the storm. >> that's what's happening "today in the bay." we'll be back at 7:25 with a live local news update. >> injoin us for more informati at 11:00. thanks for joining thus morning. congress. we want to have stations around the country join us so we will stand by just a moment. this is where the eyes of the political universe are at this hour, a hearing room on capitol hill where michael cohen, former personal lawyer to president trump will now take the witness stand in an extraordinary hearing where he is prepared to testify to his years working for donald trump, what he knows of donald trump the man, the businessman and the president. he is prepared to allege criminal conduct by trump while in office. and he will claim that he implicitly was instructed to lie to congress on behalf of donald

trump. there are explosive claims in the testimony he is about to give and he has some serious credibility issues as well. he is a convicted felon and admitted liar. someone who will report to prison in about 60 days to serve a three-year sentence. >> let's call it what it is. if there is an impeachment inquiry against the president of the united states, today is day one. today will be viewed as unofficial start. that is not to say that is what we are watching today and witnessing today. what house democrats are doing is essentially starting to test drive an impeachment procedure and michael cohen is the star attraction for day one. >> absolutely. it is actually day two because day one was michael cohen yesterday before the committee on intelligence. he went back and testified there in a classified setting. now he is about to give his opening statement.

the chairman of this government oversight committee elijah cummings will give a statement as will the -- >> you should get to know who he is. jim jordan, republican from ohio, a fierce defender of the president. >> to declare in recess of the committee at anytime, the full committee hearing is convening to hear the testimony of michael cohen, former attorney to president donald trump. >> mr. chairman, i have a point of order. rule f of the committee rules say that any testimony from your witness needs to be here 24 hours in advance. the committee and the chairman knows well that at 10:08 we received the written testimony and then we received evidence this morning at 7:54.

now, if this just an oversight i could look beyond it, but it was an intentional effort by this witness and his advisers to once again show his distain for this body. and with that, i move that we postpone this hearing. >> second. >> i want to thank you, gentlem gentlemen. >> let me say this, that we got the testimony late last night. we did. and we got it to you all pretty much the same time that we got it. i want to move forward with this hearing. >> mr. chairman, with all due respect, this is a violation of the rule. if it was not intentional, i would not have a problem. i'm not saying it was intentional on your part.

i'm saying it was intentional on his part because mr. dean last night on a cable network actually made it all very evident. john dean, and i will quote, mr. chairman, he said as a former committee council in the house judiciary committee and a long term witness sitting alone at the table is important. quote, holding your statement as long as you can so the other side can't chew it up is important, as well, closed quote. and so it was advise that our witness got for this particular body. mr. chairman, when you were in the minority you wouldn't have stood for it and i can tell you that we should not stand for it as a body. >> let me say this. >> mr. chairman -- >> yes. >> i move to table. >> mr. chairman. >> good second. >> i was asked to be recognized

before the motion. >> you know who had this material before all the members of the committee? cnn had it before we did. i just want to be recognized. >> the vote is on tabling the motion to postpone. all in favor aye. >> no. the ayes have it. >> i appeal the ruling of the chair. i can assure you it's in the rules. i appeal the ruling. >> fireworks here at capitol hill. explain it. >> there is a courtesy of 24 hours each side gets to see new evidence that a witness is going to present. michael cohen the new evidence didn't do that. we expected the republicans to do this. democrats have a majority. they can decide to waive their rule. and with the majority come those who get to make the rules. so they are making new rules. in this case the democrats have essentially waived their 24-hour rule.

the objection was heard. you will see a lot of mr. meadows and mr. jordan in particular, those guys are the president's fiercest defenders on all things mueller and the russia probe. >> this is the first salvo of republicans trying to postpone the hearing on a procedural ground. democrats saying we will change the rules because we are able to do so. they have the vote and the hearing will continue. >> ms. norton votes yes. mr. clay votes yes. mr. lynch votes yes. >> this could be a very long day. you will see a lot of attempts of procedure. there is a political strategy behind it. the more you stretch it out into process, the less maybe the less impact some of his allegations and words and testimony can have. we have seen this play when the other parties are in the minority.

this is what a party in the minority does and in the majority. >> we have kasie hunt with us. i wonder as we go along here, is this one of those scenarios -- we have 40 plus members of this particular committee, some republicans, some democrats. do these members of congress try to get together and strategize? they only have five minutes a piece to question. you obviously don't want to duplicate the same thing over and over again. so do they try to get together and say i will cover this and you cover that? or is it just going to be a free for all. >> reporter: it's one of the more difficult things because while you are right on the one hand all democrats and republicans in theory have similar goals of each other, each member of congress is still a politician with an ego in their own right and they are trying to speak to their constituents or perhaps make a mark and get coverage on cable news. i think you may see a little bit of both. typically the chair men will have a specific strategy to communicate with other members.

i think in this case you can also see a real free for all kind of environment among many of the other members. there are some very liberal members on the committee that i think are looking to make a mark here. to chuck's point, mark meadows, the man who nade motion, he has been sort of for front of this very conservative wing in the house of representatives for the last several years and has become one of the most loyal supporters of donald trump. he is kind of partners with jim jordan who was the second republican you saw talking there who is the ranking member of the committee. and those two have very clearly strategized together on this. and i do not think this is the first time you will see this through the day. i think the question here is how do the optics add up?

>> the american people have a right to hear him so we are going to proceed. the american people can judge his credibility for themselves. now. >> mr. chairman, we did not say that. we just said we wanted to follow the rules. we didn't say stop the hearing. we said postpone it so we can get the testimony and the exhibits according to the rules of the committee. we didn't say we didn't want to hear from the guy. >> reclaiming my time. i now recognize myself for five minutes to give an opening statement. today the committee will hear the testimony of michael cohen, president donald trump's long time personal attorney and one of his closest and most trusted advisers over the last decade.

on august 21, mr. cohen appeared in federal court and admitted to arranging secret payoffs of hundreds of thousands of dollars on the eve of the election to silence women alleging affairs with donald trump. mr. cohen admitted to violating campaign finance laws and other laws. he admitted to committing these felonies, quote, in coordination with and at the direction of, unquote, president trump. and he admitted to lying about his actions to protect the president. some will certainly ask if mr. cohen was lying then, why should we believe him now? >> good question. >> this is a legitimate question.

as a trial lawyer for many years, i have faced this situation over and over again. and i ask the same question. here is how i view our role. everyone of us in this room has a duty to serve as an independent sect on the executive branch. ladies and gentlemen, we are in search of the truth. the president has made many statements of his own. and now the american people have a right to hear the other side. they can watch mr. cohen's testimony and make their own judgment. we received a copy of mr. cohen's written statement late last night t. includes not only personal eyewitness accounts of meetings with donald trump as president inside the oval

office, but it also includes documents and other corroborating evidence for some of mr. cohen's statements. for example, mr. cohen has provided a copy of a check sent while president trump was in office with donald trump's signature on it to reimburse mr. cohen for the hush money payment to stormy daniels. this new evidence raises a host of troubling legal and ethical concerns about the president's actions in the white house and before. would you all close that door, please? thank you.

this check is dated august 1, 2017. six months later in april of 2018, the president denied anything about it. in april of 2018, president trump was flying on air force one when a reporter asked him the question, did you know about $130,000 payment to stormy daniels? the answer was, quote, no. a month after that, the president admitted to making payments to mr. cohen but claiming they were part of a quote monthly retainer, unquote, for legal services. this claim fell apart in august when federal prosecutors concluded and i quote in truth and in fact there was no such

retainer agreement, end of quote. today we also hear mr. cohen's account of a meeting in 2016 in donald trump's office during which roger stone said over speaker phone that he had just spoken with julian assange who said there would be a, quote, massive dump of e-mails that would damage hillary clinton's campaign, end of quote. according to cohen, mr. trump replied, quote, wouldn't that be great, end of quote. 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.

