Thread by @KevinlyFather

Michael Cohen Testimony to Congress Oversight Committee 2/27/19

"He was a presidential candidate who knew that Roger Stone was talking
with Julian Assange about a WikiLeaks drop of Democratic National
Committee emails."

A copy of a check Mr. Trump wrote from his personal bank
account – after he became president - to reimburse me for the
hush money payments I made to cover up his affair with an adult
film star and prevent damage to his campaign;

• Copies of financial statements for 2011 – 2013 that he gave to
such institutions as Deutsche Bank;

A copy of an article with Mr. Trump’s handwriting on it that
reported on the auction of a portrait of himself – he arranged for
the bidder ahead of time and then reimbursed the bidder from the
account of his non-profit charitable foundation....

Copies of letters I wrote at Mr. Trump’s direction that threatened
his high school, colleges, and the College Board not to release his
grades or SAT scores.

In conversations we had during the campaign, at the same time I was
actively negotiating in RU 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 US
people by saying the same thing. In his way, he was telling me to lie.

You need to know that Mr. Trump’s personal lawyers reviewed and edited
my statement to Congress about the timing of the Moscow Tower
negotiations before I gave it.

Mr. Trump knew of and directed the Trump Moscow
negotiations throughout the campaign and lied about it. He lied about it
because he never expected to win the election. He also lied about it
because he stood to make hundreds of millions of dollars on the Moscow
real estate project

since taking
office, (Trump) has become the worst version of himself. He is capable of
behaving kindly, but he is not kind. He is capable of committing acts of
generosity, but he is not generous. He is capable of being loyal, but he is
fundamentally disloyal.

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.”

In July 2016, days before the Democratic convention, I was in Mr. Trump’s
office when his secretary announced that Roger Stone was on the phone.
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.”

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.

While we were once driving through a struggling neighborhood 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.

It was my experience that Mr. Trump inflated his total assets when it served
his purposes, such as trying to be listed among the wealthiest people in
Forbes, and deflated his assets to reduce his real estate taxes.

The portrait was purchased
by the fake bidder for $60,000. Mr. Trump directed the Trump Foundation,
which is supposed to be a charitable organization, to repay the fake bidder,
despite keeping the art for himself.

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. When I advised Mr. Trump of my success, he actually reveled in it.

I am giving the Committee today a copy of the $130,000 wire transfer from
me to Ms. Clifford’s attorney during the closing days of the presidential
campaign that was demanded by Ms. Clifford to maintain her silence about
her affair with Mr. Trump.

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.

As Exhibit 5 to my testimony shows, I am providing a copy of a $35,000
check that President Trump personally signed from his personal bank
14
account on August 1, 2017 – when he was President of the United States –
pursuant to the cover-up, which was the basis of my guilty plea,

to
reimburse me – the word used by Mr. Trump’s TV lawyer -- for the illegal
hush money I paid on his behalf. This $35,000 check was one of 11 check
installments that was paid throughout the year – while he was President.

The President of the United States thus wrote a personal check for the
payment of hush money as part of a criminal scheme to violate campaign
finance laws.

As I mentioned, I’m giving the Committee today copies of a letter I sent at
Mr. Trump’s direction threatening these schools with civil and criminal
actions if Mr. Trump’s grades or SAT scores were ever disclosed without
his permission.

The sad fact is that I never heard Mr. Trump say anything in private that led
me to believe he loved our nation or wanted to make it better. In fact, he did
the opposite.

When telling me in 2008 that he was cutting employees’ salaries in half –
including mine – he showed me what he claimed was a $10 million IRS tax
refund, and he said that he could not believe how stupid the government
was for giving “someone like him” that much money back.

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.”

Questions have been raised about whether I know of direct evidence that
Mr. Trump or his campaign colluded with Russia. I do not. I want to be
clear. But, I have my suspicions.

All of this - Changes nothing.

Reading through all of this a couple of times leads me to one solid conclusion. And it's a disappointing one.

I'm out of nachos.

Fuck.

Full statement. Thanks to @andylassner int.nyt.com/data/documenth…