I just read Michael Cohen's opening statement for today's testimony to a congressional committee. They're sad. Cohen is trying desperately to incriminate and demean President Trump, but he fails. It's worth looking at the big items he mentions one by one.
Cohen's biggest thing is to show a check for $35,000 supposedly signed by the President in August of 2017. Cohen says it's partial reimbursement to him for the money he used to make the payment to Stormy Daniels for entering into a confidentiality agreement. Cohen thinks this is big news. It's not. We've been told for a long time by the President's lawyer Rudy Giuliani that Cohen was reimbursed by Trump for the payment to Stormy Daniels. Showing a check doesn't change that. Indeed, the check doesn't even say what it is for, and there's no reason to believe Cohen since he is a convicted liar. But here's the biggest point of all: it is perfectly legal for President Trump to make a payment to Stormy Daniels for her silence. It may not make him a paragon of virtue, but it is not a crime. Reimbursing his attorney for making such a payment is also perfectly legal. So the check proves nothing.
Cohen's next big thing is that he says candidate Trump heard a few days ahead of time from Roger Stone that Wikileaks would be dumping emails from the DNC. Supposedly Stone got that info from talking to Julian Assange. Given the source, it is highly problematic that Cohen is telling the truth, but it doesn't matter. Once again, hearing indirectly from Assange that the DNC emails that showed Hillary conspiring with the DNC to rig the primaries against Bernie Sanders is perfectly legal. It is not proof of any collusion with Russia. Cohen doesn't say anything about knowing how Wikileaks got the DNC emails. Indeed, Cohen says he has no proof of collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign.
Cohen also says that Trump is a racist, a con man, and an all around bad person. That stuff is silly and it relies almost completely on things that Cohen heard Trump say which no one else corroborates. Again, we are supposed to take the convicted liar at his word. I won't.
Finally, there is Cohen's last big item: Trump indicated to him that he was to lie to Congress when he testified in 2017. The problem for Cohen is that he admits that Trump never told him to lie. Supposedly, according to Cohen, Trump only indicated in "code" that he was to lie. That code, however, consists of a few questions Trump asked in 2016 during the campaign about how Cohen's negotiations for the Moscow Trump Tower project were going. Amazing, isn't it, how questions asked in 2016 during the campaign were so prescient as to tell Cohen that he should lie in the summer of 2017 while testifying to Congress. Cohen is a convicted liar, but he really isn't a very imaginative one. He ought to come up with a better lie.
The other slurs of Trump from Cohen consist of almost silly statements except for the fact that they are so vicious. According to Cohen, the President never expected to win; his race for the presidency was just a brand building excursion. That's ridiculous. We know that the President spent at least $100 million dollars of his own money on his campaign in the primaries. He also campaigned day and night for a year and a half. That's quite a brand building strategy. And what was the brand to be? Was Trump trying to brand himself as a loser? Exactly what benefit was he to get from losing a presidential primary? The whole story from Cohen makes no sense. Again, it's a bad lie. Cohen also says that Trump discussed with Don, Jr. that a meeting was set although Cohen says he didn't hear the whole conversation and never heard what meeting was in question. Cohen suspects, however, that it was the famous Trump Tower meeting Don, Jr. had with that Russian lawyer. That's quite a stretch. There's nothing to indicate his suspicions are valid.
The truth is something that Michael Cohen clearly has trouble with. He's going to prison as a result of telling lies to banks with regard to his taxi business and to Congress in his last testimony. For someone who lies that often in key situations, you would think he would be better at it.
Cohen's biggest thing is to show a check for $35,000 supposedly signed by the President in August of 2017. Cohen says it's partial reimbursement to him for the money he used to make the payment to Stormy Daniels for entering into a confidentiality agreement. Cohen thinks this is big news. It's not. We've been told for a long time by the President's lawyer Rudy Giuliani that Cohen was reimbursed by Trump for the payment to Stormy Daniels. Showing a check doesn't change that. Indeed, the check doesn't even say what it is for, and there's no reason to believe Cohen since he is a convicted liar. But here's the biggest point of all: it is perfectly legal for President Trump to make a payment to Stormy Daniels for her silence. It may not make him a paragon of virtue, but it is not a crime. Reimbursing his attorney for making such a payment is also perfectly legal. So the check proves nothing.
Cohen's next big thing is that he says candidate Trump heard a few days ahead of time from Roger Stone that Wikileaks would be dumping emails from the DNC. Supposedly Stone got that info from talking to Julian Assange. Given the source, it is highly problematic that Cohen is telling the truth, but it doesn't matter. Once again, hearing indirectly from Assange that the DNC emails that showed Hillary conspiring with the DNC to rig the primaries against Bernie Sanders is perfectly legal. It is not proof of any collusion with Russia. Cohen doesn't say anything about knowing how Wikileaks got the DNC emails. Indeed, Cohen says he has no proof of collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign.
Cohen also says that Trump is a racist, a con man, and an all around bad person. That stuff is silly and it relies almost completely on things that Cohen heard Trump say which no one else corroborates. Again, we are supposed to take the convicted liar at his word. I won't.
Finally, there is Cohen's last big item: Trump indicated to him that he was to lie to Congress when he testified in 2017. The problem for Cohen is that he admits that Trump never told him to lie. Supposedly, according to Cohen, Trump only indicated in "code" that he was to lie. That code, however, consists of a few questions Trump asked in 2016 during the campaign about how Cohen's negotiations for the Moscow Trump Tower project were going. Amazing, isn't it, how questions asked in 2016 during the campaign were so prescient as to tell Cohen that he should lie in the summer of 2017 while testifying to Congress. Cohen is a convicted liar, but he really isn't a very imaginative one. He ought to come up with a better lie.
The other slurs of Trump from Cohen consist of almost silly statements except for the fact that they are so vicious. According to Cohen, the President never expected to win; his race for the presidency was just a brand building excursion. That's ridiculous. We know that the President spent at least $100 million dollars of his own money on his campaign in the primaries. He also campaigned day and night for a year and a half. That's quite a brand building strategy. And what was the brand to be? Was Trump trying to brand himself as a loser? Exactly what benefit was he to get from losing a presidential primary? The whole story from Cohen makes no sense. Again, it's a bad lie. Cohen also says that Trump discussed with Don, Jr. that a meeting was set although Cohen says he didn't hear the whole conversation and never heard what meeting was in question. Cohen suspects, however, that it was the famous Trump Tower meeting Don, Jr. had with that Russian lawyer. That's quite a stretch. There's nothing to indicate his suspicions are valid.
The truth is something that Michael Cohen clearly has trouble with. He's going to prison as a result of telling lies to banks with regard to his taxi business and to Congress in his last testimony. For someone who lies that often in key situations, you would think he would be better at it.
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