as he admits, he has repeatedly lied in the past. i agree with ranking member jordan that this is an important factor we need to weigh, but we must weigh it and we must hear from him. but where i disagree fundamentally with the ranking member involves his efforts to prevent the american people from hearing from mr. cohen. mr. cohen's testimony raises grave questions about the legality of donald trump's conduct and the truthfulness of statements while he was president. we need to assess and investigate this new evidence as we hold our constitutional oversight responsibilities. and we will continue after today

to gather more documents of testimony in our search for the truth. i have made it abundantly clear to mr. cohen that if he comes here today and he does not tell us the truth, i will be the first one to refer those untruthful statements to d.o.j. so when people say he doesn't have anything to lose, he does have a lot to lose if he lies. and the american people, by the way, voted for accountability in november. and they have a right to hear mr. cohen in public so they can make their own judgments. mr. cohen's testimony is the beginning of the process, not the end. ladies and gentlemen, the days of this committee protecting the

president at all costs are over. they're over. before i close, i want to comment about the scope of today's hearing. at the request of the house intelligence committee and my very good friend adam schiff, congressman adam schiff the chairman, i attempt to limit the scope of today's hearing to avoid questions about russia. however, mr. cohen's written testimony, he has made statements relating to russia. and these are topics that we understand do not raise concerns from the department of justice. so in fairness to the ranking member and all committee members, we will not restrict questions relating to the witness's testimony or related questions he is willing to answer.

finally, i remind members that we will need to remain mindful of those areas where there are ongoing department of justice investigations. those scoping limitations have not changed. finally, and to mr. cohen, martin luther king said words i leave with you today before you testify. he said faith is taking the first step even when you can't see the whole staircase. there comes a time when silence becomes betrayal. our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that truly matter. in the end, he says, we will

remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. and with that, i yield to the distinguished gentleman, the ranking member of our committee, mr. jordan. >> mr. chairman, part of parliamentary inquiry. >> yes. mr. jordan is recognized for his opening statement. >> mr. chairman, here we go, your first big hearing, 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 going to prison in two months for lying to congress. mr. chairman, your chairmanship will always be identified with this hearing. and we all need to understand what this is. this is the michael cohen hearing presented by lany davis. the clinton's best friend,

loyalist, operative, lany davis put this all together. he told our staff. he told the committee staff. he said the hearing was his idea. he selected this committee. he had to talk michael cohen into coming and most importantly, he had to persuade the chairman to actually have it. he told us it took two months to get that job done. here we are. this might be the first time someone convicted of lying to congress has appeared again so quickly in front of congress. certainly, it's the first time i convicted perjurer has been brought back to be a star witness in a hearing. and there is a reason this is a first, because no other committee would do it. think about this. with mr. cohen here, this committee, we have lots of lawyers on this committee. this committee is actually encouraging a witness to violate attorney/client privilege. mr. chairman, when we legitimize

dishonesty, we are supposed to pursue the truth. we are only allowed to ask certain questions even with the amendment where russia is now on the table. you initially told us we can't ask questions about the special counsel and can't ask questions about the southern district of new york or russia. only subjects we can talk about are ones you think are going to be harmful to the president of the united states. and the answers to those questions are going to come from a guy who can't be trusted. here is what the u.s. attorney said about mr. cohen. while mr. cohen enjoyed a privilege life his desire for wealth and influence, mr. cohen committed four distinct federal crimes over a period of several years. he was motivate today do so by personal greed and repeatedly, repeatedly used his power and influence for deceptive ends,

but the democrats don't care. they don't care. they just want to use you, mr. cohen. you are their patsy today. they have to find somebody somewhere to say something so they can try to remove the president from office because tom stier told them to. he organized a town hall, guess where? manhattan. two nights ago he organized a town hall. guess where. chairman cummings' district in baltimore. the best they can find to start this process, michael cohen, fraudster, cheat, convicted felon and in two months a federal inmate. they didn't find you. lany davis found you. i will say one thing about the democrats, they stick to the play book. remember how all this started. the clinton campaign hired

perkins law firm who hired glen simpson who hired christopher steel who put together the fake dossier that the fbi used to get a warrant to spy on the trump campaign. but when that whole scheme failed and the american people said we are going to make donald trump president, they said we have to do something else. so now clinton loyalist has persuaded the chairman of the oversight committee to give a convicted felon a forum to tell stories and lie about the president of the united states so they can all start their impeachment process. mr. chairman, we are better than this. we are better than this. i yield back. i have a motion.

i have a motion under rule 2 k 6 -- >> you yielded back, sir. you yielded back. >> you took seven minutes. i took four. >> the gentleman yielded back. >> that's how you are going to operate? first you don't follow the rules. >> i have a simple motion. >> to have the testimony 24 hours in advance. >> i wanted to note under rule 11 media and photographers must be officially credentialed to record these proceedings and take photographs. i wanted to briefly address the spectators in the hearing room today. we welcome you and we respect your right to be here. we also ask in turn for your respect as we proceed with the business of the committee today.

it is the intention of the committee to proceed without any disruptions. any disruptions of this committee will result in united states capitol police restoring order and protesters will be removed. we are grateful for your presence here today and your cooperation. now i want to welcome mr. cohen and thank him for participating in today's hearing. mr. cohen, if you would please rise and i will begin to swear you in. raise your right hand. do you swear or affirm that the testimony that you are about to give is the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god? let the record show that the witness answered in the affirmative. thank you and you may be seated. the microphones are sensitive so please speak directly into them. without objection, your written statement will be made a part of the record.

with that, mr. cohen, you are now recognized to give an oral presentation of your testimony. thank you for inviting me here today. i have asked this committee to ensure that my family be protected from presidential threats and that the committee be sensitive to the questions pertaining to ongoing investigations. i thank you for your help and for your understanding. i am here under oath to correct the record, to answer the committee's questions truthfully and to offer the american people what i know about president trump. i recognize that some of you may doubt and attack me on my

credibility. it is for this reason that i have incorporated into this opening statement documents that are irrefutable and demonstrate that the information you will hear is accurate and truthful. never in a million years did i imagine when i accept ed a job n 2007 to work for donald trump that he would one day run for the presidency, to launch a campaign on a platform of hate and intolerance and actively win. i regret the day i said yes to mr. trump. i regret all the help and support i gave him along the way. i am ashamed of my own failings and publically accepted responsibility for them by pleading guilty in the southern district of new york. i am ashamed of my weakness and

my misplaced loyalty, of the things i did for mr. trump in an effort to protect and promote him. 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 con-man and he is a cheat. he was a presidential candidate who knew that roger stone was talking with julian assange about a wiki leaks drop on the democratic national committee e-mails. i will explain each in a few moments. i am providing the committee today with several documents and these include a copy of a check

mr. trump wrote from his personal bank account after he became president to reimbursement for the hush money payments he made to cover up his affair with an adult film star and to prevent damage to his campaign, copies of financial statements from 2011, 2012 and 2013 that he gave to such institutions such 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 that he arranged for the bidder ahead of time and reimbursed the bidder from the account of his nonprofit charitable foundation with the picture now hanging in one of his country clubs. and 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 s.a.t. scores. 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. and before going further, i want to apologize to each member, to you as congress as a whole. the last time i appeared before congress i came to protect mr. trump. today i am here to tell the truth about mr. trump. i lied to congress when mr. trump stopped negotiating the moscow tower project in russia. i stated that we stop negotiating in january of 2016. that was false. our negotiations continued for

months later during the campaign. mr. trump did not directly tell me to lie to congress. 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 is no russian business and then go on to lie to the american people by saying the same thing. in his way, he was telling me to lie. there were at least a dozen times when he would ask me, how is it going in russia, referring to the moscow tower project. 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. so 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. he also lied about it because he stood to make hundreds of millions of dollars on the moscow project. so i lied about it, too, because through trump made clear to me through his false statements that he wanted me to lie. and he made it clear to me because his personal attorneys reviewed my statement before i gave it to congress. over the past two years, i have been smeared as a rat by the

president of the united states. the truth is much different. let me take a brief moment to introduce myself. my name is michael dean cohen. and i am a blessed husband of 24 years and a father to an incredible daughter and son. when i married my wife, i promised her that i would love her, i would cherish her and i would protect her. as my father said countless times throughout my childhood, you, my wife, and you my children are the air that i breathe. so to my laura and my sammy and to my jake, there is nothing i wouldn't do to protect you. i have always tried to live a life of loyalty, friendship, generosity and compassion. it's qualities my parents ingrained in my siblings and me since childhood.

