Wednesday, February 27, 2019
THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION
- Jared Kushner quietly meets with Saudi Crown prince amid day of chaos on Capitol Hill
- Maria Butina, Russian agent who conspired to infiltrate NRA, still cooperating, U.S. says
- Poll: 68 percent want Mueller report made public
- Washington Official Subpoenas Trump Inaugural Committee
Yes, stuff happened that wasn’t Michael Cohen.
COHEN, NEW YORK, AND THE OTHER LAWSUITS
Michael Cohen’s Testified Before the House Oversight Committee
Just with how much there is to parse through this, I’m not going to break the articles down by groups, but I want to go through what happened. I watched the first 6 hours of the hearing, then listened to the last hour on the radio.
So, where to begin? How about at the beginning.
Michael Cohen, former attorney as of yesterday Daily Check-In 02/26/2019, convicted felon, cooperating witness, and former personal attorney and fixer for President Donald J. Trump, testified before the House Oversight Committee on a range of topics covering Trump’s role in the hush money bribes to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, Cohen’s work on other Catch & Kill stories with the National Enquirer, Trump’s financial fraud, his racist actions, threatening his schools if they released his grades, and Trump’s ties to Russia.
At least, as much as he could talk about that isn’t under investigation by the Special Counselor, SDNY, the State of New York, State of Florida, the militant wing of the Salvation Army, and whoever else is looking to them.
Cohen’s opening statement brought straight fire. He entered into evidence two checks that Trump used to reimburse him for paying off Stormy Daniels from his HELOC (Home Equity Line of Credit). He also talked about Trump inflating or deflating his assets when it pleased him or suited his needs. To support this claim, Cohen included financial documents from 2011 to 2013.
He also included information about the abuses at Trump Foundation. One main example was using a straw bidder to pump up the price of a painting of Trump at an auction, then reimbursed him with money from the charity.
Cohen also talked about some of Trump’s racist actions. While not illegal, they certainly speak to this lack of character.
As far as Russia goes, Cohen described two events that he had some knowledge of: Wikileaks and the June 9th meeting.
Cohen says that he was in the room when Roger called a couple days before the Wikileaks DNC email drop and told him that it was coming soon. Trump said “Wouldn’t that be great.”
As far as the June 9th meeting, Michael says he didn’t know about it at the time, but does recall a meeting a few days earlier where Donnie Jr. walked behind Daddy’s desk and told him “The meeting is set.” Trump Sr. responded with “Let me know.” Michael thought it was odd because Jr. has, according to Trump “The worst judgement in the world” and nothing happens in Trump Org without his knowledge or consent.
As far as the hearing goes, it started off exactly as I thought it would: a shitshow. The Republicans tried to cancel the hearing with some timing technicality bullshit, then spent the entire time attacking Cohen’s character. Jim Jordan, the Ranking Member and congressman from the Ohio State Men’s Locker Room where he ignored institutionalized sexual assault, spent every second he could attacking Cohen as a liar, a cheat, a swindler, and a bad lawyer. Most of the Republicans kept this up, even throwing in constant questions about a potential book deal or movie deal when he gets out of prison, as if he’s going on vacation and not heading to PMITA Prison. (That’s Pound Me In The Ass Prison for those that didn’t watch Office Space).
The most fucked up moment for the Republicans was when Mark Meadows decided to refute Cohen’s claims of Trump’s racism by bringing one of Trump’s black aides to the stand and using her as a prop. Mark’s argument was literally “how can Trump be racist when he employs her?” Rashida Tlaib called his ass out at the end of the hearing, saying that was racist. Mark became extremely upset, saying that he’s not a racist and his nieces and nephews are people of color, and that he was very upset with that. Chairman Elijah Cummings came to Mark’s defense, and eventually things got cleared up. Turns out that yes, you can do something racist without being a racist. Especially if you don’t stop to think about it first.
While the Republicans went out of their way to attack Cohen, they didn’t defend Trump. The only thing they could pretend to defend Trump on were the claims in which Cohen didn’t have hard evidence. Not one person defended Trump for paying bribes to Stormy Daniels or defended using a charity as a slush fund or cooking the books to get a loan or commit insurance fraud.
Yes, insurance fraud. Cohen didn’t go into too much detail on this topic since it’s under investigation by SDNY. This is part of their ongoing investigation into Donald Trump.
Oh, by the way, Cohen said that SDNY was investigating Donald Trump.
We also got a lot of names of people to follow up with, like Mark Calamari, Allen Weisselberg, and Ronna Graf.
