NEW YORK -- The federal official who appeared at Michael Cohen's congressional testimony to counter Cohen's assertion that President Donald Trump is a racist has spent the past month bunking with tenants in New York City public housing complexes.
Housing official Lynne Patton says she wanted to shine a spotlight on public housing ills such as mould and heat and hot water outages by spending a week at a time in four different complexes run by the New York City Housing Authority.
After delays caused in part by the 35-day government shutdown, Patton toted an air mattress to the Patterson Houses in the Bronx on Feb. 11. She then went on to stay at public housing developments in Manhattan, the Bronx and Brooklyn.
Along the way she joined a Zumba class, got stuck in an elevator and defended her appearance at the Cohen testimony.
Many tenants who met Patton said they hoped her presence would spur officials to fix their crumbling buildings, but others were more skeptical.
One tenant at the Queensbridge Houses said Patton's visits were "all a show."
