Michael Cohen is reportedly about to publicly accuse Trump of criminal activity

(Image credit: Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images)

published 26 February 2019

Michael Cohen, President Trump's longtime personal lawyer and fixer, begins three days of congressional testimony on Tuesday, meeting behind closed doors with staff and — in an unusual departure — senators on the Senate Intelligence Committee. In Tuesday's interview and another before the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday, Cohen will face questions about Trump's Russia ties, campaign interference, and anything else senators want to ask about. But on Wednesday, Cohen will testify publicly in front of the House Oversight Committee, and a person familiar with Cohen's testimony tells The Wall Street Journal he will for the first time publicly accuse Trump of criminal conduct, related to hush-money payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels.

Cohen will also provide "behind-the-scenes" testimony of Trump's "lies, racism, and cheating," the person tells the Journal, and produce financial statements showing that Trump inflated or deflated his net worth for personal and tax-reduction reasons. The person would not elaborate about Cohen's "evidence of criminal conduct since Mr. Trump became president" except that it's related to the Daniels payment. Cohen's evidence will include documents, The Associated Press reports.

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Behind closed doors with the House and Senate intelligence committees, Cohen "should expect to get any question from anywhere about anything," Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) told AP. Cohen begins a three-year prison term in May.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.