Michael Cohen, the former personal lawyer of US President Donald Trump, has apologised to Melania Trump for lying to her regarding the president's alleged affair with porn star Stormy Daniels.
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"He asked me to pay off an adult film star with whom he had an affair, and to lie to his wife about it, which I did," Cohen said in his testimony to the US Congress on Wednesday.
"Lying to the First Lady is one of my biggest regrets. She is a kind, good person. I respect her greatly - and she did not deserve that," he said.
Cohen said he paid Daniels $US130,000 ($A182,254) using personal funds, under Trump's direction, to avoid tracing it to the campaign.
He expressed regret about helping to hide information from voters right before an election.
"The President of the United States thus wrote a personal check for the payment of hush money as part of a criminal scheme to violate campaign finance laws," Cohen said.
In further public testimony to the House of Representatives Oversight Committee on Wednesday, Cohen, also accused President Trump, among other things, of being a "racist."
Testifying under oath before a House committee, Cohen also claims he heard Trump say that black people "would never vote for him because they were too stupid."
Cohen says that when he and Trump were driving through a "struggling neighbourhood" in Chicago, Trump said that "only black people could live that way."
Trump has denied charges of racism before, and has said, "I've never used racist remarks."
Australian Associated Press