my father survived the holocaust thanks to the compassion and selfless acts of others. he was helped by many who put themselves in harm's way to do what they knew was right. and that is why my first instinct has always been to help those in need. mom and dad, i am sorry i let you down. as the many people that know me best would say, i am the person that they call at 3:00 a.m. if they needed help. and i proudly remember being the emergency contact for many of my children's friends when they were growing up because their parents knew that i would drop everything and care for them as if they were my own. yet last fall, i pled guilty in federal court to felonies for the benefit of, at the direction

of and in coordination with individual number one. and for the record, individual number one is president donald j. trump. it is painful to admit that i was motivated by ambition at times. it is even more painful to admit that many times i ignored my conscience and acted loyal to a man when i should not have. sitting here today, it seems unbelievable that i was so mezmalimezm mesmerized by donald trump that i was willing to do things for him that i knew were absolutely wrong. for that reason, i have come here to apologize to my family, to my government and to the american people. accordingly, let me now tell you about mr. trump. i got to know him very well

working very closely with him for more than ten years as his executive vice president and special counsel and then as personal attorney when he became president. when i first met mr. trump, he was a successful entrepreneur, a real estate giant and an icon. being around mr. trump was intoxicating wh intoxicating. when you were in his presence, you felt like you were involved in something greater than yourself, that you were somehow changing the world. i wound up touting the trump narrative for over a decade. that was my job, always stay on message. always defend. it monopolized my life. at first, i worked mostly on real estate developments and other business transactions. shortly thereafter, mr. trump brought me into his personal life and private dealings.

over time, i saw his true character revealed. mr. trump is an enigma. he is complicated, as am i. he is 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. 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. donald trump is 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. he never expected to win the primary. he never expected to win the general election. the campaign for him was always a marketing opportunity. i knew early on in my work for mr. trump that he would direct me to lie to further his business interests. and 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 normalized and no one around him questioned it. in fairness, no one around him today questions it, either. a lot of people have asked me about whether mr. trump knew

about the release of the hacked documents of democratic national committee e-mails ahead of time. and the answer is yes. as i earlier stated, mr. trump knew from roger stone in advance about the wiki leaks drop of e-mails. in july of 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 speaker phone. 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 e-mails that would damage hillary clinton's campaign. mr. trump responded by stating to the effect wouldn't that be great. mr. trump is a racist.

the country has seen mr. trump court white sprupremists. in private he is even worse. he once asked me if i could run a country run by a black person that wasn't a shithole. this is when barack obama was president of the united states. when 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. mr. trump is a cheat. as previously stated, i am giving to the committee today three years of mr. trump's

personal financial statements from 2011, 2012 and 2013 which he gave to deutsche bank to inquire about a loan to buy the buffalo bills and to forbes. these are exhibits 1-a, 1-b and 1-c to my testimony. it was my experience that mr. trump inflated his total assets when it served his purposes, such a shrine to be listed among wealthiest people in forbes and deflated assets to reduce taxes. i am sharing newspaper articles that are examples of mr. trump inflating and deflating his assets as i said to soothe his financial interests. these are exhibit 2 to my testimony. as i noted, i am giving the committee today an article he

wrote on and send to me that reported on an auction of a portrait of mr. trump. this is exhibit 3-a to my testimony. mr. trump directed me to find a straw bidder to purchase a portrait of him that was being auctioned off at an art hampens event. the objective was to ensure that the 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 organization, to repay the fake bidder despite keeping the art for himself. and please see exhibit 3-b to my testimony. and this 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 are small businesses that were owed money for their services, and told them that no payment or a reduced payment would be coming. when i asked mr. trump or told mr. trump of my success, he actually revelled in it. and yet i continued to work for him. mr. trump is a con man. he 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, and i respect her greatly. and she did not deserve that. and 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. and this is exhibit 4 to my testimony. mr. trump directed me to use my own personal funds from the home accou equity line of credit to avoid any money being traced back to him that could negatively impact his campaign. and 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. and 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.

as exhibit 5-a to my testimony shows, i am providing the copy of a $35,000 check that president trump personally signed from his personal bank account on august 1 of 2017 when he was president of the united states, pursuing 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. other checks to reimburse me for the hush money payments were signed by donald trump jr. and allen wisalburg. see that example 5-b.

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. and you can find the details of that scheme directed by mr. trump in the pleadings in the u.s. district court for the southern district of new york. so picture this scene. in february of 2017, one month into his presidency, i'm visiting president trump in the oval office for the first time. and it's truly awe-inspiring. he is showing me all around and pointing to different paintings. and he says to me something to the effect of, don't worry, michael, your january and february reimbursement checks are coming. they were fed exed from new york and it take as while for that to get through the white house system.

as he promised, i received the first check for the reimbursement of $70,000 not long thereafter. 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 s.a.t. scores. 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 s.a.t. scores were ever disclosed without his permission. these are under exhibit 6. the irony wasn't lost on me at the time that mr. trump in 2011 had strongly criticized

president obama for not releasing his grades. as you can see in exhibit 7, mr. trump declared, let him show his records after calling president obama a terrible student. 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 or 2009 that he was cutting employee salaries in half, including mine, he showed me what he claims is a $10 million irs tax refund and says he cannot believe how stupid the government was for getting someone like him that much money back. during the campaign, mr. trump said that he did not consider vietnam veteran and prisoner of

war senator 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. mr. trump claimed it was because of a bone spur, but when i asked for medical records, he gave me none. and said that there was no surgery. he told me to offer simply the fact that he received a medical deferment. he finished the conversation with the following comment, you think i'm stupid? i'm not going to vietnam. i find it ironic, mr. president, that you are in vietnam right now, and yet i continue to work for him. the 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. sometime in the summer of 2017, i read all over the media that there had been a meeting at trump tower in june of 2016 involving don jr. and others from the campaign with russians including a representative of the russian government and an e-mail setting up the meeting with the subject line, dirt on hillary clinton. something clicked in my mind. i remembered being in the room with mr. trump probably in early june of 2016 when something peculiar happened. don trump jr. came into the room and walked behind his father's desk which in and of itself was unusual. people didn't just walk behind

mr. trump's desk to talk to him. and i recall don jr. leaning over to his father and speaking in a low voice which i could clearly hear and saying the meeting is all set. and i remember mr. trump saying, okay, good. let me know. what struck me as i look back and thought about the exchange between don jr. and his father was first that mr. trump had frequently told me and others that his son don jr. had the worst judgment of anyone in the world. and also that don jr. would never set up any meeting of significance alone and certainly not without checking with his father. i also knew that nothing went on in trump world especially the campaign without mr. trump's knowledge and approval.

