film star and prevent damage to his campaign."

He also submitted "an article with Mr. Trump's handwriting on it that reported on the auction of a portrait of himself – he arranged for the bidder ahead of time and then reimbursed the bidder from the account of his non-profit charitable foundation, with the picture now hanging in one of his country clubs."

And he provided what he described as "copies of letters I wrote at Mr. Trump's direction that threatened his high school, colleges, and the College Board not to release his grades or SAT scores."

Meadows: 'Political theater'

Republican Rep. Jody Hice of Georgia charged that Cohen's voluntary testimony was part of an agenda to bring down the president.

Noting Cohen has confessed to lying to Congress, Hice said that bringing such a witness back to Congress was a "shameful mockery" and "totally incompatible" with the panel's desire to find the truth.

Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., charged in an interview with "Fox & Friends" on Wednesday that Cohen's opening statement was "unbelievable."

The Republican lawmaker said the "only person without credibility that will be on Capitol Hill will be Michael Cohen."

"And a lot of this information that he has put in his opening statement, honestly, is not borne out with the real evidence to support it," he said.

Meadows said Cohen "not only has lied to Congress, but lied to financial institutions, lied to the IRS, lied to his business associates and continues to lie to this day."

"All of this is political theater that I don’t put much stock in," he said.