Donald Trump once claimed black people were "too stupid" to vote for him and regularly used explicitly racist language before coming into office, his former lawyer has claimed.

Michael Cohen, who served as the president's lawyer and fixer for a decade, claimed he witnessed Mr Trump making derogatory comments about black people throughout the 2016 election campaign.

Cohen has publicly split from Mr Trump since he was charged with campaign finance violations and tax fraud earlier this year.

He pleaded guilty to several charges this summer, claiming he violated election laws at the direction of Mr Trump, to pay a porn star in a hush money agreement.

In his first interview since his guilty plea, Cohen told Vanity Fair Mr Trump said "black people are too stupid to vote for me" after he made an observation that crowds at the candidate's rallies were largely caucasian.