Thread by @DavidWright_CNN

Right off the bat, Rep. Mark Meadows moves to postpone hearing

Rep. Elijah Cummings: "The testimony that Michael Cohen will provide today, ladies and gentlemen, is deeply disturbing. And it should be troubling to all Americans. We will all have to make our own evaluation of the evidence and Mr. Cohen’s credibility... But we must weigh it."

Rep. Jordan: "Here we go – here we go, your first big hearing, your first announced witness – Michael Cohen. I want everyone in this room to think about this. The first announced witness for the 116th Congress is a guy who is going to prison in two months for – lying to Congress"

And we're off:

Michael Cohen: "Never in a million years did I imagine, when I accepted a job in 2007 to work for Donald Trump, that he would one day run for President, launch a 2 campaign on a platform of hate and intolerance, and actually win. I regret the day I said “yes” to Mr. Trump."

Cohen: "I am ashamed that I chose to take part in concealing Mr. Trump’s illicit acts rather than listening to my own conscience. I am ashamed because I know what Mr. Trump is. He is a racist. He is a conman. He is a cheat."

Cohen: "[Trump] was a presidential candidate who knew that Roger Stone was talking with Julian Assange about a WikiLeaks drop of Democratic National Committee emails. I will explain each in a few moments."

Cohen: "I hope my appearance here today, my guilty plea, and my work with law enforcement agencies are steps along a path of redemption that will restore faith in me and help this country understand our president better."

Cohen: "I want to apologize to each of you and to Congress as a whole. The last time I appeared before Congress, I came to protect Mr. Trump. Today, I’m here to tell the truth about Mr. Trump."

Cohen: "I lied to Congress about when Mr. Trump stopped negotiating the Moscow Tower project in Russia. I stated that we stopped negotiating in January 2016. That was false – our negotiations continued for months later during the campaign."

Cohen: "Trump did not directly tell me to lie to Congress. That’s not how he operates."

Cohen: "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 5 me there’s no business in Russia and then go out and lie to the American people by saying the same thing."

Cohen: "In his way, he was telling me to lie."

Cohen: "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."

Cohen: "To be clear: 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."

Cohen: "He also lied about it because he stood to make hundreds of millions of dollars on the Moscow real estate project."

Cohen: "And so I lied about it, too – because Mr. Trump had made clear to me, through his personal statements to me that we both knew were false and through his lies to the country, that he wanted me to lie."

Cohen: "And he made it clear to me because his personal attorneys reviewed my statement before I gave it to Congress."

Michael Cohen: "And for the record, Individual-1 is President Donald J. Trump."

Cohen: "Mr. Trump is an enigma. He is complicated, as am I. He has both good and bad, as do we all. But the bad far outweighs the good, and since taking office, he has become the worst version of himself."

Cohen: "He never expected to win the primary. He never expected to win the general election. The campaign – for him – was always a marketing opportunity."

Cohen: "A lot of people have asked me about whether Mr. Trump knew about the release of the hacked Democratic National Committee emails ahead of time. The answer is yes."

Cohen: "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."

Cohen: "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."

Cohen: "Mr. Trump responded by stating to the effect of 'wouldn’t that be great.'"

Cohen: "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. And yet I continued to work for him."

Cohen: "[Trump] asked me to pay off an adult film star with whom he had an affair, and to lie about it to his wife, which I did. And lying to the First Lady is one of my biggest regrets. Because she is a kind, good person. I respect her greatly – and she did not deserve that."

Cohen: "I am going to jail in part because of my decision to help Mr. Trump hide that payment from the American people before they voted a few days later."

Cohen: "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 ... pursuant to the cover-up, which was the basis of my guilty plea, to reimburse me ... for the illegal hush money I paid on his behalf."

Cohen: "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."

Cohen: "When I say conman, 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: "Mr. Trump said he did not consider Vietnam Veteran, and Prisoner of War, [John McCain] to be 'a hero' because he likes people who weren’t captured. At the same time, Mr. Trump tasked me to handle the negative press surrounding his medical deferment from the Vietnam draft"

Cohen: "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."

Cohen: "He finished the conversation with the following comment. 'You think I’m
stupid, I wasn’t going to Vietnam.'"

