Cohen testimony: Trump's former lawyer will return to give further evidence - 'I will be back'
What happened the day after Michael Cohen's dramatic open testimony to Congress
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Michael Cohen says he is committed to the truth and will return to Capitol Hill in March with further evidence, after three days in Washington that has captivated the country.
The president's former personal lawyer and long-time fixer delivered hours of remarkable claims and accusations against his old boss on Wednesday, including calling him a "racist", "conman" and "cheat"
He returned Capitol Hill on Thursday for his third day of testimony this week, and delivered closed-door testimony to the House Intelligence Committee run by frequent Trump antagonist, Representative Adam Schiff.
"I am committed to telling the truth and I will be back on March 6th to finish up," Cohen said after that closed door meeting.
The fallout from Cohen's Wednesday testimony was evidence in Washington as he returned for the closed door testimony.
Racist. Conman. Cheat. The biggest revelations from Cohen's testimony
Show all 7Democratic Representative Eljiah Cummings, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee that hosted Cohen Wednesday, told reporters that anybody who was named multiple times by Cohen could expect to be called in to speak to the panel. During his testimony, the former Trump fixer repeatedly mentioned the president's oldest son Donald Trump Jr, and implicated him in a scheme to pay hush money to Stormy Daniels alongside the chief financial officer of the Trump Organisation.
Meanwhile, Republicans attempted to further cast doubt on Cohen's character, with two Republicans filing a motion with the Department of Justice to consider perjury charges for Cohen over comments he made on Wednesday.
Cohen's lawyer rejected the accusations as baseless.
Meanwhile, Minnesota representative Ilhan Omar, a Democratic representative, told Rolling Stone magazine she believed Mr Trump's presidency must end in impeachment.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi then attempted to downplay expectations that any effort to impeach the president would make headway in the House.
Mr Trump, for his part, lashed out at his former employee, suggesting 95 per cent of what he said during his evidence was a lie.
Take a look below for our updates from throughout the day
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Hello and welcome to The Independent's coverage as Donald Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen prepares to testify to Congress once again, this time in a hearing behind closed doors.
Yesterday, Cohen spent hours delivering damning testimony against his former boss before the House Oversight and Governmental Reform Committee.
The man who was for many years the president's personal "fixer" branded his friend a "racist, conman, and a cheat".
"I am ashamed that I chose to take part in concealing Mr Trump’s illicit acts rather than listening to my own conscience,” he said.
"I am ashamed because I know what Mr Trump is. He is a racist. He is a conman. He is a cheat.”
Perhaps the most remarkable claim Cohen made yesterday was to suggest he feared the president could refuse to leave office if he lost the 2020 election.
"Given my experience working for Mr Trump, I fear that if he loses the election in 2020, there will never be a peaceful transition of power," he said in his closing remarks.
During his summit in Vietnam with Kim Jong-un, Mr Trump lashed back at his long-time employee.
Despite claiming he had not been able to see much of Cohen's testimony, the president said "almost 95 per cent" of the lawyer's evidence had been a lie.
"He lied about so many things. I was actually impressed that he didn’t say, ‘Well I think there was collusion for this reason or that’. He didn’t say that. He said, ‘No collusion’, and I was a little impressed by that frankly, he could have gone all out.
"He went about 95 per cent instead of 100 per cent."
Mr Trump also said it was "incredible" the congressional hearing had taken place during his historic second nuclear summit with the North Korean dictator and described it as a "fake hearing".
However, contrary to what Mr Trump suggested, Cohen did not declare the president innocent of charges of collusion with Russia during the election campaign.
When asked about contacts between the official Trump campaign and Russia, Cohen in fact said he had no “direct evidence” of it but that he had "my suspicions”.
“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 I can answer the question about collusion,” he said.
Today, Cohen is due to give more evidence about his role in Mr Trump's campaign, but this time behind closed doors.
Later today he will appear before the House Intelligence Committee, who are expected to quiz him on their own investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Although this hearing will be private, it is possible his testimony will be published later, as some previous hearings have.
One of the Democrats on the Intelligence Committee has revealed some of the questions he plans to ask Cohen later today.
Adam Schiff told ABC News he would grill the lawyer on who knew he had been told to lie to Congress when he first appeared in 2017.
"What other light can he shed now that he's cooperating on issues of obstruction of justice or collusion?" Mr Schiff said.
"What more can he tell us about the Trump Tower New York meeting or any other issues relevant to our investigation? We think he has a lot to offer."
Another Democrat, Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar, has said she now believes Mr Trump's impeachment is inevitable.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, conducted before Cohen's blockbuster testimony, Ms Omar said she could not see how the billionaire's presidency could end any other way.
"I believe that impeachment is inevitable. It also a terrifying notion.
"We have not had a full impeachment that removes the president from office. Nations struggle any time [they] overthrow a dictator, and Trump has the markings of a dictator.”
The Republican response to Cohen's explosive claims has been to repeatedly remind Americans he is a disgraced ex-employee who has admitted lying to Congress and is due shortly to begin a prison sentence for perjury, campaign finance violations, and financial fraud.
“You’re a disgraced lawyer. . . . You’re a pathological liar,” said Paul Gosar during the hearing on Wednesday. “There’s no truth to you whatsoever.”
Sean Hannity, the firebrand conservative Fox News host, said the hearing had been orchestrated by Democrats simply to "embarrass the president they have this psychotic hate for".
"You rail on . . . the commander in chief while he’s over across the Pacific Ocean trying to negotiate a deal to make this world safer,” said Republican Representative Bob Gibbs to Cohen.
“Real repentance would be go serve your time and don’t come back here and make allegations towards a man you can’t substantiate.”
Mr Trump has also tried to discredit Cohen. In a tweet sent yesterday he said his former fixer was simply making up accusations in an attempt to minimise his own jail time.
A statement from the Trump campaign also heavily criticised both Mr Cohen - calling him a "felon, disbarred lawyer and a convicted perjurer" - and the Democrats for asking him to give evidence.
"Now he offers what he says is evidence, but the only support for that is his own testimony, which has proven before to be worthless," the statement said.
"As noted by the Southern District of New York, Cohen’s wide array of crimes were ‘marked by a pattern of deception that permeated his professional life’ and his ‘instinct to blame others is strong.’
"Prosecutors said his actions were to ensure that he would ‘profit personally, build his own power, and enhance his level of influence.’
"This is the same Michael Cohen who has admitted that he lied to Congress previously. Why did they even bother to swear him in this time?”
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