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- Longtime Trump fixer Michael Cohen is gearing up to testify before Congress on Wednesday regarding his relationship with President Donald Trump.
- He will reportedly accuse Trump of engaging in criminal conduct while in office, The Wall Street Journal reported.
- It is related to a hush-money payment that Cohen facilitated to porn star Stormy Daniels to stop her from speaking out about an alleged affair with Trump.
- He will reportedly also provide evidence of "lies, racism, and cheating" by Trump.
- Cohen has never publicly accused Trump of criminal conduct while serving as president before.
Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s former lawyer and fixer, plans to accuse Trump of engaging in criminal conduct while in office, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday morning.
The alleged criminal conduct is related to a hush-money payment that Cohen facilitated to Stormy Daniels, the porn star who says she had an affair with Trump about a decade ago, the Journal reported.
It cited an unnamed person familiar with Cohen’s planned testimony to Congress on Wednesday.
Associated Press/Marcus Schreiber
The source did not offer any more specifics about the payment before the hearing, which will take place before the House Oversight Committee. He is due to testify before three congressional committees, some of which will be behind closed doors.
This would mark the first time Cohen accuses Trump of criminal conduct while serving as president.
Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
Cohen is also expected to provide some of Trump’s private financial statements and give what the Journal called "behind-the-scenes" details of working for Trump, the Journal said.
He will say that Trump at times inflated or deflated his net worth for business and personal purposes, including the avoidance of property taxes, the Journal said.
He will also provide evidence of "lies, racism, and cheating" by Trump, the Journal reported its source as saying. Trump reportedly made racist remarks about African-Americans’ intelligence and lifestyle choices.
Cohen’s testimony comes before he serves a three-year prison sentence on March 6, for pleading guilty to one count of lying to Congress about various aspects of the Trump Tower Moscow deal when he testified before the House Intelligence Committee in 2017.
Read The Wall Street Journal’s report here.
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Source: Business Insider – ama@businessinsider.com (Alexandra Ma)