so i concluded that don jr. was referring to that june 2016 trump tower meeting about dirt on hillary with the russian representatives when he walked behind his dad's desk that day and that mr. trump knew that was the meeting don jr. was talking about when he said that's good. let me know. over the past year or so, i have done some real soul searching. and i see now that my ambition and the intoxication of trump power had much to do with the bad decisions in part that i made. and to you chairman cummings and ranking member jordan and the other members of this committee and members of the house and senate, i am sorry for my lies and for lying to congress. and to our nation, i am sorry for actively working to hide from you the truthbout mr.

trump when you needed it most. for those who questioned my motives for being here today, i understand. i have lied, but i am not a liar. and 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. and i am going to prison and have shattered the safety and security that i tried so hard to provide for my family. my testimony certainly does not diminish the pain that i have caused my family and my friends. nothing can do that. and i have never asked for nor would i accept a pardon from president trump. and by coming today, i have caused my family to be the target of personal attacks by the president and his lawyer,

trying to intimidate me from peering before this panel. mr. trump called me a rat for choosing to tell the truth, much like a mobster would do when one of his men decides to cooperate with the government. and as exhibit h shows, i have provided the committee with copies of tweets that mr. trump posted attacking me and my fami family. only someone burning their head in the sand would not recognize them for what they are. it's an encouragement for someone to do harm to me and my family. i never imagined that he would engage in vicious, false attacks on my family and unleash his tv lawyer to do the same. and i hope this committee and all members of congress on both sides of the aisle make it clear

that as a nation we should not tolerate attempts to intimidate witnesses before congress and attacks on family are out of bounds and not acceptable. i wish to especially thank speaker pelosi for her statements and it is exhibit 9 to protect this institution and me and the chairman of the house permanent select committee on intelligence, adam schiff and you chairman cummings for likewise defending the institution and my family against the attacks by mr. trump. and also the many republicans who have admonished the president, as well. i am not a perfect man. i have done things i am not proud of. and i will live with the consequences of my actions for the rest of my life. but today, i get to decide the example that i set for my

children and how i attempt to change how history will remember me. i may not be able to change the past, but i can do right by the american people here today. and i thank you for your attention and i am happy to answer the committee's questions. >> thank you very much, mr. cohen. i now recognize myself. mr. cohen, before i start, i want to make sure you really understand something. you have admitted to lying to congress, to this very body. and now you are going to prison for it. do you, mr. cohen, recognize the gravity of your offenses? you are a lawyer? >> as of yesterday, i am no longer a lawyer. i have lost my law license amongst other things. >> do you understand the gravity of this moment? >> i most certainly do, mr. chairman. >> i want you to really hear this, mr. cohen.

we will not tolerate lying to this congress by anybody. we are in the search of the truth. do you understand that? >> i do. >> now, the president has also made numerous statements that turned out to be inaccurate. for example, he said he knew nothing about the hush money payments to ms. clifford. and his 2017 financial disclosure form said he never owed money to reimburse you for those payments. yet in your testimony, mr. cohen, you said that you met with the president in the oval office in february of 2017 and discussed his plans to reimburse you for money you paid. you say he told you, and i quote, don't worry, michael. your january and february

reimbursement checks are coming. is that accurate? and was that in the oval office? >> the statement is accurate, but the discussions regarding the reimbursement occurred long before he became president. >> would you explain that? >> back in 2017 -- i apologize, in 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. 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.

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 the chief financial officer of the trump organization. he acknowledged to allen that he was going to pay the 130,000 and that we should go back to his office and figure out how to do it. so yes, sir, i stand by the statement that i gave, but there was a history to it. >> in the testimony, you said you brought some checks, is that right? you said you brought some checks? >> yes, sir. >> let me ask you about one of these. this from the trump trust that holds the president businesses,

can you tell me who signed this check? >> i believe that the top signature is donald trump jr. and that the bottom signature i believe is allen weiselburg's. >> can you tell me the date of that check? >> march 17 of 2017. >> wait a minute, hold up. the date on the check is after president trump held his big press conference claiming that he gave up control of his businesses. how could the president have arranged for you to get this check if he was supposedly playing no role in his business? >> because the payments were designed to be paid over the course of 12 months and it was declared to be a retainer for services that would be provided

for the year of 2017. >> was there a retainer? >> there was no retainer agreement. >> would don jr. or mr. weiselburg have more information about that? >> about the entire discussions and negotiations prior to the election and don jr. would have cursory information. >> now, here is another one. this one appears to be signed by donald trump himself. is that his signature? >> that is donald trump's signature. >> so let me make sure i understand. 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 telling the american people today? >> yes, mr. chairman.

>> one final question. the president claimed he knew nothing about these payments. his ethics filing said he owed nothing to you. based on your conversations with him, is there any doubt in your mind that president trump knew exactly what he was paying for? >> there is no doubt in my mind and i truly believe there is no doubt in the mind of the people of the united states of america. >> and these new documents appear to corroborate what you just told us. with that i will yield to the gentleman. >> i want to make sure that you and i meet one day while we are in the courthouse and take you for every penny you still don't have and come after your daily beast and everybody else that you possibly know. so i'm warning you, tread very effing lightly because what i'm going to do to you is going to

be effing disgusting. do you understand me? who said that? >> i did. >> and did you say that, mr. cohen, in your testimony on page two, you said you did things for mr. trump in an effort to protect him. was that statement that i just read that you admitted to saying, did you do that to protect donald trump? >> i did it to protect mr. trump, donald trump jr., ivanka trump and eric trump. >> and in your sentencing statement back in december in front of the judge, you said this, mr. cohen. my weakness can be characterized as a blind loyalty to donald trump, a blind loyalty that led me to choose a path of darkness. is that accurate, mr. cohen? >> i wrote that. >> you wrote that and said that in front of the judge is that right. >> that's correct. >> let me read you a few other things and let me ask you why you did some of these things. when you filed a false tax

return in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016, was all of that out of blind loyalty to the president? >> no it was not. >> when you failed to report 4 million in income to the internal revenue service, did you do that to protect donald trump? >> no i did not. >> and when you failed to pay 1.4 million in taxes, i got constituents who don't make that in a lifetime, when you fail to pay 1.4 million in taxes to the u.s. treasury was that out of some blind loyalty to the president of the united states. >> it was not. the number was 1.38 and change and i have paid that money back to the irs. >> i think the american people appreciate that. >> i would like to say it was over the course of five years, approximately 260,000 a rear. >> that's what i said. that's five years. >> yes.

>> when you made false statements to financial institutions concerning a home equity line of credit in 2013, 2014 and 2015 and you pled guilty to making the false statements to those banks, was that all done to protect the president? >> no it was not. >> how about this one? when you created the fake twitter account women for cohen and paid a firm to post tweets like this one. in a world of lies, deception and fraud, we appreciate this honest guy at michael cohen tgif, handsome, sexy. was that done to protect the president? >> no. i didn't actually set that up. it was done by a young lady that worked for red finch. during the course of the campaign it is somewhat crazy and wild. we were having fun. that is what it was, sir. we were having fun.

