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NATION/WORLD
East Oregonian
Thursday, February 28, 2019
Trump’s ex-lawyer slams him before Congress
Cohen calls
president a ‘racist’
and a ‘con man’
By MARY CLARE
JALONICK, ERIC
TUCKER AND
MICHAEL R. SISAK
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — In a
damning depiction of Don-
ald Trump, the president’s
former lawyer on Wednes-
day cast him as a racist and a
con man who used his inner
circle to cover up politically
damaging allegations about
sex, and lied throughout
the 2016 election campaign
about his business interests
in Russia.
Michael Cohen, who
previously pleaded guilty
to lying to Congress, told
lawmakers that Trump had
advance knowledge and
embraced the news that
emails damaging to Hillary
Clinton would be released
during the campaign. But he
also said he had no “direct
evidence” that Trump or his
aides colluded with Russia
to get him elected, the pri-
mary question of special
counsel Robert Mueller’s
investigation.
Cohen, shaking off inces-
sant criticism from Republi-
cans anxious to paint him as
a felon and liar, became the
first Trump insider to pull
back the curtain on a ver-
sion of the inner workings of
Trump’s political and busi-
ness operations. He likened
the president to a “mobster”
who demanded blind loy-
alty from underlings and
expected them to lie on his
behalf to conceal informa-
tion and protect him — even
if it meant breaking the law.
“I am not protecting Mr.
Trump anymore,” Cohen
declared.
His matter-of-fact tes-
timony about secret pay-
ments and lies unfolded
as Trump met with North
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s former personal
lawyer, is sworn in to testify before the House Oversight and
Reform Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington on Wednes-
day.
Korean leader Kim Jong
Un, offering stark TV coun-
terprogramming to the pres-
ident’s official duties. At a
Vietnam hotel and unable
to ignore the drama thou-
sands of miles away, Trump
lashed out on Twitter, say-
ing Cohen “did bad things
unrelated to Trump” and “is
lying in order to reduce his
prison time.”
In testimony that cut to
the heart of federal inves-
tigations encircling the
White House, Cohen said he
arranged hush money pay-
ments to women on Trump’s
behalf and lied about them to
the public and the first lady
at the president’s behest. He
agreed to say Trump was
“not knowledgeable” about
the transactions even though
the president directly reim-
bursed him, and said he was
left with the unmistakable
impression Trump wanted
him to lie to Congress about
a Moscow real estate proj-
ect, even if the president
never directly told him so.
In one revelation, Cohen
said prosecutors in New
York were investigating
conversations Trump or his
advisers had with him after
his office and hotel room
was raided by the FBI last
April. Cohen said he could
House approves bill
to expand gun-sale
background checks
firearms are properly han-
dled. The bill includes
exceptions allowing tem-
WASHINGTON — The porary transfers to prevent
Democratic-cont rolled imminent harm or for use
House on Wednes-
at a target range.
day approved a
The
long-de-
layed bill would
measure
requir-
ing federal back-
merely close loop-
holes to ensure that
ground checks for
background checks
all firearms sales
are extended to
and transfers, the
private and online
first major gun
Thompson
sales that often go
control legislation
undetected, Demo-
considered by Con-
crats said.
gress in nearly 25 years.
Democrats called the
“People who are fel-
240-190 vote a major step ons or are dangerously
to end the gun lobby’s mentally ill shouldn’t
grip on Washington and have guns,” regardless of
begin to address gun vio- whether they buy them
lence that kills thousands from a federally licensed
of Americans every year, dealer or their next-door
including 17 people shot neighbor, said Rep. Mike
and killed at a Florida high Thompson, D-Calif., a key
school last year.
sponsor who has pushed
The bill is the first of for expanded background
two the House is voting checks since the 2012
on this week as Demo- killing of 20 elementary
crats move to tighten gun school students in New-
laws following eight years town, Connecticut.
“For
six-and-a-half
of Republican control. The
other bill would extend the years, we had no cooper-
review period for back- ation from the past major-
ground checks from three ity” in the House, Thomp-
son said. “We couldn’t get
to 10 days.
Both bills face dim a hearing on the bill. We
prospects in the Republi- couldn’t get a vote. Today,
can-controlled Senate and we’re here to tell you it’s a
veto threats from President new day.”
Donald Trump, who said
they would impose unrea-
sonable requirements on
gun owners.
