The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.33% on Wednesday as traders eagerly awaited the explosive testimony that President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney-turned-snitch is set to deliver on Capitol Hill. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were down 0.32% and 0.46%, respectively.
When Cohen takes a seat before the House oversight committee on Wednesday to testify about his time working as Trump’s lawyer, he will describe the president as a ‘cheat,’ a “conman’ and a ‘racist.’
In prepared remarks obtained by the New York Times, Cohen is expected to paint a picture of the president as vain and dishonest. He will say that Trump directed him to threaten his former schools and college to prevent the release of his grades.
Cohen – who once said he would take a bullet for Trump – is also set to detail racist remarks that the president made in private. According to the draft copy of Cohen’s explosive statement, Cohen and Trump once drove through a struggling neighborhood in Chicago and the president remarked that only black people could live that way. Cohen alleges that Trump also said that African-Americans were too stupid to vote for him.
Cohen also provides a copy of the check that Trump wrote from his personal bank account to reimburse him for the hush money payments made to Stormy Daniels of $35,000, the porn film actress who alleges to have had an affair with the president.
Cohen also intends to say that Trump had advance knowledge that his longtime adviser Roger Stone was talking to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange about a release of hacked Democratic National Committee emails that would harm Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign.
Regarding Trump Tower project in Moscow, Cohen will say that he knows about a meeting between a Russian lawyer and Trump campaign associates in the tower before the 2016 presidential election.
Mr. Cohen’s testimony will begin at 10 a.m. ET and is expected to last for much of the day. The hearing can be watched live online here.