>> was it done to protect the president? >> is it a fake twitter kwaekt? >> it was a real twitter account. >> did you pay a firm to create this? >> it was done by a young lady that works for the firm. again, sir, we were having fun during a stress full time. >> the point is, did you lie to protect the president or lie to help yourself? >> i'm not sure how that would help me. >> i'm not sure how it did, either. >> more than half the people on that site are men. >> the chairman gave you a 30 minute opening statement and you have a history of lying over and over and over again. frankly don't take my word for it, take what the court said. take what the southern district of new york said. cohen did crimes that were marked by a pattern of deception and that permeated his professional life. these crimes were distinct in their harms but very common set

of circumstances. they each involve deception and were each motivated by personal greed and ambition. a pattern of deception for personal greed and ambition. and you just got 30 minutes of an opening statement where your trashed the president of the united states of america. mr. cohen, how long did you work for donald trump? >> approximately a decade. >> ten years. >> that's correct. >> and you said all these bad things about the president there in the last 30 minutes and yet you worked for him for ten years? all of those bad things. if it's that bad i can see you working for him for ten days, maybe ten weeks, maybe even ten months. you worked for him for ten years. mr. cohen, how long did you work in the white house? >> i never worked in the white house. >> that's the point, isn't it? >> no, sir. >> yes it is. >> no it's not. >> you wanted to work in the white house and you didn't get

brought to the dance. i was extremely proud to be personal attorney to the president of the united states of america. i did not want to go to the white house. i was offered jobs. i can tell you a story of mr. trump rening out reince priebus because i had not taken a job where mr. trump wanted me to which was working with don mcgan at the white house general council's office. what i said at the time and i brought a lawyer in who produced a memo as to why i should not go in because there would be no attorney client privilege. and in order to handle some of the matters that i talked about in my opening that would be best suited for me not to go in and that every president had a personal attorney. >> here is what i see. i see a guy work for ten years and is here trashing the guy he worked for for ten years, didn't get a job in the white house and now you're behaving just like

everyone else who got fired and didn't get the job they wanted like andrew mccabe, co like jam comey. >> all i got is what i wanted to see my senior year of my son in high school and waiting for my daughter graduating from college to come back to new york. i got exact laep what i want. >> prison. >> i received exactly what i wanted. >> the gentleman's time has expired. >> mr >> thank you for being here today. i served as the chair of the democratic committee at the time of the russia hacks. i want to be clear, my questions are not about the harm done to any individual by wiki leaks and

the russians. it's about the possible and likely harm to the united states of america and our democracy. i have a series of questions that i hope will connect more of these dots. is it your testimony that mr. trump had advanced knowledge of the russia wiki leaks release of the dnc's e-mails? >> i cannot answer that in a yes or no. he had advanced notice that there was going to be a dump of e-mails, but at no time did i hear the specificity of what the e-mails were going to be. >> but you do testify today that he had advanced knowledge of their imminent release? >> that is what i had stated in my testimony. >> and that he shared that outcome. >> yes ma'am.

>> did he share the information with his son? >> i am not aware of that. >> was ivanka and jared still involve in the deal. >> the company was involved in the deal which meant the family was involved in the deal. >> if mr. trump and his daughter and son are involved in the russian trump tower deal, is it possible the whole family is conflicted or compromised with a foreign adversy in the months before the election? >> yes. >> based on your experience with the president and knowledge of his relationship with mr. stone, do you have reason to believe that the president explicitly or implicitly authorized mr. stone to make contact with wiki leaks and to indicate the campaign's interest in the strategic release of the illegally hacked materials? >> i'm not aware of that sgr was mr. stone a free agent reporting back to the president what he had done or was he an agent of the campaign acting on behalf of the president and with his apparently authority. >> no. he was a free agent. >> a free agent that was

reporting back to the president what he had done. >> correct. he frequently reached out to mr. trump and mr. trump was very happy to take his calls. it was free service. >> roger stone says he never spoke with mr. trump about wiki leaks. how can we corroborate what you are saying? >> i don't know, but i suspect that the special counsel's office and other government agencies have the information that you are seeking. >> moving on to a little later in 2016, a major wiki leak dump happens hours after the access hollywood tape is released. are you aware of mr. trump signaling for this dump. >> i am unaware of that. i was not in the country at the time of the bully bush tape. i was in london visiting my daughter. >> knowing how mr. trump operates with his winning at all costs mentality, do you believe

that he would cooperate or collude with a foreign power to win the presidency? is he capable of that? >> it calls on so much speculation. it would be unfair for me. >> you have a tremendous amount of experience. >> mr. trump is all about winning. he will do what is necessary. >> in your opinion and experience, would he have the potential to cooperate or collude with a foreign power to win the presidency at all costs? >> yes. >> based on what you know, would mr. trump or did he lie about colluding and coordinating with the russians at any point during the campaign? >> so as i stated in my testimony, i wouldn't use the word colluding. was there something odd about

the back and forth praise with president putin? yes. but i'm not really sure that i can answer that question in terms of collusion. i was not part of the campaign. i don't know the other conversations that mr. trump had with other individuals. there is just so many dots that all seem to lead to the same -- >> before my time expires, mr. cohen, the campaign and the entire trump organization appeared to be filthy with russian contact. there are russian business contacts. there are campaign russian contacts. there are lies about all of those contacts. and then we have roger stone informing the president just before the democratic national convention that wiki leaks was going to drop documents in the

public arena that we knew at that point were hacked and stolen by russia from the democratic national committee. >> the gentle lady's time has expired. you may answer her inquiry. >> given all those connections, is it likely that donald trump was fully aware and had every intent of working with russia to help make sure that he could win the presidency at all costs? >> so let me say that this is a matter that is currently being handled by the house select and senate select intelligence committees. so i would rather not answer that specific question other than just to tell you that mr. trump's desire to win would have him work with anyone. and one other thing that i had said in my statement is that when it came to the trump tower

moscow project, it was worth hundreds of millions of dollars. we never expected to win the election. so this was just business as usual. >> thank you. >> ranking member jordan, chairman of this committee promised members of the american people a fair and open process yet democrats have limited the scope of the hearing and issued a gag order to try to tell members of the committee what we can and cannot talk about. my colleagues on the other side of the aisle claim that they want the truth and transparency and fair oversight yet democrats witnessed to testify before congress today is none other than a scorned man who is going to prison for lying to congress. let that sink in. he is going to prison for lying to congress. he is the star witness to congress. if you read the sentencing report on mr. cohen, words like disceeceptive and greedy are scattered throughout that report.

it paints a picture of a narcissi narcissist, a bully who cannot tell the truth whether about the president or about his own personal life, but today he is the majority party's star witness. if the democrats were after the truth, they would have an honest person here testifying. and if they were really after the truth, they would not restrict the questioning to just a few topics. let's take a look at those restricted topics. mr. chairman, the first topic in your limited scope that i can ask mr. cohen is about the president's debts. didn't mr. cohen plead guilty to lying to banks about his personal finances? so we're asking a guy going to jail for lying about his debts to comment about the president's debts. he is the expert. mr. chairman, your next couple of topics say that i can ask mr. cohen about the compliance with financial disclosures and

campaign finance laws. didn't mr. cohen on two occasions break campaignfian fie laws with his own donations. the star witness is a guy who broke compliance laws himself. you graciously allow us to ask questions of mr. cohen on the president's dealings with the irs and tax law. your star witness here broke the law with regards to the irs at least five times. he pled guilty on cheating on his taxes, lying to the irs. he is the best witness you got? next up, with permission of the chairman i get to ask mr. cohenbit his perspective on the president's business dealings. let me get that straight. the witness lied to multiple financial institutions to get loans to pay off other loans just to keep himself afloat. and he's going to be the expert on business practices. obviously mr. chairman the witness may produce documents

that she suggests incriminates the president, yet he lies to banks, all of those lies were done on fraudulent documents, documents that he forged. nothing he says or produces has any credibility. apparently he lied about delivering his own child which is why he has had to correct the record. ladies and gentlemen, how on earth is this witness credible? with all the lies and deception and self-serving fraud, it begs the question, what is the majority party doing here? no one can see this guy as credible. he will say whatever he wants to accomplish his own personal goals. he is a fake witness and his presence here is a travesty. i hope the american people see through this. i know the people back in tennessee will. and with that statement, sir, i have a few questions of the witness.