Just eight Republicans
joined 232 Democrats to
support the bill, while
only two Democrats voted
against it.
The White House said
in a veto message that the
background-checks
bill
could block someone from
borrowing a firearm for
self-defense or allowing a
neighbor to take care of a
gun while traveling.
Democrats called those
arguments misleading and
said gun owners have a
responsibility to ensure
By MATTHEW DALY
Associated Press
not discuss that conversa-
tion, the last contact he said
he has had with the presi-
dent or anyone acting on his
behalf, because it remains
under investigation.
The appearance marked
the latest step in Cohen’s
evolution from legal fixer
for the president — he once
boasted he’d “take a bullet”
for Trump — to a foe who
has implicated him in fed-
eral campaign finance vio-
lations. The hearing pro-
ceeded along parallel tracks,
with Democrats focusing on
allegations against Trump
while Republicans sought
to undermine Cohen’s cred-
ibility and the proceeding
itself.
As Republicans blasted
him as a convicted liar, a
mostly unrattled Cohen
sought to blunt the attacks
by repeatedly acknowl-
edging his own failings.
He called himself a “fool,”
warned lawmakers of the
perils of blind loyalty to
a leader undeserving of it
and pronounced himself
ashamed of what he’d done
to protect Trump.
“You make mistakes in
life and I’ve owned them
and I’ve taken responsibil-
ity for them, and I’m paying
a huge price, as is my fam-
ily,” Cohen said during testi-
mony that spanned roughly
seven hours.
Cohen will soon report to
prison for a three-year sen-
tence. At the same time, he
is seen as a vital witness for
federal prosecutors because
of his proximity to the pres-
ident during key episodes
under investigation and their
decade-long
professional
relationship.
The first of six Trump
aides charged in the
Trump-Russia
investiga-
tion to testify publicly about
crimes committed during
the 2016 campaign and in
the months that followed,
Cohen also delivered bit-
ing personal commentary
on a president he said never
expected to win in the first
place.
He recalled how Trump
made him threaten schools
he attended to not release
his grades and SAT scores,
mocked his own avoidance
of the Vietnam War and
denigrated blacks as “too
stupid” to vote for him.
“He never expected to
win the primary. He never
expected to win the gen-
eral election,” Cohen said.
“The campaign — for him
— was always a marketing
opportunity.”
Cohen gave lawmakers
his first-person account of
how he arranged to buy the
silence of a porn actress and
a Playboy model who said
they had sex with Trump. He
described a February 2017
conversation with Trump in
the Oval Office in which the
president reassured him that
reimbursement checks sent
through Federal Express
were coming but would take
some time to get through the
White House system.
He said the president
called him a year later to
discuss the public messag-
ing around the payments,
and had even once put his
wife, Melania, on the phone
so that he could disavow
knowledge.
“Lying to the first lady is
one of my biggest regrets,”
Cohen said. “She is a kind,
good person. I respect her
greatly, and she did not
deserve that.”
In an allegation relating
to Mueller’s probe, Cohen
said he said he overheard
Trump confidant Roger
Stone telling the candidate
in the summer of 2016 that
WikiLeaks would dump
damaging
information
about Clinton.
Trump put Stone on
speakerphone and Stone
told him that he had com-
municated with WikiLeaks
founder Julian Assange
and that “within a couple of
days, there would be a mas-
sive dump of emails that
would damage Hillary Clin-
ton’s campaign,” according
to Cohen. Damaging emails
that U.S. officials say were
hacked by Russia were later
released by WikiLeaks.
Trump responded by say-
ing “wouldn’t that be great,”
Cohen said.
Stone disputed that
account Wednesday.
Cohen’s claims that
Trump had advance knowl-
edge of the emails contra-
dict the president’s asser-
tions that he was in the dark,
and it is not clear how legally
problematic that could be
for Trump anyway. Mueller
has not suggested that mere
awareness of WikiLeaks’
plans, as Stone is purported
to have had, is by itself a
crime.
Cohen also suggested
Trump implicitly told him
to lie about a Moscow
real estate project. Cohen
has admitted lying about
the project, which he says
Trump knew about as Cohen
was negotiating with Russia
during the campaign. Cohen
said Trump did not directly
tell him to lie, but “he would
look me in the eye and tell
me there’s no business in
Russia and then go out and
lie to the American people
by saying the same thing.”
