When Michael Cohen begins his open testimony on Wednesday, ask yourself – does he have a motive to lie?
For more than a decade Michael Cohen was Donald Trump’s “fixer”. So loyal that he lied under oath to protect his friend and client and has been sentenced to jail time for his devotion.
Today Michael Cohen will call Trump a “con man” “a racist” and “a cheat”.
Sure Michael Cohen lied, and he lied many times: he lied while working for Donald Trump, for his company. He lied on TV promoting Trump’s campaign. And he lied under oath to Congress. But he has admitted to lying, and he never really lied for himself. Unlike the President who lies all the time.
Cohen, once Trump’s loyal attorney and fixer, has turned on his former boss and cooperated with special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. He begins a three-year prison sentence in May after he pleaded guilty to lying to Congress in 2017 and committing campaign finance violations while he was working for Trump.
Cohen has No Motive to Lie
It obviously suits the White House and Trump supporters to pre-empt Michal Cohen’s testimony at the open Congressional hearing and to keep referring to Cohen as a “convicted felon” and a “convicted liar”. Republicans are expected to aggressively attempt to discredit Cohen, given that he has acknowledged lying previously.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGKm5OvgrZ0
I have no doubt that Michael Cohen is no choirboy and is as dodgy at all the other “best people” that Donald Trump brought into the highest office in the USA.
But in this case, Cohen has no motive to lie. In fact he has a huge motive to only tell the provable truth because he could do more prison time if caught in another lie.
So for me, I look at motive – who has the greatest motive to lie – Michael Cohen or Donald Trump?
Michael Cohen’s Testimony
According to prepared testimony, Michal Cohen will tell Congress that President Donald Trump knew in advance that WikiLeaks was going to release hacked Democratic emails during the 2016 election that would damage Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
On the matter of racism, Cohen says the president made racist comments “disparaging African-Americans, saying at one point that black people would never vote for him because they were too stupid.”
Michael COHEN plans to describe a president speaking with the vague directives that mob bosses, not American presidents, have historically used. https://t.co/q6lz9pnOw4
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) February 27, 2019
In the prepared testimony, Cohen apologizes for his actions. “I am ashamed that I chose to take part in concealing Mr. Trump’s illicit acts rather than listening to my own conscience,” he says.
Michael Cohen knows where the bodies are buried. He knows all about hush money, shady business practices, taxes, and he knows all about the roles of Ivanka, Don and Eric in the business.
So, while Trump and his allies are calling Cohen names or having pals in Congress direct mobster threats at the witness, it doesn’t discredit him. It makes him more credible because the things he’s saying are things that the Southern District and Mueller have matched up with more legitimate sources.
Donald Trump will be tuning in from Vietnam.
