First, my colleague from Vermont had asked you several questions
about AMI, the parent company of the National Enquirer,
and in that you mentioned a "treasure trove" of documents
in David Pecker's office, relating to information assembled
from all these catch and kill operations, against people
who potentially had damaging information on the president.
You also mentioned that the president was very concerned
about the whereabouts of these documents and who possessed them.
Does that treasure trove of documents still exist?
– I don't know, I had asked David Pecker for them.
So, you would say the person who knows the whereabouts
of these documents would be David Pecker?
– David Pecker, Barry Levine or Dylan Howard.
OK. Thank you.
Secondly, I want to ask a little bit about your conversation
with my colleague from Missouri about asset inflation.
To your knowledge, did the president ever provide inflated assets
to an insurance company?
– Yes.
Who else knows that the president did this?
– Allen Weisselberg, Ron Lieberman, and Matthew Calamari.
And where would the committee find more information on this?
Do you think we need to review his financial statements
and his tax returns in order to compare them?
– Yes, and you'd find it at the Trump Org.
Thank you very much.
The last thing here, the Trump Golf Organisation currently has
a golf course in my home borough of The Bronx,
Trump Links, I drive past it every day going between
the Bronx and Queen's.
In fact, the Washington Post reported on the Trump Links
Bronx course, in an article entitled: "Taxpayers built this New York
golf course and Trump reaps the rewards".
That article is where many New Yorkers and people in the country
learned that taxpayers spent $127m to build Trump Links
in a "generous deal", allowing president Trump to keep
almost every dollar that flows in on a golf course built with public funds.
And this doesn't seem to be the only time the president
has benefitted at the expense of the public.
Mr Cohen, I want to ask you about your assertion that the president
may have improperly devalued his assets to avoid paying taxes.
According to an August 21, 2016, report by the Washington Post,
while the president claimed in financial disclosure forms
that Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter, Florida, was worth
more than $50m, he had reported otherwise to local tax authorities
that the course was worth "no more than $5m".
Mr Cohen, do you know whether this specific report is accurate?
– It's identical to what he did at Trump National Golf Club
– at Briarcliff Manor.
Do you know ... To your knowledge, was the president interested
in reducing his local real estate bills? Tax bills?
– Yes.
And how did he do that?
– What you do is you deflate the value of the asset
– and then you put in a request to the tax department for a deduction.
Thank you.
Now, in October, 2018, the New York Times revealed that:
"President Trump participated in dubious tax schemes during the 1990s,
including instances of outright fraud that greatly increased the fortune
he received from his parents."
It further stated for Mr Trump: "he also helped formulate
a strategy to undervalue his parents' real estate holdings
by hundreds of millions of dollars on tax returns, sharply reducing
his tax bill when those properties were transferred to him and his siblings."
Mr Cohen, do you know whether that specific report is accurate?
– I don't. I wasn't there in the 1990s.
Who would know the answer to those questions?
– Allen Weisselberg.
And would it help for the committee to obtain federal and state
tax returns from the president and his company
to address that discrepancy?
– I believe so.
Thank you very much, I yield the rest of my time to the chair.