Cohen: President Trump made racist comments about black people while visiting Chicago

During Michael Cohen’s claims to a House Oversight Committee on Wednesday, the former lawyer for President Trump said the president made racist comments in Chicago before he was elected into office.

The remarks came as Cohen was recalling President Trump talking about what he believed to be inferior countries, attributing a number of alleged racist remarks to the president.

“He once asked me if I could name a country run by a black person that wasn't a s*** hole,” said Cohen, during his testimony. “This was when Barack Obama was President of the United States."

In November, Cohen told Vanity Affair about a comment Trump made in the late 2000's while traveling to the Trump Hotel in Chicago.

The president's former attorney gave a similar account Wednesday.  

“While we were once driving through a struggling neighborhood in Chicago, he 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,’” said Cohen, during his testimony.  

“This is the smoking gun that says exactly what African Americans lost in this election,” said Maudlyne Ihejirika, a reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times. “We have a president who believes that African Americans are stupid."

Ihejirika reports on urban affairs for the newspaper and has reported on the city's black community for years. Last night’s election poses the city to elect a black woman to the office of mayor for the first time, something Ihejerika says can't be counted out.        

“Against that backdrop, in a city that has suffered from issues with racism, from the moniker of being one of the most segregated cities in America, I think that African Americans, today, can take heart that in our city, we're moving forward,” said Ihejirika.

Mayor Emanuel called the remarks allegedly made by President Trump as "disturbing."

Cohen has plead guilty to lying to Congress from 2017 testimony and will report to federal prison in May. Cohen is set to meet with the House Intelligence Committee Thursday in a closed-door session.