Michael Cohen, the president’s former personal attorney, is set to testify on Wednesday before the House Oversight and Reform Committee to answer questions related to the panel’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Ahead of his hearing, the New York Times published Cohen’s opening statement, in which he calls Donald Trump a “conman” and “cheat” and alleged that the president previously told him — and others — that his son Donald Trump Jr. “had the worst judgment of anyone in the world.”
If “worst judgment of anyone in the world” wasn’t harsh enough, Trump apparently said this about his son “frequently.”
According to the remarks, Cohen will cite these comments while discussing an alleged Trump Tower meeting with a Russian lawyer regarding Hillary Clinton, telling lawmakers that he had been in a meeting with Trump that summer when Don Jr. walked behind his father’s desk.
Cohen says that struck him as being unusual, because “people didn’t just walk behind Mr. Trump’s desk to talk to him,” and he recalled hearing Trump Jr. whispering, “The meeting is all set.”
“I remember Mr. Trump saying, ‘Okay, good … let me know,’” the prepared statement reads. “What struck me as I looked back and thought about that exchange between Don Jr. and his father was, first, that Mr. Trump had frequently told me and others that his son Don Jr. had the worst judgment of anyone in the world.”
And, Cohen wrote, “Don Jr. would never set up any meeting of any significance alone — and certainly not without checking with his father.” Ouch.