Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer and “fixer” has revealed two cheques and a wire transfer that he claims are evidence the president paid hush money to porn actor Stormy Daniels.
Speaking on Wednesday at a highly anticipated US House of Representatives committee, Michael Cohen said Trump ordered him to pay $130,000 (£77,000) to the adult film actress to cover up an affair.
The payment was a violation of campaign finance laws as it was made in order to protect Trump’s chances of success in the 2016 presidential campaign.
Cohen claims he made the payment from his own funds and was then reimbursed by the president. He also claims the two cheques he presented on Wednesday as part of his testimony are two instalments of the reimbursement, one signed by the president and another signed by his son, Donald Trump Jr.
Cohen also presented a wire transfer showing a payment of $131,000.
In his opening statement, Cohen said: “I am providing a copy of a $35,000 cheque that President Trump personally signed from his personal bank account. This $35,000 cheque was one of 11 check instalments that was paid throughout the year – while he was President.”
Cohen asked the room to picture the scene, one month into his presidency, in which Trump was “showing me around and pointing to different paintings, and he says to me something to the effect of ‘don’t worry, Michael, your January and February reimbursement cheques are coming. They were Fed-Exed from New York and it takes a while for that to get through the White House system’.”
“As he promised, I received the first check for the reimbursement of $70,000 not long thereafter.”
Cohen also claimed he was ordered by Trump to lie about the whole episode to First Lady Melania Trump.
In the highly-anticipated testimony, Cohen told the US Congress that Trump is a “racist,” a “conman” and a “cheat” who knew in advance about a release of emails by the WikiLeaks website aimed at hurting his 2016 Democratic presidential rival.
He said Trump directed negotiations for a real estate project in Moscow during the White House race even as Trump publicly said he had no business interests in Russia, according to Cohen’s prepared testimony.
The sweeping claims against Trump, from a man who once said he would take a bullet for his boss, come as Special Counsel Robert Mueller appears to be close to completing his investigation into possible collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russian efforts to sway the vote, Reuters reports.
The hearing before a Democratic-led House of Representatives committee got off to a contentious start when the panel’s top Republican tried but failed to postpone the session, complaining about the timing of Cohen providing his written testimony to the panel.
Here’s what else Cohen has claimed in his testimony so far...
- Trump knew ahead of time about a leak of emails that would hurt his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election
- Trump directed negotiations for a real estate project in Moscow, even as he publicly said he had no business interests in Russia while he campaigned for the presidency
- Trump ordered him to pay $130,000 to an adult film actress known as Stormy Daniels to cover up an affair in violation of campaign finance laws, and also told him to lie about it to First Lady Melania Trump.