Among the bombshell revelations Michael Cohen made in his congressional testimony on Wednesday was an apology to Melania Trump about paying off Stormy Daniels on behalf of her husband, the president.

Cohen appeared before Congress on Wednesday morning to read aloud a statement that has already become public in which he labels the president a 'conman', 'a racist' and a 'cheat'.

Central to his claims is that Trump was aware of hush money he paid Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet about their alleged affair ahead of the election and that he signed a $35,000 check that was reimbursement for what Cohen paid her.

He also apologized to the First Lady, saying: 'Mr. Trump is a conman.

'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.

'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.'

Melania Trump is pictured on February 24th. She has not yet commented on Cohen's remarks

This is a snippet of Cohen's 20-page statement which was released ahead of his appearance before Congress on Wednesday

Daniels claims she and Trump met in July 2006 at a celebrity golf tournament and had sex. It was the start of an illicit affair, the porn star claims.

At the time, Trump had been married to Melania for just over a year and their son, Barron, was three months old.

He denies ever sleeping with Daniels or Karen McDougal, a Playboy model who Cohen paid to keep quiet about her relations with the president around the same time he paid off Daniels.

The pair were both given $130,000 by Cohen to stay quiet about their experiences in the campaign year.

Cohen will testify that the president knowingly reimbursed him for paying off Stormy Daniels (right) to keep her quiet about their alleged affair in 2017 - after he became president

Cohen testified on Wednesday that the president was a 'cheater', a 'racist' and a 'conman'

'Mr. Trump directed me to use my own personal funds from a Home Equity Line of Credit to avoid any money being traced back to him that could negatively impact his campaign.

'I did that, too - without bothering to consider whether that was improper, much less whether it was the right thing to do or how it would impact me, my family or the public.

'I am going to jail in part because of my decision to help Mr. Trump hide that payment from the American people before they voted a few days later,' he said.

He also alleges that Trump knew Roger Stone, his recently-indicted former adviser, was working with WikiLeaks to expose stolen emails from the Democratic National Convention in 2016 that were highly damaging to Clinton's campaign.

Cohen, who previously denied any wrongdoing but changed his story last year after being indicted on fraud charges, also claims the president was aware of a conspiratorial meeting his son, Donald Trump Jr, held in Trump Tower with Russian operatives.

He says he has no proof that the Trumps were working with the Russians but that he is 'suspicious'.

Cohen supplied these checks as proof of the fact Trump was president when he engaged in the fraud by reimbursing Cohen for the payment. The checks are dated March 2017 and August 2017, while he was in office. Trump's lawyers have said in the past he retained Cohen for $35,00 a month