By Today is a very, very large day in the presidency of Donald Trump. They're all quite large - he is the president of the United States, after all - but today is the day his former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen testifies in Congress, and it looks extremely dicey.
The New York Times has got hold of Cohen's prepared testimony to the White House oversight committee, and it's absolutely stuffed with explosive revelations. Have a read of the whole thing here if you like.
Trump kicked off on Twitter, accusing Cohen of "lying in order to reduce his prison time," and mentioning that he was "just disbarred by the State Supreme Court for lying & fraud" without mentioning that quite a lot of that was connected to lying and fraud on Trump's behalf. Here are the most remarkable accusations:
Trump allegedly knew in advance about WikiLeaks' release of Hillary Clinton's emails
Cohen was in the room when Roger Stone called Trump's office in July 2016, just before the Democratic convention. "Mr Trump put Mr Stone on the 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. Mr Trump responded by stating to the effect of, 'Wouldn’t that be great?'."
The Moscow Trump Tower project was allegedly live throughout the election campaign
"I lied to Congress about when Mr Trump stopped negotiating the Moscow Tower project in Russia," Cohen says. "I stated that we stopped negotiating in January 2016. That was false – our negotiations continued for months later during the campaign. Mr Trump did not directly tell me to lie to Congress. That’s not how he operates. In conversations we had during the campaign, at the same time I was actively negotiating in Russia for him, he would look me in the eye and tell me there’s no business in Russia and then go out and lie to the American people by saying the same thing. In his way, he was telling me to lie."
Cohen says he has cheques signed by Trump reimbursing him for paying off Stormy Daniels
Cohen says he was paid in 11 instalments which came since Trump has been president, and provides one of the cheques for $35,000 as evidence. "He asked me to pay off an adult film star with whom he had an affair, and to lie to his wife about it, which I did," he says. "Mr Trump directed me to use my own personal funds from a Home Equity Line of Credit to avoid any money being traced back to him that could negatively impact his campaign. I did that, too – without bothering to consider whether that was improper, much less whether it was the right thing to do or how it would impact me, my family, or the public."
He called Donald Trump a 'racist'
Cohen opened up his racially-charged conversations with Trump, saying: "He once asked me if I could name a country run by a black person that wasn’t a 'shithole'. This was when Barack Obama was President of the United States."
The incidents didn't stop there. According to Cohen, "While we were once driving through a struggling neighbourhood in Chicago, he commented that only black people could live that way. And, he told me that black people would never vote for him because they were too stupid."
Trump allegedly set up a fake bidder to make sure a portrait of him being auctioned was the most valuable sold
Not only that, but Cohen says Trump subsidised his vanity by siphoning funds from his charity, the Trump Foundation. "Mr Trump directed me to find a straw bidder to purchase a portrait of him that was being auctioned at an Art Hamptons Event. The objective was to ensure that his portrait, which was going to be auctioned last, would go for the highest price of any portrait that afternoon. The portrait was purchased by the fake bidder for $60,000. Mr Trump directed the Trump Foundation, which is supposed to be a charitable organisation, to repay the fake bidder, despite keeping the art for himself."
Cohen said Trump enjoyed ripping off small businesses
Long-time Trump watchers will not be surprised at all to hear that cutting corners and stiffing suppliers was seen as a legitimate business move. "It should come as no surprise that one of my more common responsibilities was that Mr Trump directed me to call business owners, many of whom were small businesses, that were owed money for their services and told them no payment or a reduced payment would be coming," Cohen says. "When I advised Mr Trump of my success, he actually revelled in it."
Trump allegedly straight-up lied to dodge Vietnam
Trump got four draft deferments as a college student, and a fifth for an apparent case of 'bone spurs' which fortunately didn't stop him playing squash and football while at Wharton collage. Shockingly, though, it turns out that wasn't all it seemed.
"Mr Trump tasked me to handle the negative press surrounding his medical deferment from the Vietnam draft," Cohen says. "Mr Trump claimed it was because of a bone spur, but when I asked for medical records, he gave me none and said there was no surgery. He told me not to answer the specific questions by reporters but rather offer simply the fact that he received a medical deferment. He finished the conversation with the following comment: 'You think I’m stupid? I wasn’t going to Vietnam.'" To be fair, Vietnam does sound like it was rubbish.
Trump saw the presidential campaign as an "infomercial"
Perhaps most damningly - except for the accusations of racism, obviously, and doing small businesses over, and taking money from a charity to make a portrait of yourself look more desirable than it actually is - Cohen says Trump became president by accident, and only wanted to give Brand Trump a shot in the arm. In fact, he's "a man who ran for office to make his brand great, not to make our country great. He had no desire or intention to lead this nation – only to market himself and to build his wealth and power. Mr Trump would often say, this campaign was going to be the 'greatest infomercial in political history'."
Trump apparently told Cohen to suppress his grades from high school and college
"I’m talking about a man who declares himself brilliant but directed me to threaten his high school, his colleges, and the College Board to never release his grades or SAT scores," Cohen says. He's got a letter he sent at Trump's direction threatening legal and civil action if Trump's grades got out without his say-so.
Lying is allegedly an integral part of Trump's MO
"I knew early on in my work for Mr Trump that he would direct me to lie to further his business interests," Cohen says. "I am ashamed to say, that when it was for a real estate mogul in the private sector, I considered it trivial. As the President, I consider it significant and dangerous. But in the mix, lying for Mr Trump was normalised, and no one around him questioned it. In fairness, no one around him today questions it, either."
