Just The Important Stuff From Michael Cohen's Congressional Testimony
Here are the highlights, in reverse chronological order, from Michael Cohen's testimony before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, which lasted most of the day.
In his closing statement, Cohen said that working for Trump had cost him "everything." He also said, somewhat alarmingly, "Given my experience working for Mr. Trump, I fear that if he loses the election in 2020, that there will never be a peaceful transition of power." He ended by speaking directly to Trump, admonishing him for his many misdeeds.
Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan) touched a nerve with Mark Meadows (R-North Carolina) when she disparaged his earlier suggestion that Trump having a black woman on his staff means that he cannot be racist. Meadows angrily interjected to ask for Tlaib's remarks to be struck from the record, said that he has black family members and called Tlaib the real racist.
Ayanna Pressley (D-Massachusetts) returned to the topic of Trump's racism, asking Cohen to consider a laundry list of some of his worst offenses.
Internet favorite Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) stuck to a tight line of questioning about Trump's tax evasion techniques, including his methods for reducing real estate taxes.
After a long break, Jimmy Gomez (D-California) asked Cohen about Trump's tax returns. Cohen said that Trump didn't want to release them because he was afraid the scrutiny might result in an audit that would increase his tax liability.
Cohen admitted that he had hired a consultant to rig two online polls in Trump's favor, at Trump's direction.
Cohen identified Corey Lewandowski as the Trump campaign official with whom he discussed the possibility of Trump traveling to Russia to work on the Trump Tower Moscow project early on in the campaign.
Jackie Speier (D-California) pressed Cohen on how often he'd threatened "an individual or entity" on behalf of Trump. His answer? Several hundred times:
Ralph Norman (R-South Carolina) finally asked Cohen about reports that his cell phone had been traced to Prague in 2016, and Cohen flatly denied ever going to the Czech Republic.
Peter Welch (D-Vermont) asked Cohen about the stories that David Pecker, chairman and CEO of AMI (the publisher of the National Enquirer), purchased for the sake of burying in order to protect Trump. Cohen said that Pecker purchased a story about the alleged existence of a love child parented by Trump and one of his housekeepers (you can read more about that scandal here).
Cohen implicated one of Trump's personal lawyers, Jay Sekulow, in helping to craft the dishonest statement that Cohen made before the House Intelligence Committee in 2017.
Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland) asked Cohen about Trump's connections to Felix Sater, a convicted mobster, and Cohen acknowledged that Trump and Sater worked together on the Trump Soho Hotel — and that Trump distanced himself from Sater once "it was going bad for Mr. Sater."
Answering questions from Gerald Conolly (D-Virginia), Cohen said that President Trump wanted him to "cooperate" when he was slated to testify before the House Intelligence Committee in 2017.
Cohen offered a new, intriguing bit of information when he acknowledged that he last spoke to Trump, or someone close to Trump, two months after the FBI raided his office last spring — but he said he couldn't discuss it further because that conversation is under investigation by federal prosecutors.
In one of the most powerful moments of the hearing, Cohen told the Republicans on the committee that he "did the same thing that you're doing now," i.e., protected Trump at all costs.
Paul Gosar (R-Arizona) emphasized Cohen's history of lying — at one point even citing "the old saying our mothers taught us, 'liar, liar, pants on fire'" — but Cohen managed to get in a zinger about Trump's habitual dishonesty.
In an, uh, surprising line of questioning, Mark Meadows (R-North Carolina) challenged Cohen's contention that Trump is racist, claiming that he has never heard Trump say anything racist.
Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), the ranking Republican on the House Oversight Committee, got into a heated exchange with Cohen over Cohen's remorse (or lack thereof) for his crimes.1
In a striking exchange, James Comer (R-Kentucky) asked Cohen what he'd call himself if he called Trump "a cheat." "A fool," replied Cohen.
Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Florida) tried to nail down Cohen on the extent of Trump's connection to Russia, and while Cohen demurred on specifics, he allowed that it was possible that the Trump family was compromised.
Cohen began his testimony by reading his prepared statement (which you can read here). It included such memorable lines as, "I know what Mr. Trump is. He is a racist. He is a conman. He is a cheat."
Michael Cohen appeared before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform at 10 this morning, ready to testify about his experiences as President Donald Trump's personal lawyer and fixer. Right away, Mark Meadows (R-North Carolina) attempted (unsuccessfully) to throw a procedural wrench into the hearing on the grounds that the committee's members hadn't had enough time to read Cohen's prepared statement.
