Michael Cohen says Trump 'is a racist' who once asked him to 'name a country run by a black person that wasn't a shithole'

REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Michael Cohen, the former personal attorney of U.S. President Donald Trump, reads his opening statement as he testifies at a House Committee on Oversight and Reform hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., February 27, 2019.

• Michael Cohen on Wednesday told members of Congress that President Donald Trump is a "racist."
• Cohen further said Trump once asked him if he "could name a country run by a black person that wasn't a 'shithole.'"
• Additionally, Cohen said Trump once told him black people would "never vote for him because they were too stupid."
• Follow along with all the updates from Cohen's testimony here.

Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former longtime lawyer and fixer, on Wednesday testified before Congress that Trump is a "racist" who once asked him if he "could name a country run by a black person that wasn't a "shithole."

"[Trump] once asked me if I could name a country run by a black person that wasn't a 'shithole.' This was when Barack Obama was President of the United States," Cohen said as he testified before the House Oversight Committee about his relationship with Trump. 

Relatedly, Trump reportedly referred to Haiti, El Salvador, and African countries as "shitholes" in a meeting with lawmakers at the White House on immigration in January 2018. 

Read more: Trump doesn't deny calling African countries 'shitholes' while meeting with Nigeria's president

Cohen also recalled a time that he was driving through a "struggling neighborhood" with the president, and "[Trump] 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."

Trump has faced allegations of racism for years, but especially since his 2016 presidential campaign. 

Cohen's comments on Wednesday were particularly significant given his formerly close ties to Trump and intimate knowledge of his worldview. 

Read more: LIVE: Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen testifies before Congress in blockbuster hearing

The president slammed Cohen in a tweet on Wednesday, stating, "Michael Cohen was one of many lawyers who represented me (unfortunately). 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!"