with your loss of your law license, i think you mentioned in your opening statement that you had been disbarred, what is your source of income in the future? >> i don't expect i will have a source of income when i'm in federal penitentiary. >> is there a book deal coming or anything like that? >> i have no book deal right now in the process. i have been contacted by many including for television and movie, if you want to tell me who you would like to play you i am more than happy to write the name down. >> i would like to correct the statement on me. >> let me ask one other question. who paid your expenses to be here today? >> who paid my expenses? i paid my expenses. >> mr. chairman, i would like to yield the remaining of my time to the ranking member. >> how many times have you talked to the special counsel's office? >> seven. >> did they talk to you at all

in preparation for today's hearing between the seven times you talked to them prior to your sentencing? have you had any conversations with the special counsel's office between sentencing and today? >> i don't understand your question. >> you talked to him seven times in the sentencing memorandums that were in front of the court in december. how many times have you talked to the special counsel's office since then up to today's appearance here in congress? >> you may answer the question. >> i'm sorry. i don't have the answer to that. >> i'll come back. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. cohen, in your ten years of working for donald trump, did he control everything that went on in the trump organization? and did you have to get his permission in advance and report back after every meeting of any importance? >> yes.

there was nothing that happened at the trump organization from whether it was a response as the daily beast story that you referred to ranking member, that did not go through mr. trump with his approval and sign off as in the case of the payments. >> how many times did the president, michael, ask you or direct you to try to reach settlements with women in 2015 and 2016? >> i'm sorry, ma'am. i don't have the answer to that. i would have to go back and try to re-collect. it is certainly the two we know about. >> why do you think the president did not provide the accurate information in his 2017 financial disclosure form? what was he trying to hide? he corrected other forms but

didn't correct this one. >> the payments on the reimbursement of the funds i extended on his behalf. >> going back to the story as i stated when we left the office and we went to his office in order to make the determination on how the money was going to be wired to the interest on a lawyers account for keith davidson in california, i had asked allen to use his money, didn't want to use mine. he said he couldn't. we then decided how else we can do it. he asked me whether i know anybody who wants to have a party at one of his clubs that could pay me or somebody who may have wanted to become a member of one of the golf clubs. and i also don't have anybody that was interested in that. it got to the point where it was

down to the wire. it was either somebody wire the funds and purchase the life rights to the story from ms. clifford or it was going to end up being sold to television and that would have embarrassed the president and it would have interfered with the election. >> but the president has never amended his 2017 form to this day. while you're facing the consequences of going to jail, he is not. >> i believe that they amended a financial disclosure form and there is a foot note somewhere buried. i don't recall specifically what it says, but there is a foot note buried somewhere. >> can you describe, michael, to the american people catch and kill? >> catch and kill is a method that exists when you are working with a news outlet.

in this specific case it was a.m.i., national inquirer and others where they would contact me or mr. trump or someone and state that there is a story that is percolating out there that you may be interested in. and then what you do is you contact that individual and you purchase the rights to that story from them. >> and you practiced this for the president? >> i was involved in several of these catch and kill episodes. these catch and kill scenarios existed between david pecker and mr. trump long before i started for mr. trump in the senate. >> can you suggest who else this committee should talk to for additional information on this or anything else? >> yes, i believe david pecker,

dylan howard, harry levine of a.m.i., as well, allen garden of the trump organization, as well. >> thank you very much for your testimony. mr. chairman, this is a story of redemption. >> thank you. >> mr. cohen, in your testimony you stated that you began work for the trump organization as a lawyer dealing with real estate transactions, is that correct? >> that's correct. >> prior to coming to congress, i served as the director of two different banks so i have seen hundreds of loan applications. to try to determine your credibility here today i wanted to ask you a couple of real estate transaction questions to see how in fact you operate. according to the southern district of new york prosecutors, you lied to banks to secure loans by falsely stating the amount of debt you were carrying. my question to you, was it donald trump's fault that you knowingly committed a crime of the section to defraud a bank. >> no it is not.

>> was that fraudulent loan you obtained for the trump organization or for you personally? >> it would be for me, though i'm not familiar with which loan that you are referring to. i would like to say one thing. i would like just to respond. when we are talking about the home equity line of credit which is what i believe you are referring to, no. >> we are talking about the summer home. >> i never purchased a summer home. no individual at any bank had ever lost a dollar with me. i owe no money to any bank. >> the banks usually find out if somebody is trying to deceive them. mr. cohen, did your so-called blind loyalty to the president cause you to defraud the bank for your own personal gain? >> i take exception to that because there has never been a fraud.

i never defrauded any bank. >> let's dig deeper. according to the southern district of new york you failed to disclose more than $20 million in liabilities as well as tens of thousands of dollars of monthly expenses. that is according to the southern district of new york. now, mr. cohen, you being a lawyer, surely you knew you were breaking the law. why would you have done that? >> i'm not a cpa. i pled guilty. i am going to prison as a result of it. >> because you are a con? >> no, sir. because i pled guilty and i am going to be doing the time. i have caused tremendous, tremendous pain to my family and i take no -- >> when the bank found out about the liabilities that you failed to disclose, you lied again to the bank. this is according to the southern district of new york. it said it had been expungeed when you shifted the debt to

another bank. so apparently, according to the information that we received, your intent to defraud the bank was for the desire to purchase the summer home for $8.5 million in. >> no, sir. that was off of an equity line considering i had less than a 50% loan to value on the assets and there was a pre-existing line of credit that existed years before the date that you're referring to where this is all surrounding new york city taxi medallions. >> you understand that when you failed to disclose liabilities especially $20 million in liabilities, that is, in fact, fraud. >> except even with the 20 million in liability -- >> how much was it? >> the medallions were worth over $45 million. >> you called donald trump a cheat in your opening testimony.

what would you call yourself? >> a fool. >> you calling -- okay. no comment on that. >> i appreciate it. >> you said we were in search of the truth. i don't believe michael cohen is capable of telling the truth. i hope as this committee moves forward that when we have the opportunity to subpoena witnesses, we subpoena witnesses that are not recently disbarred, are not convicted felons and witnesses that haven't committed bank fraud and tax fraud. that is how we are going to determine the truth. mr. chairman, i yield the balance of my time to the ranking member. >> i would make one point. we just had a five minute debate where mr. cohen disputes what the southern district of new york found he was guilty of committing bank fraud. if this statement doesn't say it all, cohen's consciousness of wrong doing, instinct is to blame others is strong.

they are looking at that statement. his remorse is nonexistent. he just debated saying i really didn't do anything wrong. >> that's not what i said and you know that is not what i said. i pled guilty and i take responsibility for my actions. >> the gentleman's time has expired. >> shame on you, mr. jordan. that's not what i said. not what i said. what i said is i took responsibility and i take responsibility. what i was doing is explaining to the gentleman that his facts are inaccurate. i take responsibility for my mistakes. i am remorseful. and i am going to prison. i will be away from my wife and family for years. so before you turn around and you cast more dispersion, please understand, there are people

watching you today that know me a whole lot better. i made mistakes. i own them and i didn't fight with the southern district of new york. i didn't put the system through an entire scenario. but what i did do is i pled guilty and i am going to be going to prison. >> mat the center of the reason you're going to prison is conviction for campaign finance violations. and they center around some salacious revelations. the "washington post" reported or aired an access hollywood video. it set a record for the number

of people who watched, crashed the newspaper's server. this happened in early october on the cusp of the election. what was mr. trump's reaction to the video becoming public at that time ? and was he concerned about the impact of that video on the election? >> the answer is yes. as i stated before, i was in london at the time visiting daughter who was studying. i received a phone call during the dinner from hope hicks stating that she had just spoken to mr. trump. and we need you to start making phone calls to various different news outlets that you have relationships with. what we want to do is just to

claim that this was men locker room talk. >> was there concern about the election in particular? >> the answer is yes. then couple that with karen mcdougal which came out around the same time skpmpt then on top of that the stormy daniels matter. >> and these things happen in the month before the election and almost one after the other. the stormy daniels revelation where prosecutors and officials learned of that matter and prosecutors stated that the officials at the magazine contacted you about the story. the magazine, of course, is the national enquirer.