We also got an explanation as to why the Stormy Daniels payment was done the way it was done: Cohen didn’t want his wife to find out. Trump Org didn’t want to get caught making this payment during the campaign, and since they didn’t have another source, Cohen used his HELOC to keep his wife from seeing it. If he withdrew the money from the checking account, he’d have a lot of questions to answer.
What do I think? It’s complicated. Cohen is a bad guy who did a lot of bad things, but he came off as remorseful and honest, in a shady way. He admitted his guilt, owned it, and is trying to make amends. The attacks from the Republicans made him pitiable.
As far as what’s next, look for more hearings coming up, and a lot of interest in Allen Weisselberg.
- Testimony Of Michael D. Cohen – Committee On Oversight And Reform U.S. House Of Representatives [February 27, 2019]
- PDF of Cohen’s Opening Statement
- ‘That Implicates You in Criminal Conspiracy’: Trump Jr.’s Signature Was on Hush Payment Reimbursement Check
- ’I am ashamed because I know what Mr. Trump is’: Michael Cohen reportedly to testify that Trump knew of WikiLeaks plot
- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Just Expertly Laid a Trap to Get Donald Trump’s Tax Returns; her line of questioning during Michael Cohen’s hearing was praised for its clarity and deftness.
- Cohen says Trump knew about WikiLeaks email dump beforehand
- Cohen threatened Fordham with legal action if they released Trump’s college records. Trump once offered $5 million for the release of Obama’s.
- Cohen to Jim Jordan: ‘Shame on you’
- Cohen to testify Trump used $60,000 from charitable organization to pay for self portrait
- Cohen: Donald Trump Challenged Me to Name a Country Led by a Black Person That Wasn’t a Shithole
- Cohen: Trump feared audit if he released tax returns
- Cohen’s Leaked Testimony: Don Jr. ‘Had the Worst Judgment of Anyone in the World’ and More
- Dem Lawmaker: Republicans Aren’t Upset Cohen Lied to Congress for Trump, They’re Upset He Stopped
- Fordham confirms that Trump team threatened the school if his grades became public
- If Michael Cohen’s Testimony Is True, It ‘Would Demand Trump Be Impeached and Convicted,’ Says Art of the Deal Co-author
- Kurt Eichenwald: Another “are they really this stupid or just know their Fox-watching base will never hear the truth?” Cohen not first to testify to Congress previously convicted 4 lying to congress. He’s not even the first one this YEAR – Elliott Abrams, Trump’s man in Venezuela, in Feb.
- Michael Cohen testimony: “Individual 1 is Donald J. Trump”
- Michael Cohen testimony: Trump said black people were ‘too stupid’ to vote for him, former lawyer to claim in explosive racism allegations
- Michael Cohen to testify that Trump called his campaign the ‘greatest infomercial in political history’
- Michael Cohen Warns Republicans: “I Did the Same Thing You’re Doing Now”
- Michael Cohen: ‘I fear’ Trump won’t peacefully give up the White House if he loses the 2020 election
- Michael Cohen: Trump sent letters to his schools threatening them not to release his test scores
- Michael Cohen’s opening statement: Donald Trump is ‘a racist,’ ‘a conman,’ ‘a cheat’ and knew about DNC email leaks
- Michael Cohen’s prepared testimony aims at Trump’s Achilles’ heel: Vietnam deferments
- Michael Cohen’s testimony: Trump’s former personal lawyer alleges the president knew in advance of WikiLeaks plan
- Read: Michael Cohen’s opening statement to Congress
- Rep. Jim Jordan, Alleged Campus Sexual Abuse Ignorer, Attacks Michael Cohen’s Character
- Republicans can’t defend Trump against the substance of Cohen’s attacks
- Roger Stone Couldn’t Resist Responding to Cohen’s Testimony and May Be Jailed as a Result
- Stormy Daniels thanks Cohen for testimony: ‘I’m proud of you’
- Trump erupts over explosive Michael Cohen testimony calling president a ‘racist conman’
- Trump inflated net worth by $4 billion in bid to buy the Bills
- Trump Jr. signed ‘hush money’ check, according to Cohen
- Trump Org’s Weisselberg Not Cooperating With Feds, Sources Say
- When Called A ‘Pathological Liar,’ Cohen Quips: ‘Are You Referring To Me’ Or Trump
- Angry White House Staffer: Holy shit. Cohen’s prepared statement. If he can prove Trump knew about Stone and WikiLeaks, that’s the whole game.