Cohen: "I find it ironic, President Trump, that you are in Vietnam right now."

Cohen: "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."

Cohen on June 2016 Trump Tower meeting: "[Trump] had frequently told me and others that his son Don Jr. had the worst judgment of anyone in the world. And that Don Jr. would never set up any meeting of any significance alone, and certainly not w/out checking with his father."

Cohen: "For those who question my motives for being here today, I understand. I have lied, but I am not a liar. I have done bad things, but I am not a bad man. I have fixed things, but I am no longer your 'fixer,' Mr. Trump."

Cohen to Cummings: "Back in 2017, when I -- actually I apologize, 2016, prior to the election, I was contacted by Keith Davidson, who is the attorney, or was the attorney, for Ms. Clifford, for Stormy Daniels."

Cohen: "And after several rounds of conversations with him about purchasing her life rights for $130,000, what I did each and every time is go straight into Mr. Trump’s office and discuss the issue with him."

Cohen: "When it was ultimately determined, and this was days before the election, that Mr. Trump was going to pay the $130,000, in the office with me was Allen Weisselberg, Chief Financial Officer of the Trump Organization."

Cohen: "He acknowledged to Allen that he was going to pay the $130,000 and that Allen and I should go back to his office and figure out how to do it. So yes sir I stand by the statement that i gave that there was a history to it."

Cummings: "Donald Trump wrote you a check out of his personal account while he was serving as President of the United States of America, to reimburse you for hush money payments to Ms. Clifford -- is that what you are telling the American people today?"
Cohen: "Yes Mr. Chairman."

We've now entered the "Women for Cohen" portion of the hearing

Cohen: "We were having fun during a stressful time"

Background: washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/…

On "Women for Cohen":
Cohen: "I am not sure how that helped me sir."
Jordan: "I’m not sure how it did either."
Cohen: "Right. And I would like to also note that more than half the people on that site are men."

Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz -- former DNC chair -- questions Cohen on Wikileaks email dump. Cohen: "He had advanced notice that there was going to be a dump of emails, but at no time did I hear the specificity of what those emails were going to be."

Wasserman-Schultz asks Cohen about Roger Stone's role: "[Stone] was a free agent... He frequently reached out to Mr. Trump and Mr. Trump was very happy to take his calls. It was -- free service."

Cohen says he has spoken to special counsel's office seven times

Cohen, facing questions on home equity loan: Cohen: “No individual or no bank in the 22 years that I have had loans have ever lost a dollar with me. I owe no money to any bank.”

Cohen also says he has no book deal, and paid his own expenses to appear at hearing today

Charged exchange w/ Cohen & Rep. Jim Jordan --
Jordan: "His remorse is nonexistent! He just debated a member of Congress..."
Cohen: "Shame on you, Mr. Jordan. That’s not what I said. Shame on you... What I was doing is explaining to the gentleman that his facts are inaccurate."

Cohen: "I have taped individuals... Maybe 100 times over ten years?"

Rep. Mark Meadows: "I guess what I am saying is, I’ve talked to the president over 300 times, I’ve not heard one time a racist comment out of his mouth in private."

Rep. Clay: "Did the president or his company ever inflate assets or revenue?"
Cohen: "Yes."
Clay: "And was that done with the president’s knowledge or direction?"
Cohen: "Everything was done with the knowledge and at the direction of Mr. Trump."

Clay: "To your knowledge did the president every provide inflated assets to a bank [to] help him obtain a loan?"
...
Cohen: "These documents & others were provided to Deutsche Bank in one occasion... to obtain money so that we could put a bid in on the Buffalo Bills"

Rep. Lynch: "There’s a question on the number of briefings [w/ Don Jr. & Ivanka on the Trump Tower Moscow project]. Do you recall how many there might have been?"
...
Cohen: "Approximately ten in total."

Fireworks between Cohen/Rep. Gosar:
Gosar: "You’re a pathological liar. You don’t know truth from falsehood. So again-"
Cohen: "Sorry, are you referring to me or the president?"
Gosar: "No this is my time - hey, this is my time! When I ask you a question, I’ll ask for an answer."

