From Michael Cohen's Opening Statement:

From The Hill reporter:


“While we were once driving through a struggling neighborhood in Chicago, he commented that only black people could live that way. And, he told me that black people would never vote for him because they were too stupid. And yet I continued to work for him.”



Cohen later describes, what appears to be a felony act by the President, to use charitable funds to fraudulently bid on a portrait of himself at auction: 


 “Mr. Trump directed me to find a straw bidder to purchase a portrait of him that was being auctioned at an Art Hamptons Event. The objective was to ensure that his portrait, which was going to be auctioned last, would go for the highest price of any portrait that afternoon. The portrait was purchased by the fake bidder for $60,000. Mr. Trump directed the Trump Foundation, which is supposed to be a charitable organization, to repay the fake bidder, despite keeping the art for himself”




He then turned his attention towards the First Lady, Melania Trump, expressing regret for having lied to her about Mr. Trump’s affairs: 

 “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.”




Throughout the 20 page document, which is embedded below, and Cohen will likely read to open the hearing, he attacks Trump and paints a picture of him as a crooked, racist conman. 

 As for another controversy, the claim that Trump had bone spurs, which allowed him to get a deferment from Vietnam, Cohen also touched on that: 

 “Mr. Trump claimed it was because of a bone spur, but when I asked for medical records, he gave me none and said there was no surgery. He told me not to answer the specific questions by reporters but rather offer simply the fact that he received a medical deferment.”