Donald Trump Jr: Cohen Testimony ‘Sounds like a Breakup Letter’

Donald Trump Jr., the eldest son of President Donald Trump, took an apparent shot at longtime Trump lawyer Michael Cohen’s testimony before House investigators on Wednesday, comparing his opening statement to a “breakup letter.”

Appearing before the House Oversight Committee, Cohen testified that President Trump knew ahead of time that WikiLeaks had emails damaging to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, and he testified that his former is a “racist,” a “conman,” and a “cheat.”

Cohen also suggested in prepared testimony that President Trump also implicitly told him to lie about a Moscow real estate project. Cohen has pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about the project, which he says the president knew about as Cohen was negotiating with Russia during the 2016 election.

Cohen also spoke about what it was like to work for the president, calling him a “real estate giant and an icon. “When I first met Mr Trump, he was a successful entrepreneur, a real estate giant, and an icon,” he said. “Being around Mr. Trump was intoxicating. When you were in his presence, you felt like you were involved in something greater than yourself – that you were somehow changing the world.”

In an apparent response to Cohen’s testimony, Trump Jr. tweeted: “This sounds like a breakup letter… and I’m keeping your sweatshirt.”

Cohen testified that he suspected then-candidate Trump had advanced knowledge of a meeting in Trump Tower between campaign advisers, including Trump Jr., and Russian lawyer Natalya Veselnitskaya. “I recalled Don Jr. leaning over to his father and speaking in a low voice, which I could clearly hear, and saying: ‘The meeting is all set.’ I remember Mr. Trump saying, ‘Okay good…let me know.’”

“I remember being in the room with Mr. Trump, probably in early June 2016, when something peculiar happened. Don Jr. came into the room and walked behind his father’s desk – which in itself was unusual. People didn’t just walk behind Mr. Trump’s desk to talk to him,” he continued.

Cohen added that his former boss had frequently told him that Trump Jr. “had the worst judgment of anyone in the world” and he “would never set up any meeting of any significance alone — and certainly not without checking with his father.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.