WASHINGTON – President Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, is no longer a lawyer.
Cohen was officially disbarred Tuesday while he was testifying behind closed doors on Capitol Hill.
A New York court ruled that Cohen’s guilty plea last November automatically stripped him of his eligibility to practice law.
Tuesday marks day one of three congressional hearings happening this week before Cohen heads to prison for lying to Congress about abandoning a proposal for a Trump Tower in Moscow in January 2016.
Cohen is expected to give a behind-the-scenes testimony of what he will claim is Trump’s lying, racism and cheating, and possibly even criminal conduct.
He will testify publicly before a House committee on Wednesday, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.
Cohen will go behind closed doors again on Thursday when he talks to the House intelligence committee.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said in a statement Tuesday it was, “laughable that anyone would take a convicted liar like Cohen at his word, and pathetic to see him given yet another opportunity to spread lies.”
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr said no topics will be off limits and Cohen “should expect to get any question from anywhere about anything.”
Cohen worked for the president for a decade, once declaring he would take a bullet for President Trump. Now, his testimony is among the most highly anticipated since the House and Senate started investigating the Trump campaign’s Russia ties two years ago.
On top of lying to Congress, Cohen pleaded guilty last year to campaign finance violations for his involvement in hush money payments to two women who allege they had affairs with Trump.
Trump denies the allegations and says that Cohen lied to get a lighter sentence.
Cohen is set to begin a three-year prison sentence in May.
Cohen’s week of interviews come as House Democrats launch multiple investigations into Trump’s ties to Russia and conflict-of-interest issues within the administration. The Senate’s Russia investigation is ongoing.
(The Associated Press contributed to this report)