is that correct that they did come to you? >> yes ma'am. >> were you concerned about this news story becoming public right after the access hollywood study in terms of impact on the election? >> i was concerned about it, but more importantly, mr. trump was concerned about it. >> that was my next question. what was the president's concern about these matters becoming public in october as we were about to go into an election? >> i don't think anybody would dispute this belief that after the wildfire that encompassed the billy bush tape, that a second follow-up to it would have been pleasant. and he was concerned with the effect that it had had on the

campaign, on how women were seeing him, and ultimately whether or not he would have a shot in the general election. >> so you negotiated the $130,000 payment. >> the $130,000 number was not a number that was actually negotiated. it was told to me by keith davidson that this was the number that ms. clifford wanted. >> you finally completed that deal as it were on october 25th days before the election. what happened in the interim? >> contemplated whether or not to do it, wasn't sure if she was really going to go public. it was again some communications back and forth between myself and keith davidson. and ultimately it came to either do it or don't at which time i had gone into mr. trump's office

as i did after each and every conversation. and he had told me that he had spoken to a couple of friends and it is 130,000, not a lot of money and we should just do it so go ahead and do it. i was at the time with allen where he directed us to go back to the office and figure this all out. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> mr. cohen, do you know lynn patton? i'm right here. do you know lynn patton? >> yes, i do. >> i asked lynn to come today in her personal capacity to actually shed some light. how long have you known ms. patton? >> i am responsible for lynn patton joining the trump organization and the job she currently holds. >> i can glad you acknowledge that because you made some very demeeng comments about the president that she doesn't agree with.

it has to do with your claim of racism. she says that as a daughter of a man born in birmingham, alabama that there is no way that she would work for an individual who was racist. how do you reconcile the two of those? >> as neither should i as the son of a holocaust survivor. >> but, mr. cohen, i guess what i'm saying is i have talked to the president over 300 tiempzme i have not one time heard a racist comment out of his mouth in private. do you have proof of those conversations? do you have tape recordings of those conversations. >> no, sir. >> you taped everybody else. >> that's not true, sir. >> you haven't taped anybody? >> i have taped. >> how many times have you taped individuals? >> maybe 100 times. >> i heard it is over 200 times. >> i think it is approximately

about 100 from what i recall. you asked me a question, sir. >> do you have proof, yes or no? >> i do. >> where is the proof? >> ask ms. patton how many people who are black are executives at the trump organization? the answer is zero. >> i would ask unanimous consent that her entire statement be put in the record? >> without objection. >> let me go on a little bit further. did you collect $1.2 million or so from navartis. >> i did. >> for access to the trump administration? >> no, sir. >> why did you collect it? >> because they came to me based upon my knowledge of the enigma donald trump -- let me finish. >> did they pay you $1.2 million to give them advice? >> yes, they did. a multibillion-dollar

conglomerate came to me looking for information, nothing that is unusual here in d.c., looking for information and they believed that i had a value. the value was the insight that i was capable of offering them. >> how many times did you meet with them? for $1.2 million how many times did you meet with them? >> i provided them with both in person as well as telephone access whenever they needed it? >> how many times. >> i don't recall. >> did you ever talk to them? >> i spoke to them on several occasions, yes. >> how many? >> six times. >> six times. $230,000 a call. >> i also would like to bring to your attention -- >> this is my five minutes, not yours. did you get money from the bank of kazaziazakhstan? >> i did. >> for what purpose?

>> the purpose was because the former ceo of that bank had ubsconded with between 4 to $6 billion and some of that money was here in the united states and they sought my assistance in terms of finding, locating that money and helping them to re-collect it. >> are you saying that all the reports that you were paid in some estimates over $4 million to have access and understanding of the trump administration, you're saying all of that was just paid to you just because you are a nice guy? >> i am a nice guy but more importantly -- >> the record reflects that you are not a nice guy. >> each and every contract contained the clause in my contracts that said i will not lobby and i do not do government relations work. in fact, novart s sent me their contract which stated specifically that they wanted me to lobby. that they wanted me to provide access to government including the president.

that information, that paragraph was crossed out by me, initialled and written saying i will not lobby or do government relations work. >> so novartis representatives say it was like they were hiring a nonregistered lobbiest. do you disagree with that? >> i d't know what they said, sir. >> have you ever contacted anybody in the administration? >> yes. >> to advocate on behalf of any aspect of any of your contracts? i ask unanimous consent, mr. chairman. i ask unanimous consent -- >> the gentleman's time is expired. you may answer the question. >> i don't know what you are referring to, sir. >> mr. chairman -- >> thank you. mr. cohen, i am pleased you

agreed to testify today voluntarily. in my view, we are all here for just one reason and that's the american people are tired of being lied to. they have been lied to by president trump. they have been lied to by the president's children. they have been lied to by the president's legal representatives. and it pains me to say that they have been even lied to by his congressional enablers who are still devoted to perpetuating and protecting this giant con game on the american people. now, mr. cohen, i would like to talk to you about the president's assets. since by law these must be reported accurately on his federal financial disclosure. and when he submits them for a bank loan. mr. cohen, you served for nearly

a decade as being businessman trump's personal attorney and so-called fixer. did you also have an understanding of the president's assets and how he valued those items? >> yes. >> in november of 2017, cranes new york business reported that the trump organization provided, quote, flagrantly untrue revenue figures going back to at least 2010 to influence ranking of the larger private companies in new york. according to the reports, while the trump organization reported nearly 9.5 billion in revenues in 2016, public filings suggested revenues were actually less than one-10th of that. to your knowledge, did the president or his company ever inflate assets or revenues?

>> yes. >> and was that done with the president's knowledge or direction? >> everything was done with the knowledge and at the direction of mr. trump. >> tell us why he would do that and what purpose did it serve? >> it depends upon the situation. there were times that i was asked with the cfo to go back and to speak with an individual from forbes because mr. trump wanted each year to have his net worth rise on the forbes wealthiest individuals list. so what you do is you look at the assets and you try to find an asset that has, say, for example, 40 wall street which is about 1.2 million square feet, find an asset that is comparable, find the highest price per square foot that is achieved in the area, and apply

it to that building. or if you are going off of your rent role, you can go by the gross rent role times the multiple and make up the multiple which is something that he had talked about. based upon what he wanted to value the asset at. >> you know, you have provided this committee with copies of the president's financial statements or parts of them from 2011, 2012 and '13. mr. chairman, i would like to submit those for the record. mr. chairman, i would like to submit the statements for the record. >> ordered. >> thank you. can you explain why you had these financial statements and what you used them for? >> so these financial statements were used by me for two purposes, one was discussing with media whether it was forbes or other magazines to demonstrate mr. trump's

significant net worth. that was one function. another was when we were dealing later on with insurance companies, we would provide them with these copies so that they would understand that the premium which is based sometimes upon the individual's capabilities to pay would be reduced. >> and all of this was done at the president's direction and with his knowledge? >> yes because whatever the numbers would come back to be, we would immediately report it back. >> and did this information provided to us inflate the president's assets? >> i believe these numbers are inflated. >> and, of course, inflating assets to win a newspaper poll to boost your ego is not a

crime, but to your knowledge did the president provide inflated assets to a bank in order to help him obtain a loan? >> the gentleman's time is expired but you may answer the question. >> these documents were provided to deutsche bank in one occasion while i was with them in our attempt to obtain money so that we can put a bid on the buffalo bills. >> thank you for your answer. >> i yield to the gentleman from north korea. >> i thank the gentleman for yielding. i want to -- which indicates that mr. cohen's promise to access not just trump but also the circle around him, it was almost as if we were hiring a lobbiest. i ask unanimous consent. >> without objection. >> i ask unanimous consent that we put into record a criminal referral for violating section

