Melania Trump Showed Up In Cohen's Testimony To Congress & It's Actually Kind Of Sad
Ditch your CW Network hits and jump into the televised dramatics of Michael Cohen's testimony before Congress. The public was ready for Cohen to dish on President Donald Trump in his Feb. 27 appearance before the House Oversight Committee, but Trump's former attorney took some time to acknowledge another Trump family member. Michael Cohen's comment about Melania Trump in his testimony is actually kind of sad, but also might be the only apology Cohen will make to a Trump.
A central claim of Cohen's Feb. 27 testimony before the House Oversight Committee centered around payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels, who claims to have had an affair with Trump and was paid off in exchange for her silence. Cohen admitted to making the payments to Daniels as well as Karen McDougal — another woman who claims to been paid off after having an affair with Trump — and claimed they were at the direction of Trump. Trump has denied all claims of any affairs, and denied knowing about the payments in advance. The White House did not respond to Elite Daily's requests for comment on the subject. During his Feb. 27 testimony, Cohen brought up the claims in his opening statement and apologized to Melania for lying about the alleged affair between Trump and Daniels. He said,
Mr. Trump is a conman. He asked me to pay off an adult film star with whom he had an affair and to lie to his wife about it, which I did. Lying to the first lady is one of my biggest regrets. She is a kind, good person. I respect her greatly and she did not deserve that.
The first lady's office did not immediately respond to Elite Daily's request for comment on Cohen's comments.
Cohen didn't just have his claims to lean on, he brought receipts. Amongst some documents to go alongside his Feb. 27 testimony was a copy of a check dated Aug. 1, 2017, that Cohen claimed Trump "wrote to him from his personal bank account" to "reimburse" him for payments made to Daniels. Cohen said in his testimony,
Mr. Trump wrote [the check] from his personal bank account — after he became president — to reimburse me for the hush money payments I made to cover up his affair with an adult film star and prevent damage to his campaign.
Elite Daily reached out to the White House for comment about the check, but did not immediately hear back. Aside from the copy of the check, Cohen had some more documents for the House Oversight Committee to back up some of his previous claims. Back in March 2018, Cohen claimed that he used funds from his own home equity to pay Daniels, and Cohen brought the committee a receipt on Feb. 27 for a line of home equity credit which included a line showing a wire transfer allegedly to Daniels. This seems to back up his previous claim, and could implicate Trump in violations of federal campaign finance laws. The White House did not immediately respond to Elite Daily's request for comment on the document.
Who really knows where Wednesday's testimony will take us on this Cohen journey? At the least, it's a reminder to always come in with those receipts.
