He asked me to pay off an adult film star with whom he had an affair, andto lie to his wife about it, which I did. Lying to the First Lady is one of mybiggest regrets. She is a kind, good person. I respect her greatly – and shedid not deserve that.
I am giving the Committee today a copy of the $130,000 wire transfer fromme to Ms. Clifford’s attorney during the closing days of the presidentialcampaign that was demanded by Ms. Clifford to maintain her silence abouther affair with Mr. Trump. This is Exhibit 4 to my testimony.
Mr. Trump directed me to use my own personal funds from a Home EquityLine of Credit to avoid any money being traced back to him that couldnegatively impact his campaign. I did that, too – without bothering toconsider whether that was improper, much less whether it was the rightthing to do or how it would impact me, my family, or the public.
I am going to jail in part because of my decision to help Mr. Trump hide thatpayment from the American people before they voted a few days later.
As Exhibit 5 to my testimony shows, I am providing a copy of a $35,000check that President Trump personally signed from his personal bank 14account on August 1, 2017 – when he was President of the United States –pursuant to the cover-up, which was the basis of my guilty plea, toreimburse me – the word used by Mr. Trump’s TV lawyer -- for the illegalhush money I paid on his behalf. This $35,000 check was one of 11 checkinstallments that was paid throughout the year – while he was President.
The President of the United States thus wrote a personal check for thepayment of hush money as part of a criminal scheme to violate campaignfinance laws. You can find the details of that scheme, directed by Mr.Trump, in the pleadings in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District ofNew York.
So picture this scene – in February 2017, one month into his presidency,I’m visiting President Trump in the Oval Office for the first time. It’s trulyawe-inspiring, he’s showing me around and pointing to different paintings,and he says to me something to the effect of…Don’t worry, Michael, yourJanuary and February reimbursement checks are coming. They were FedExed from New York and it takes a while for that to get through the WhiteHouse system. As he promised, I received the first check for thereimbursement of $70,000 not long thereafter.
When I say conman, I’m talking about a man who declares himself brilliantbut directed me to threaten his high school, his colleges, and the CollegeBoard to never release his grades or SAT scores.
As I mentioned, I’m giving the Committee today copies of a letter I sent atMr. Trump’s direction threatening these schools with civil and criminalactions if Mr. Trump’s grades or SAT scores were ever disclosed withouthis permission. These are Exhibit 6.
The irony wasn’t lost on me at the time that Mr. Trump in 2011 had stronglycriticized President Obama for not releasing his grades. As you can see inExhibit 7, Mr. Trump declared “Let him show his records” after callingPresident Obama “a terrible student.”
The sad fact is that I never heard Mr. Trump say anything in private that ledme to believe he loved our nation or wanted to make it better. In fact, he didthe opposite.
When telling me in 2008 that he was cutting employees’ salaries in half –including mine – he showed me what he claimed was a $10 million IRS taxrefund, and he said that he could not believe how stupid the governmentwas for giving “someone like him” that much money back.
