Kim, Cohen and the Mueller report

In the 11th instalment of our series recapping an unprecedented presidency, Joe Sommerlad looks at a momentous day for the president and the release of the FBI special counsel’s findings on Russia

Michael Cohen once said he would take a bullet for Donald Trump (Reuters)

Wednesday 27 February 2019 would prove a momentous day for Donald Trump: while he was in Vietnam for a second denuclearisation summit with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, his estranged former consigliere Michael Cohen was appearing before Elijah Cummings’s House Oversight Committee to answer some difficult questions.

Kim had travelled to Hanoi by bulletproof train, a 2,500-mile journey that took 65 hours and saw him cross China accompanied by his sister Kim Yo-jong, who was photographed holding a crystal ashtray for him when they briefly stopped for a cigarette break.

They disembarked at Dong Dang station on the border and were driven the rest of the way to the Metropole Hotel by Mercedes limousine, flanked by a trotting security detail.