- Roger Stone Says Michael Cohen Is Lying, After Stone Was Ordered Not To Comment On The Mueller Investigation
- Renato Mariotti: “Mr. Trump put Mr. Stone on the speakerphone. Mr. Stone told Mr. Trump that he had just gotten off the phone with Julian Assange and that Mr. Assange told Mr. Stone that within a couple of days there would be a massive dump of emails that would damage Hillary Clinton’s campaign.”
- John Schindler: Don’t worry, nobody intercepted Rog’s summer 2016 phone call to Stinky Rapey to discuss the impending leak of all the DNC emails stolen by GRU. No chance. Unpossible.
- PostimusMaximus: Oh hey, @justinamash is actually reasonable and asking questions that matter! Thanks for not being a complete scumbag like your peers.
- Tea Pain: Whoa? Did Tea Pain just hear Cohen say “the other one [referrin’ to client Sean Hannity] is also under investigation…”??
- Angry White House Staffer: Cohen just told Republicans that they’re doing the job that he did for 10 years: blindly protecting Donald Trump.
- Andrew Laufer, ESQ: Before this committee, this is probably the best lawyering @MichaelCohen212 has ever done. He’s doing great.
- Angry White House Staffer: The GOP should really just play a recording for their each of their member’s 5 mins. They’re all saying *exactly* the same thing. The horse is dead, people. We know you’re scared. You should be.
- Caroline Orr: -Rudy Giuliani (today): Michael Cohen is “pathetic” and anyone who believes him is a “fool.” -Rudy Giuliani (May 6, 2018): Michael Cohen “is an honest, honorable lawyer.” #CohenTestimony
- Joe Walsh: If Cohen had spent 10 years being a fixer for a Democrat president and then decided to testify about the nefarious things that Democrat president did and had him do, Republicans would be applauding him and calling him a hero.
- Kaz Weida: Hey GOP. Let me explain why this is going so badly for you. When you discredit Cohen, you also discredit the man who hired him & trusted him for the better part of a decade. Any discussion of Cohen’s credibility reflects badly on Trump. This isn’t really that hard to understand. It’s also worth noting @GOP that when you accuse Michael Cohen of being a conman and a liar and a criminal, you are also accusing your own party’s deputy finance chair. Cohen isn’t just Trump’s fixer. <Elliott Broidy *cough*> He’s your fixer, too.
- Angry White House Staffer: “Your side ran away from the truth, and we’re trying to bring it to the American people.” – Rep. Lynch WOO!
- Tea Pain: PRO TIP to GOP: It’s probably best not to call other folks a “pathological liar” when you blindly support a President that has told over 8000 documented lies.
- Caroline Orr: Michael Cohen was just asked if there is “any other wrongdoing or illegal act that you are aware of regarding Donald Trump that we haven’t yet discussed today?” His response: Yes…those are part of the investigation that’s currently being looked at by the SDNY. #CohenTestimony
- Joe Walsh: Btw, when Michael Cohen today publicly calls Donald Trump a thoroughly rotten human being, every Republican in Congress pretty much believes that. Many of them say that exact same thing privately. They’re just afraid to say it publicly. Remember that as they attack Cohen today.
- Aaron Rupar: Republicans like @RepArmstrongND are doing a great job proving that Cohen is a bad and unethical lawyer. What they can’t explain is why the president they’re defending decided to employ him as his personal fixer for more than a decade.
- Angry White House Staffer: Chairman Cummings just absolutely crushed those closing remarks. Wow.
- Angry White House Staffer: In every round of questioning I’ve seen from AOC, she’s been on point, poised, and effective. Like her or not, she’s going to be a force to be reckoned with for awhile. She also always incredibly prepared, which could be a result of paying her staff a decent wage, just sayin’.
- Caroline Orr: pro-tip for Rep. Mark Meadows: If you don’t want to be called racist, stop being racist.
- Joe Walsh: No Republican today defended the character of Donald Trump. No Republican today defended the veracity of Donald Trump. No Republican today refuted the potential crimes committed by Donald Trump. Every Republican today attacked Michael Cohen. That’s all.
- Ahmed Baba: After Rashida Tlaib claims Mark Meadows use of Lynne Patton as a prop was a “racist act,” Meadows goes on to cite his friendship with Elijah Cummings and claims his nieces and nephews are people color in order to showcase he is not racist.
- Angry White House Staffer: I… really think Cohen might have just taken down the entire Trump organization.
