[Updates] Livestream: Watch Former Trump Attorney Michael Cohen Testify Before Congress

[Check Out Updates Below] After several delays and lots of public mudslinging about credibility, President Donald Trump's longtime lawyer and personal fixer Michael Cohen will finally testify before the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday. Based on prepared testimony, Cohen is expected to describe how Trump knew in advance that WikiLeaks was prepared to dump stolen emails damaging to the Hillary Clinton campaign—and also will describe Trump's use of racist language and lies about his wealth.

The President, who is in Vietnam for a summit with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, tweeted this statement this morning in an attempt to distance himself from Cohen:

In particular, Politico reports that Cohen will produce a document showing Trump directly engaged in a hush-money payment to adult film performer Stormy Daniels. Apparently one check given to Cohen, as reimbursement for the hush-money payment, was signed by Donald Trump Jr. Cohen will testify that another check was signed by President Trump in 2017, while in office.

Starting around 10 a.m. this morning, you can livestream the testimony below. We'll update this post as it goes on.

Cohen, who will soon begin a three-year sentence for campaign finance violations, tax evasion and lying to Congress, also testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee behind closed doors on Tuesday, and will do so again behind closed doors on Thursday, before the House Intelligence Committee. The Republican National Committee (RNC)—Cohen was its former deputy finance director—went the classy route and uploaded a video titled "Have Fun In Prison!" in reaction to Cohen's testimony.

In addition, the NY Times adds that Republican allies on the House committee will "aggressively question Mr. Cohen’s credibility, trying to paint him as a liar and accusing him of fabricating stories to help his cause."

"Disgraced felon Michael Cohen is going to prison for lying to Congress and making other false statements," White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement. "Sadly, he will go before Congress this week and we can expect more of the same. It’s laughable that anyone would take a convicted liar like Cohen at his word, and pathetic to see him given yet another opportunity to spread his lies."

On Tuesday night, Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz tweeted a veiled threat at Cohen, which could be construed as witness tampering: "Hey @MichaelCohen212 - Do your wife & father-in-law know about your girlfriends? Maybe tonight would be a good time for that chat. I wonder if she’ll remain faithful when you’re in prison. She’s about to learn a lot..." Gaetz later deleted the Tweet.

Cohen is also expected to address the much-discussed BuzzFeed report that Trump ordered him to lie to Congress about business dealings in Russia during the campaign.

During Tuesday's closed-door testimony, Cohen was grilled about lying before the committee on Trump's behalf in 2017. "There is a reason that is a closed hearing, but he did spend quite a bit of time explaining what he had told us before that wasn't truthful," Sen. Roy Blunt, a Missouri Republican, told CNN.

The top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Mark Warner of Virginia, emerged from Tuesday's testimony to issue this one sentence statement to reporters: "Two years ago when this investigation started, I said it may be the most important thing I’m involved in in my public life in the senate and nothing I have heard today dissuades me from that view."

Also on Tuesday, Cohen was disbarred in New York.

Update 11:45 a.m.: You can read the full transcript of Cohen's opening statement here, which included a reference to the threats Cohen has faced by Republicans leading up to his testimony today:

For those who question my motives for being here today, I understand. I have lied, but I am not a liar. I have done bad things, but I am not a bad man. I have fixed things, but I am no longer your “fixer,” Mr. Trump.

I am going to prison and have shattered the safety and security that I tried so hard to provide for my family. My testimony certainly does not diminish the pain I caused my family and friends - nothing can do that. And I have never asked for, nor would I accept, a pardon from President Trump.

And, by coming today, I have caused my family to be the target of personal, scurrilous attacks by the President and his lawyer - trying to intimidate me from appearing before this panel. Mr. Trump called me a “rat” for choosing to tell the truth - much like a mobster would do when one of his men decides to cooperate with the government.

After his testimony, Republicans have mostly focused on discrediting Cohen by arguing that he is a liar whose word cannot be taken seriously. Cohen, who worked for Trump for nearly a decade, seems largely unflustered by the attacks.

Congressman Mark Meadows also brought up Lynne Patton, an African-American woman and Trump employee, to serve as a literal human prop to prove that Trump isn't racist. Then Meadows got into an argument with Cohen about whether he is or isn't a nice guy.

Trump's children have also started livetweeting about the hearing, mostly yelling into the Republican echo chamber that Cohen always wanted to be famous, and disputing Cohen's assertion that he was offered a job on the White House legal team which he turned down.

Updates 4 p.m: Over six hours later, Cohen is still testifying before the House Oversight Committee. (Technically, they're on a 15 minute break right now, but they'll be back in session by the time you're reading this.) While much of what Cohen has said today had been written about by various outlets, for many of those alleged crimes, this is the first time it has been put on the record. NY Times' Maggie Haberman noted "how incredibly few surrogates they have who are out there supporting them or defending the president," while correspondent Nicholas Fandos added that Cohen's testimony has given House Democrats "ample new leads for their nascent investigations of Trump, his businesses and associates."

One of the strangest details to emerge today that was previously unknown is that Trump, through Cohen, sent a threatening letter to Fordham University, his alma mater (Trump transferred to the UPenn after two years there), warning them in 2015 not to release his SAT scores or other college records. "If in the event any of his records are released or otherwise disclosed without his prior written consent," the letter reads, "we will hold your institution liable to the fullest extent of the law including damages and criminality...the criminality will lead to jail time."

This is especially hilarious for three reasons: firstly, a Fordham spokesperson confirmed they received the threatening letter, and told them at the time that they were bound by law not to reveal any students' information without his consent. In other words, Trump & Cohen were so incompetent in their criminality, they unnecessarily threatened an entity over something that never would have happened.

Secondly, Fordham and the College Board—which administers the SATs—are two separate organizations...and yet Cohen addressed both in his letter to Fordham. And lastly, as Cohen himself put it, "When I say con man, I’m talking about a man who declares himself brilliant but directed me to threaten his high school, his colleges, and the College Board to never release his grades or SAT scores," he said during his opening statement. "The irony wasn’t lost on me at the time that Mr. Trump in 2011 had strongly criticized President Obama for not releasing his grades."

In case you forgot, in October 2012, Trump very publicly offered to make a $5 million charitable donation if Obama released his college applications and transcripts, deriding him as the “least transparent president in the history of this country."

Also, check out this story about the most fiery exchanges of the day so far, including the painful moment Republicans trotted a single African-American woman in front of the committee to prove Trump cannot be racist.