Trump, while in Vietnam, hits back at Cohen

President Donald Trump on Wednesday bashed his former lawyer, who is testifying publicly before Congress later in the morning, while in Hanoi for his summit with North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un.

“Michael Cohen was one of many lawyers who represented me (unfortunately),” Trump tweeted after spending much of his morning in meetings with Vietnamese officials. “He had other clients also. He was just disbarred by the State Supreme Court for lying & fraud. He did bad things unrelated to Trump. He is lying in order to reduce his prison time. Using Crooked’s lawyer!”

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Trump is expected to have dinner with Kim on Wednesday, and will have bilateral meetings with him on Thursday. In addition, Trump also met with Vietnam’s president, Nguyen Phu Trong, and prime minister, Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

Cohen, who pleaded guilty to a number of crimes, including lying to Congress and violating campaign finance laws related to a hush-money payment on behalf of Trump, is testifying before the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday.

The president’s former fixer will tell lawmakers that he regrets taking part in what he calls Trump’s “illicit” acts, and will also include documents related to payments made to the adult-film actress Stormy Daniels to keep her silent about an alleged affair, according to prepared remarks obtained by POLITICO.

“I am ashamed that I chose to take part in concealing Mr. Trump’s illicit acts rather than listening to my own conscience,” Cohen will say.

“I am ashamed because I know what Mr. Trump is,” he will continue. “He is a racist. He is a conman. He is a cheat.”

The president also took a hit at Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), a regular target of Trump’s ire, and said that he was discussed during meetings with Vietnamese leaders.

Blumenthal has in the past made false statements about serving in Vietnam while the U.S. was involved in the war there.

“I have now spent more time in Vietnam than Da Nang Dick Blumenthal, the third rate Senator from Connecticut (how is Connecticut doing?),” Trump tweeted. “His war stories of his heroism in Vietnam were a total fraud — he was never even there. We talked about it today with Vietnamese leaders!”