- Dr. Dena Grayson: My reaction when Cohen admitted that Trump committed tax and insurance #fraud.🤣
- Emptywheel: Since we know Jay Sekulow edited Michael Cohen’s perjurious testimony to Congress, did he also edit Roger Stone’s perjurious testimony to Congress? And Erik Prince’s? WRT Jr, we already know the answer to that. Trump wrote that himself.
- How Trump Suborns Perjury
- Jed Shugerman: Some quick Michael Cohen take-aways: 1. The committee repeatedly got Cohen to name Trump Org CFO Allen Weisselberg as a co-conspirator in a long list of crimes: Campaign finance felonies, tax fraud, insurance fraud, more fraud. Big deal: They will subpoena him. THREAD
- Thread by @jedshug: “Some quick Michael Cohen take-aways: 1. The committee repeatedly got Cohen to name Trump Org CFO Allen Weisselberg as a co-conspirator in a […]”
TRUMP THE RUSSIAN ASSET A.K.A. INDIVIDUAL-1
North Korea
- Trump offers public embrace of Kim Jong Un as summit begins in Hanoi
- U.S. drops demand for full accounting of N. Korea nuclear program ahead of talks
- As Trump meets Kim in Vietnam, he’s undermined and distracted by Michael Cohen
- Angry White House Staffer: I told you he was going to get his ass handed to him again. Pathetic. And a long way from “total, verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”
- 911corlebra777: This is utter bullshit. Those nukes are in range of Australia. If Trump and his merry band of asshats think Australia is going to back this shit, he better think again. F*ckin traitor
TRAITOR TOTS
- Former Bush Ethics Chief: Matt Gaetz ‘Should Be Arrested Tonight’ For Witness Tampering
- Matt Gaetz Under Investigation By Florida State Bar Over Michael Cohen Threat
- Rep. Matt Gaetz apologizes, deletes tweet seen by some as warning to Michael Cohen ahead of hearing
- Countercheckist: Gee, I wonder why @mattgaetz was willing to commit a felony to dissuade Cohen from testifying about WikiLeaks… 🙂
- Billionaire Phil Ruffin says he’s the Kansan mentioned at Michael Cohen hearing
- Rachel Maddow: Oh, that’s what the “Kansas businessman” thing was! about where the money came from to pay the $25m Trump University fraud settlement.
- Eric Garland: Why would a casino owner in Vegas who made a fortune from fossil fuels in the same town as the Koch Brothers be giving Trump money? 🤔The “once married to Miss Ukraine 2004” bit is simply a bit of frosting.
FIGHTING BACK
EMERGENCIES, SHUTDOWN & IMMIGRATION
- Harvey Weinstein “Desperately Trying” to Hire Female Attorney at a Discount
- Did ICE ignore health and safety standards for jailed immigrants?
SCOTUS & COURTS
COLD WAR 2.0
#NEVERAGAIN
- U.S. House approves expanded background checks for gun sales
- Shannon Watts: Oh hey – look at all of us red shirted @MomsDemand volunteers in the gallery today to watch the #HR8 #endgunviolence
- Ted Lieu: Thank you to all the people who worked for years and years to pass universal violent history checks for gun purchases. The House on a bipartisan basis just passed #HR8.
- 4 teens arrested for Alabama school shooting
FIXING THE INTERNET
THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE
- Rick Wilson: TONIGHT ON FOX: “Will the new gay Antifa MS-13 Caravan kill your children to cover up Hillary’s emails?”
- Reporters asked Trump about Michael Cohen during the Kim summit — so he banned them
- Supercut Shows Fox News Hosts Distorting Ocasio-Cortez’s Climate Change Comments
THE ULTIMATE COCKFIGHT: BEZOS’S PECKER VS. DAVID PECKER
TRADE WAR, HEALTH CARE, AND ECONOMY
- MSW Podcast: I don’t understand how republicans are so against socialism. They’ve been redistributing wealth from the middle class to the rich for decades. #Socialism
- 43 Republicans who voted for the tax bill now say national debt is a ‘threat’ to security
- Treasury to run out of money in September unless Congress acts, CBO says
GOP: THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD
- The Republican Party Completely and Utterly Disgraced Itself at Michael Cohen’s Hearing
- Ocasio-Cortez: ‘There’s a hostage situation going on’ in the GOP
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
- Man who saved Girl Scouts from the cold by buying $500 worth of cookies is arrested on fentanyl, heroin charges
- A conservative activist was punched in the face at UC Berkeley. The response enraged the right.
