Michael Cohen, US President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney, testifies before the House Oversight Committee on February 27, 2019 (Jim WATSON)

Washington (AFP) – A feisty Michael Cohen lashed out Wednesday at Republicans for blind support of his former boss President Donald Trump, saying Trump foments incivility, habitually lies and abuses his power to the point of becoming an autocrat.

Trump’s former personal lawyer told a congressional hearing that people who blindly follow the president will end up like Cohen, who has been sentenced to three years in prison for crimes related in part for his work for Trump.

“I can only warn people, the more people that follow Mr Trump as I did blindly are going to suffer the same consequences that I’m suffering,” Cohen said.

“Look at what’s happened to me? I had a wonderful life. I have a beautiful wife. I have two amazing children. I achieved financial success by the age of 39. I didn’t go to work for Mr Trump because I had to. I went to work for him because I wanted to, and I’ve lost it all.”

Cohen, who spent a decade as a lawyer for Trump and was his principle “fixer” at the Trump Organization, said the real estate tycoon is abusing his power in the White House, including making threats against Cohen’s family on Twitter, where the president has tens of millions of followers.

“He’s got over 60 million people,” Cohen told the House Oversight Committee.

“When he goes on Twitter and he starts bringing in my in-laws, my parents, my wife, what does he think is going to happen? He’s sending out the same message that he can do whatever he wants: this is his country,” Cohen continued.

“He’s becoming an autocrat, and hopefully something bad will happen to me or my children or my wife so that i will not be here and testify.”

“You don’t know him. I do. I’ve sat next to this man for 10 years, and I watched his back,” Cohen added.

Republicans in the hearing sought to discredit Cohen as not credible, pointing to his guilty plea last year to charges of lying to Congress, illegal hush-money payments to a former lover of Trump, and tax evasion.

But Cohen stiffly rebutted their charges, saying he had broken the law but is now coming clean about a president for whom he is now “ashamed” of having worked.

He countered that Republicans were — like he had before — protecting Trump at all costs by trying to ignore the president’s behavior.

From committee Republicans, Cohen chided, “not one question so far since I’m here has been asked about Mr Trump.”

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