Cohen said he does not
have direct evidence that
Trump colluded with the
Russian government during
the election, but that he
has “suspicions,” including
after a June 2016 meeting
between the president’s old-
est son and a Kremlin-con-
nected lawyer.
“I wouldn’t use the word
‘colluding.’ Was there some-
thing odd about the back-
and-forth praise with Pres-
ident Putin?” Cohen said.
“Yes, but I’m not really sure
I can answer the question
about collusion.”
Federal prosecutors in
New York have said Trump
directed Cohen to arrange
payments to buy the silence
of porn actress Stormy Dan-
iels and former Playboy
model Karen McDougal in
the run-up to the 2016 cam-
paign. Cohen has said he
acted out of “blind loyalty.”
He said he was presenting
the committee with a copy of
a check Trump wrote from
his personal bank account
after he became president
to reimburse Cohen for the
hush money payments. He
claimed he had other exhib-
its as well, including some
financial statements.
On the matter of racism,
Cohen said the president
made comments “dispar-
aging African-Americans,
saying at one point that
black people would never
vote for him because they
were “too stupid.”
He said that Trump once
confided to him that, despite
his public explanation of
a medical deferment from
the Vietnam War, he never
had any intention of fighting
there.
“You think I’m stupid, I
wasn’t going to Vietnam,”
Cohen quoted Trump as
saying.
“I find it ironic, President
Trump, that you are in Viet-
nam right now,” Cohen said.
BRIEFLY
Trump, Kim share
smiles, dinner
before nuke talks
HANOI, Vietnam (AP)
— U.S. President Donald
Trump and North Korean
leader Kim Jong Un pro-
jected optimism Wednesday
as they opened high-stakes
talks about curbing Pyong-
yang’s pursuit of nuclear
weapons, a problem that has
bedeviled generations of
leaders.
The second summit
between Trump and Kim
came against the back-
drop of the American pres-
ident’s domestic troubles.
The turmoil in Washington
has escalated concerns that
Trump, eager for an agree-
ment, would give Kim too
much and get too little in
return. The leaders’ first
meeting in June was heavy
with pageantry but light on
any enforceable agreements
for North Korea to give up
its nuclear arsenal.
Border wall
prototypes are
demolished
SAN DIEGO (AP) —
The government is demol-
ishing eight prototypes of
Donald Trump’s border wall
that became powerful sym-
bols of his presidency when
they were built nine months
after he took office.
The Trump adminis-
tration says elements of
the prototypes have been
melded into current border
fence designs and they have
served their purpose.
The four concrete and
four steel panels, spaced
closely together steps from
an existing barrier separat-
ing San Diego and Tijuana,
Mexico, were one of
Trump’s top priorities, and
he visited the location a year
ago to see the installations
firsthand.
Contrasts abound
in Chicago
mayoral runoff
CHICAGO (AP) — A
political outsider who cam-
paigned on reforming Chi-
cago’s police department
after a white officer’s fatal
shooting of a black teenager
said Wednesday that vot-
ers likely had the high-pro-
file case on their minds
when they advanced her to
an April runoff for mayor,
assuring for the first time a
black woman will lead the
nation’s third-largest city.
Former federal prose-
cutor Lori Lightfoot’s first-
place finish in Tuesday’s
opening round of voting
was surprising considering
the 14-candidate field fea-
tured prominent state and
local leaders.
Lightfoot will go up
against the ultimate insider,
Toni Preckwinkle — a long-
time member of the city
council who now holds the
top job in Cook County.
They are both black women
who campaigned as pro-
gressives, but that’s largely
where the similarities end.
Policital operative
arrested in ballot
fraud investigation
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) —
The North Carolina polit-
ical operative at the center
of a ballot fraud scandal
was arrested Wednesday on
criminal charges over activ-
ities in the 2016 elections
and the Republican primary
in 2018.
The arrest of Leslie
McCrae Dowless Jr. came
after a grand jury returned
indictments alleging illegal
possession of absentee bal-
lots and obstruction of jus-
tice, Wake County District
Attorney Lorrin Freeman
said.
Under North Carolina
law, it’s illegal for any-
one other than the voter or
a close relative to handle a
mail-in ballot.
Also charged were peo-
ple Dowless is accused
of paying in 2016 to col-
lect ballots. The state elec-
tions board reported last
year that Dowless tried to
obstruct investigators by
coaching his associates
about what they should say
if questioned.
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