- A cop slapped a handcuffed teen. Then his partner tried to destroy the video. It didn’t work.
PRIESTS & RELIGION
- United Methodist Church votes to maintain its opposition to same-sex marriage, gay clergy
- A Missouri Bill Would Target Atheists Who File Church/State Separation Lawsuits
ENVIRONMENT & SCIENCE
- One of the strongest Arctic outbreaks of winter is ready to surge into the Lower 48 in early March
- The bizarre and brilliant rules for naming new stuff in space
- NASA wants to get to the moon ‘as fast as possible.’ But countries like China and India are racing there, too.
- NOAA delays launch of ‘next generation’ weather forecast model and names new acting head
- Bicyclist and pedestrian deaths outpace traffic fatalities, report says
- Diabetic teen dies after prescribed oils instead of insulin — the herbalist is going to prison
- EPA enforcement chief defends agency’s record
- ‘Miraculous’ stem cell therapy has sickened people in five states
ELECTIONS
- Preet Bharara: Reminder: the midterm election really mattered.
- The Republican at the Center of North Carolina’s Election Fraud Case Just Endorsed a Confederate Apologist
- North Carolina political operative indicted in election fraud case that upended congressional race
- Push to Elect Presidents by Popular Vote Gains Momentum
PROGRESS IS PROGRESS
IN OTHER NEWS…
- Pigeon racing in Iraq: Pricey birds, obsessive owners and, alas, stone-throwing bandits
- Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper have intense chemistry. That doesn’t mean they belong together.
- ‘Suddenly we felt the plane drop’: Low-flying plane rocks violently on final descent
- ‘White Women Yoga’: How one woman’s Meetup experiment exploded on the Internet
RUMOR MILL
- John Schindler: Don’t worry, nobody intercepted Rog’s summer 2016 phone call to Stinky Rapey to discuss the impending leak of all the DNC emails stolen by GRU. No chance. Unpossible.
- Countercheckist: We’re going to need bigger prisons the way these tRUmp cultists are tripping over themselves to commit felonies— some right here on Twitter. At least when it’s all said & done, the cult will still be together… behind bars.
- Tea Pain: We’ve seen how bad Trump can be when he’s a cornered animal, but tomorrow he becomes a wounded animal. He will be ten times worse than anything we’ve seen so far. Prepare.
- Countercheckist: Gee, I wonder why @mattgaetz was willing to commit a felony to dissuade Cohen from testifying about WikiLeaks… 🙂
- Greg Olear: Every GOP on this committee defending Trump is a fucking traitor. All of them are fucking traitors. Even if they never serve time, they are fucking traitors. Meadows, Jordan, Gibbs, the asshole with the wet hair: traitors. It’s a mark of ignominy that will NEVER wash off.
- Scott Stedman: Don Jr hasn’t been interviewed by Mueller. He was involved in the most crucial Trump/Russia hot-points. He is a target. Make no mistake.
- Ming: GOP been working wit WikiLeaks long time. This become exisitianial threat when they learn it was GRU years ago.
- Rick Wilson: Do you know who gives absolutely zero damns about the stompy-foot high school drama club antics of Mark Meadows and Jim Jordan? The Southern District of New York and Robert Mueller, that’s who.
- Ming: Ming bet $1 trump not break 800 on SAT.
- Tea Pain: The SDNY is gonna beat Trump like a piñata.
- PostimusMaximus: While its possible Roger Stone is threatening people because he’s Roger Stone, I would still warn that Corsi is Corsi. An unreliable conspiracy theorist. You will find nothing but untrustworthy people everywhere in this story. Which is what makes it difficult.
- Pace: I’m being told @RepCummings met with Cohen privately where he now has evidence of Deutsch Bank + Kennedy Scotus connections .
- Tea Pain: Michael Cohen laid the first foundation stones for impeachment today. We have entered the “last times” of the Trump empire.
That’s it for Wednesday. I’ve got to agree with Tea Pain. This might be the beginning of the end. Michael Cohen isn’t exactly the most trustworthy person, but he’s got receipts and provided evidence of multiple crimes for Trump, the family, and the organization. Insurance fraud, self-dealing, local tax evasion, state and federal tax evasion, bribery, extortion, lying to Congress, fraud, money laundering, and a few other things. We can’t base an impeachment off of Michael Cohen, but his info can lead to more and more evidence.
Thank you, and have a good one.
“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”
– Katy Tur
None of this is Normal 
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