22 usc of the statute number 611. i ask unanimous consent that my letter referring mr. cohen for violating for illegal lobbying activity be entered into the record. >> without objection. >> i ask unanimous consent that the first order of business for this committee is for us to look at a bipartisan way at criminal referrals at the next business meeting. >> these are not documents. they are objections. >> so we are objecting to a unanimous consent request? >> yes. >> i will yield back. >> let me be clear. i'm going to give you your whole five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> mr. meadows, the chairman

made me aware that i had given a little more time to ms. wassermann schultz. i want the committee to know that because there are so many members, i will be strict on this five minutes. thank you very much. >> mr. cohen, you claim that you lied but you are not a liar. if you lied, you are a liar by definition. you said the facts are inaccurate. if they are facts they are accurate and that would make you inaccurate. i would like to know who you consulted with to prepare for today's hearing. lanny davis and who else? >> i consulted with my counsel, lanny davis as well as michael monaco. >> did you or michael or lanny lanny davis or anyone else cooperate with the democrat majority to prepare. >> i'm sorry?

>> did anyone else on your team cooperate with the democrat party? >> we have spoken to the party. >> did you prepare with chairman cummings or anyone on your team? >> what do you mean by prepare? >> prepare for this hearing. >> i prepared with my counsel. >> did you prepare with democrat majority or chairman cummings? >> we spoke with chairman cummings and the party. >> with chairman schiff? >> spoke with chairman schiff and his people, as well. >> were there any other individuals acting as a liaison for you with the majority party? >> i'm sorry, sir. what are you saying? >> did you have a liaison other than you mentioned who were working with the majority to prepare for this hearing? >> we spoke with the various individuals that you just raised, yes.

>> tom stier, regarding him or any of his representatives, anyone associated with him, is he or any of them paying lanny davis to represent you? >> not that i'm aware of. >> who is paying lanny davis? >> at the present moment no one. >> he is doing this work for nothing? >> yes, sir, and i hope so. >> i kind of doubt it. how did lanny davis come to represent you? did he approach you or did you approach him? >> i reached out to lanny davis at the recommendation of my former counsel over at mcdermott emery who knew mr. davis. >> you reached out to mr. davis? >> i did, yes, initially. >> okay. so did you want to testify before congress or did he urge you to testify here?

>> i was asked to come here. and i am here, sir, voluntarily because -- >> you were asked by who? did he ask you to come here? >> no, sir. >> because he says that he did ask you to come here and that he convinced you and also that he did the same with chairman cummings, as well. so your testimony here is that you approached lanny davis to represent you and to come here. he did not persuade you to come here. >> he did not persuade me. actually chairman cummings which is part of the conversations that we engaged in with his people as well as chairman schiff and others, we spoke in order to ask me to come here voluntarily. >> i find the connecting of the dots here with mr. davis and you and frankly the chair men and others to be rather stunning,

that there is an agenda for all this happening here today. i believe frankly that that is to bring the president down, to impugn the president. you made an oath last time you were here and that oath meant nothing to you then. we had an oath here in this very room about a month ago and it was, quote, be clear that i will seek the truth, nothing but the truth so help me god, end quote. it sounds like an oath to me. the chairman made that statement in this very room last month. here we are today, our first big hearing with a convicted liar, lying to congress, a criminal. and i believe this witness is totally incompatible with the stated goal of having to seek the truth in this hearing. this is the first time in the

history of congress we have someone testifying here who has already been convicted of lying to congress. congratulations for being the first in congress to do that and mr. cummings, as well. i can't believe we have brought this committee to its knees in terms of losing its credibility. it's a shameful mockery of what our purpose is. i yield back. >> the gentleman's time has expired. mr. lynch. >> let me just pick up on those last comments. want to talk about a low point? how about mr. papadopoulos pled guilty, mr. manafort convicted and pled guilty. mr. gates pled guilty, mr. flynn pled guilty. mr. kilimnik indicted for obstruction of justice. my friends on the other side of the aisle refuse to bring any of these people up before the

committee. today for the first day we have one witness who voluntarily is coming forward to testify. your side ran away from the truth and we are trying to bring it to the american people. so mr. cohen, first of all, thank you for voluntarily coming before the committee to testify. i want to ask you about your statements regarding trump tower and moscow. and i want to drill down on some of the facts and details. you may not be aware of it, but this goes back a ways. back in 1987, mr. trump wrote that he had had ongoing discussions with soviet officials back then to build a luxury hotel across from the kremlin in partnership with the soviet union. at that time it was the soviet union. i want to ask you, in your filing with the special counsel mueller's office, the

prosecutors wrote mr. cohen discussed the status and progress of the moscow project with individual one on more than the three occasions mr. cohen claimed to the committee. and he briefed family members of individual one with the company about the project. i know this is redundant, but mr. cohen, who are you referring to when you refer to individual one? >> donald j. trump. >> and the company? >> the trump organization through a subsidry. >> and who are the family members that you briefed on the trump tower moscow project? >> don trump jr. and ivanka trump. >> were these in the regular course of business or did the president or family request the briefings. >> in the regular course of business. >> do recall how many of these briefings there might have been? >> approximately ten in total.

>> all right. in your written remarks you also wrote and i quote there are at least a half dozen times between the iowa caucus in january of 2016 and the end of june when mr. trump would ask me how is it going in russia referring to the russia moscow tower project. how did the president communicate those questions to you? was it verbally or over the phone? >> verbally most of the time, virtually all of the time. he would say to me michael cohen, he was heading to a rally or a car and i would walk him to the elevator, he would ask me questions quickly regarding the series -- >> could it be about what he was referring to in terms of the project in russia? >> no. this would be it. otherwise there would be no reason to ask it of me. >> you also wrote, and i quote, to be clear, mr. trump knew of and directed the trump moscow negotiations throughout the

campaign and lied about it, closed quote. how did the president actually direct the negotiations? what details did he direct? >> after each communication that i had, i would report back to him and our goal was to get this project we were interested in building what would have been the largest building in all of europe. sir, if i can say one last thing in regard to the gentleman's statements since this is on topic. the lies that i told to congr s congress, in fairness, benefitted mr. trump. it was in furtherance of my protection of mr. trump, which i stated in my testimony. and i am not protecting mr. trump anymore. while i truly appreciate taking some of your time on to it, to attack me every single time

about taxes, i have no credibility, it's for exactly that reason that i spent the last week searching boxes in order to find the information that i did so that you don't have to take my word for it. i don't want you to. i want you to look at the documents. i want you to make your own decision. sorry, sir. >> let me just my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are afraid that you're going to lie. i think they're afraid that you're going to tell the truth. >> i thank you, sir. >> i yield back the balance of my time. >> the gentlemen from ohio is recognized. >> i appreciate the gentlemen for yielding. >> i want to respond to mr. lynch. i want you to think about this. when have yoever seen a federal agency where this is happened. james comey, director, fired. andy mccabe, deputy director, fired, lied three times under oath, under investigation, right, as we speak. jim baker, fbi counsel, demoted and then left, currently under investigation by the u.s. attorney's office in connecticut, lisa page, demoted then left. peter strzok, deputy head of te