On Tuesday, the three-day closed-door testimony of Donald Trump’s former “fixer” Michael Cohen began, and, according to inside sources, his testimony is going to feature what Cohen says is evidence that Trump is a “racist” who acted “criminally” while in office and as a businessman.
Amid reports about Cohen’s allegations, Republicans have issued some preemptive strikes, including the Republican National Committee, which released a trolling video Tuesday including clips of Cohen on national television singing Trump’s praises.
Citing a “knowledgeable source,” NBC News reported Tuesday that Cohen will provide evidence of Trump’s “alleged criminal conduct since becoming president.”
“Cohen will detail his allegations of the president’s lies, racism and cheating as a private businessman while Cohen spent a decade working for him,” NBC’s source said. Cohen will provide information about some of Trump’s financial statements, which should “require the president’s long-held secret tax returns in order to verify, providing an avenue for the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to request those returns,” the network reports. Among Trump’s alleged crimes is “deflat[ing] the value of his properties in some cases to reduce his property taxes,” NBC notes.
With reports surfacing about what the “fixer”-turned-“rat” Cohen is expected to tell Congress, the RNC posted a video message directed at the convicted felon encouraging him to “have fun in prison!”
The 48-second video consists of clips of Cohen’s various appearances on national television back when Trump used to be his “Client 1.” In the clips, Cohen unleashes a series of glowing descriptions of Trump:
Trump’s a “unifier,” a “generous,” compassionate,” “principled,” “empathetic,” “kind,” “humble,” “honest,” and “genuine” man, says Cohen, then. He is “a man who speaks from the heart” and “is going to bring success” to the country, he assures the public.
“I’ve never come across a situation where Mr. Trump has said something that’s not accurate,” Cohen declares at one point. “All that Donald Trump wants to do is make this country great again,” the former attorney says in the closing line of the video as the words “Have fun in prison!” appear.
WATCH (h/t The Week):
In December, Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison for a variety of crimes, including multiple counts of fraud and campaign finance violations. In his plea, Cohen largely blamed his crimes on his “blind loyalty” to Trump. “I blame myself for the conduct which has brought me here today, and it was my own weakness and blind loyalty to [President Trump] that led me to choose a path of darkness over light,” an emotional Cohen told the court. “[T]ime and time again I felt it was my duty to cover up his dirty deeds rather than to listen to my own inner voice and my moral compass,” he said.
In response to Cohen’s allegations, including that then-candidate Trump knowingly violated campaign finance law by paying porn star Stormy Daniels “hush money” in 2016, Trump blasted out a series of tweets denying the allegation and pointing out that Cohen was the one who was “supposed to know the law.”
“I never directed Michael Cohen to break the law,” said Trump in a series of tweets. “He was a lawyer and he is supposed to know the law. It is called ‘advice of counsel,’ and a lawyer has great liability if a mistake is made. That is why they get paid. Despite that many campaign finance lawyers have strongly stated that I did nothing wrong with respect to campaign finance laws, if they even apply, because this was not campaign finance. Cohen was guilty on many charges unrelated to me, but he plead to two campaign charges which were not criminal and of which he probably was not guilty even on a civil basis. Those charges were just agreed to by him in order to embarrass the president and get a much reduced prison sentence, which he did-including the fact that his family was temporarily let off the hook. As a lawyer, Michael has great liability to me!”
Related: Dershowitz: Cohen Doesn’t Understand The Difference Between Wrong And Illegal