Michael Cohen is testifying before the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday, beginning at 10 a.m. ET.
Cohen, President Trump’s former attorney and fixer, is expected to tell the committee that Trump is a racist, con man, and cheat.
In opening remarks made public early Wednesday, Cohen says “I am ashamed that I chose to take part in concealing Mr. Trump’s illicit acts rather than listening to my own conscience.”
He also noted he has no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign in 2016 and Russia, the central question of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
Cohen is, however, expected to provide a copy of a check signed by Trump that he says is the reimbursement he got for making hush-money payments during the 2016 campaign.
Trump is out of the country as Cohen testifies this week. The president is in Vietnam holding his second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Defenders of the president claim congressional Democrats scheduled three hearings with Cohen this week to distract from any major developments made during the trip.
Freshman Rep. @DanCrenshawTX says with POTUS abroad, Congress should not be attacking the executive.
“It shouldn’t be any surprise by now that Democrats will do whatever it takes to undermine the credibility of the president,” he said. “This is not the time to do it.” pic.twitter.com/poBvN07RMv
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) February 27, 2019
Cohen will head to prison in May, starting a three-year sentence after pleading guilty to lying to Congress and violating campaign finance laws by carrying out hush-money payments on behalf of Trump.
After his public testimony Wednesday, Cohen will appear before the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday in a classified hearing. He appeared before the Senate Intelligence Committee behind closed-doors on Tuesday.
