Michael Cohen: Takeaways from testimony of Trump's ex-lawyer

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47391282

Michael Cohen: Takeaways from testimony of Trump's ex-lawyer

Anthony Zurcher
North America reporter
@awzurcheron Twitter

27 February 2019

Michael Cohen is unleashing a series of explosive accusations directed towards Donald Trump touching on multiple controversies that have bedevilled the president during his time in office. Here are five takeaways from his dramatic testimony to Congress.

Blockbuster allegations

Mr Cohen suggests the president had advance knowledge of his son's June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with Russians and that WikiLeaks was poised to release damaging information about Democrats. He says the president personally signed cheques reimbursing him for a hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels. He alleges that the president was fully aware of ongoing negotiations for a Trump Tower in Moscow well into the 2016 presidential campaign.

Many of these assertions rely almost exclusively on Cohen's word - the word of a man who has already admitted to lying to Congress and to the federal government on his taxes. What's more, while his allegations are certainly politically damaging, they aren't incontrovertible evidence of legal misconduct by the president. If there is a case to be made against Mr Trump, it will have to rely on more than the word of his former lawyer and fixer.
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