Inside the Michael Cohen Hearing (photos)

Michael Cohen, former lawyer for President Donald Trump, testified for more than seven hours before the House Oversight and Reform Committee in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, Feb. 27.

Cohen, 52, called Trump “a racist,” “a con man” and “a cheat” who knew as early as July of 2016 that WikiLeaks was planning to dump emails to discredit the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton.

Democrats mostly stuck to questioning Cohen about Trump’s alleged criminal conduct, while Republican members tried their best to discredit a man who spent 10 years as a close confidante to Trump. Until last June, Cohen was deputy finance chair of the Republican National Committee.

Cohen is due to report to prison in early May for a three-year sentence for a series of charges he pleaded guilty to last year, including one count of making a false statement to Congress. He has been cooperating with special counsel Robert S. Mueller’s investigation into possible Russian links to the Trump campaign. That investigation has resulted in dozens of indictments for federal crimes and at least eight guilty pleas or convictions.

Cohen has also been cooperating with the Southern District of New York’s investigation into the Trump Organization, which limited his comments to the committee pertaining to current and pending investigations.

His public testimony on Wednesday before the House Oversight and Reform Committee was sandwiched between non-public hearings with the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday and the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday.

Said Cohen in his closing remarks: “I did things and I acted improperly, at times at Mr. Trump’s behest. I blindly followed his demands. My loyalty to Mr. Trump has cost me everything — my family’s happiness, friendships, my law license, my company, my livelihood, my honor, my reputation and soon my freedom. And I will not sit back, say nothing and allow him to do the same to the country.”

View Jeff Malet’s photos from the Michael Cohen hearing by clicking on the photo icons below.

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