Cohen: "When Mr. Trump turned around early in the campaign and said, I could shoot somebody on Fifth Avenue and get away with it -- I want to be very clear. He’s not joking. He’s telling you the truth. You see, you don’t know him. I do."

Rep. Cooper: "Have you ever seen Mr. Trump personally threaten someone with physical harm?"
Cohen: "No. He would use others."
Cooper: "He would hire other people to do that?"
Cohen: "I’m not so sure he had to hire them -- they were already working there."

Cohen: "Everybody’s job at the Trump organization is to protect Mr. Trump."

Cohen: "Every day, most of us knew we were coming in and we were going to lie for him on something. And that became the norm. And that’s exactly what’s happening right now in this country and it’s exactly what’s happening here in government, sir."

Cohen to Rep. Jordan: "I just find it interesting, sir, that between yourself and your colleagues, that not one question so far, since I’m here, has been asked about President Trump. That’s actually why I thought I was coming today. Not to confess the mistakes that I’ve made."

Cohen: "Yes I made my mistakes, I’ll say it now & again. And I’m going to pay the ultimate price. But I’m not here today & the American people don't care about my taxes. They want to know what it is I know about Mr. Trump. And not one question so far has been asked about [Trump]"

Q: "Is there any other wrongdoing or illegal act that you are aware of regarding Donald Trump that we haven’t yet discussed today?"
Cohen: "Yes and again those are part of the investigation that’s currently being looked at by the Southern District of New York."

Potentially key exchange between Cohen & Rep. Krishnamoorthi:

Cohen: “I’ve never spoken with John Dean”

Cohen: "[Trump] was supposed to pay, he was supposed to pay $125,000 for the life story of Karen McDougal. For whatever the reason may be, he elected not to pay it, David Pecker was very angry because there was also other monies [he] had expended on his behalf."

Cohen: "Unfortunately, David never got paid back for that, either."
Rep. Raskin: "So, David Pecker had done this in other cases, of other mistresses or women?"
Cohen: "Other circumstances, yes. Not all of them had to do with women."

Cohen seemed to implicate Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow when answering questions from Rep. Raskin about the editing of his misleading statement to Congress:
Cohen: "There were changes made, additions -- Jay Sekulow, for one --”

Cohen: "I've never been to Prague"

Sharp questioning from Rep. Speier:
Speier: "So he paid off someone about a love child that doesn’t exist?"
Cohen: "Correct. It was about $15,000."

Another potentially key exchange from Speier's time:
Speier: "You said there are probably 100 tapes."
Cohen: "Voice recordings."
Speier: "And will you make them available to the committee?"
Cohen: "If you would really like them."

In exchange w/ Rep. Sarbanes, Cohen walks back earlier claim that Jay Sekulow edited misleading congressional testimony:

Cohen, earlier today:

https://twitter.com/DavidWright_CNN/status/1100822685335064576

AOC: "I want to ask a little bit about your conversation with my colleague from Missouri about asset inflation. To your knowledge did the president ever provide inflated assets to an insurance company?"
Cohen: "Yes."

AOC: "And where would the committee find more information on this? Do you think we need to review his financial statements and tax returns in order to compare them?"
Cohen: "Yes and you’d find it at the Trump Org."

Related:

https://twitter.com/robferdman/status/1100875816118947841

Rep. Ro Khanna questioning Cohen: "Are you telling us, Mr. Cohen, that the president directed transactions in conspiracy with Allen Weisselberg and his son, Donald Trump Jr., as part of a... criminal conspiracy of financial fraud. Is that your testimony today?"
Cohen: "Yes."

Also noteworthy: Earlier in hearing, Rep. Jimmy Gomez asked Cohen about Trump tax returns, and Cohen said he believes Trump is *not* under audit (Trump's oft-repeated reason for not releasing returns)

Cohen: "He had said to me is that what he didn’t want was to have an entire group of think tanks that are tax experts run through his tax return and start ripping it to pieces and then he’ll end up in an audit and he’ll ultimately have taxable consequences, penalties and so on."

Cohen said this led him to "presume that [Trump] is not under audit.” He also said that he had “asked for a copy of the audit so that I could use it in terms of my statements to the press and I was never able to obtain one."