Robert Costello tells a congressional panel that the former president had nothing to do with Mr. Cohen’s plan to pay ‘hush money’ to Stormy Daniels.
A former lawyer who once advised Michael Cohen testified in Congress on May 15 that some of Mr. Cohen’s testimony could be false in the ongoing Trump trial in New York.
Robert Costello, a former prosecutor who had worked for Mr. Cohen and former President Donald Trump, told a House Republican-led panel that the former president had nothing to do with Mr. Cohen’s plans to pay Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about allegations of a 2006 affair that the former president has denied.
When questioned by Republican House lawmakers, he disputed Mr. Cohen’s recent claims in court including that President Trump was concerned only about his 2016 campaign for president, which prosecutors have alleged.
Mr. Costello said that Mr. Cohen had said that he didn’t “want to embarrass Melania Trump,” which President Trump’s attorneys have maintained.
“That’s why I decided to take on this on my own,” Mr. Costello recalled Mr. Cohen telling him. He also asked Mr. Cohen if President Trump “had anything to do with it,” meaning the payments to Ms. Daniels, to which Mr. Cohen