Michael Cohen's Congressional testimony

[Squeegee Beckenheim]

If proof were needed that those around Trump aren't the brightest, take the following tweet: https://twitter.com/vermontgmg/status/1100787323640397824

Incredible to see all the hubris drained from Cohen. I've been personally screamed at by Cohen on the phone before and know how much bravado he once had. This is a man with nothing left, with no reason to lie or obfuscate at all. Humbling, in its way.

Know who retweeted that? Donald Trump Jr.

 

[Squeegee Beckenheim]

https://twitter.com/Popehat/status/1100793482157817856

Cross-examination protip: the purpose of cross-examination is not to lead the bad witness to repeat the bad things about your client and possibly say more bad things.

Witness: I killed six people for the defendant.
GOP Defense Lawyer: Isn't it true you killed EIGHT people for the defendant?
Witness: Oh, right. Sorry.
GOP Defense Lawyer: [nods smugly and crosses his arms]
Prosecutor: [hums a happy little tune]

GOP Defense Lawyer: Sir, you have tried to portray my client as reckless. But, in fact, isn't he very deliberate?
Witness: Yes?
GOPDL: In fact wouldn't you say he always acts knowingly and intentionally, not recklessly?
Witness: Also willfully.
GOPDL: ALSO. WILLFULLY.

GOP Defense Lawyer: Sir, you claim the President is a RACIST. But isn't it true that this person standing behind me is BLACK?

GOP Defense Lawyer: Your Honor, I offer my Livejournal posts about this TRAVESTY as evidence.
Judge: That's . . . that's not a thing.

GOP Defense Lawyer: Your Honor I ask the Court to take judicial notice that this witness HAS A DEFENSE LAWYER and that's SUSPICIOUS.
Judge: Are you drunk right now

It is 100% possible for a cross-examination to help rehabilitate a sleazy witness. As you can see.

I'm going to need to hit the ol' thesaurus for alternatives to "flailed ineffectually" for my column.

GOP Defense Lawyer: Isn't it true, sir, that by testifying about my client's crimes, you're violating a lawyer's duty of loyalty and confidentiality?
Witness: I guess?
GOP Defense Lawyer: AH-HAH!

 

[Squeegee Beckenheim]

https://twitter.com/chrislhayes/status/1100780657624662017

What Cohen is recounting now about Trump lying to him in private as a way of telling him to lie, is *identical* to the account McCabe gives of meeting Trump after the Comey firing.

So, helpful in establishing a pattern of behaviour.

 

[Squeegee Beckenheim]

https://twitter.com/zachdcarter/status/1100844832812085248

The Republicans today are asking you to believe that Trump's top confidants were career criminals who conspired to do terrible things that Trump himself knew absolutely nothing about, even as he profited from them, for years.

 

[Squeegee Beckenheim]

https://twitter.com/jonswaine/status/1100816135434452994

Cohen just said the President of the United States is under investigation by federal prosecutors for as-yet undisclosed illegal acts. Rep. Michael Cloud (R-Tx.) followed up by asking Cohen if he would donate future book royalties to charity.

 

[Andy_Ross]

yeah, your boy is going to prison. ******* sleazy ****

he is a liar and a scumbag

Don't you mean trump's boy?

 

[smartcooky]

Your tune has changed.



There's another blast from the past here: http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?p=12535130&highlight=cohen#post12535130

Just like his mentor... Lindsay "which way is the wind blowing today" Graham.

 

[Squeegee Beckenheim]

https://twitter.com/stevemorris__/status/1100881913756176386

Here's Mark Meadows, who just sidetracked the entire House Oversight Committee to assure him he's not racist, saying that "2012 is the time we are going to send Mr. Obama home to Kenya or wherever it is"

Video embedded in tweet.

 

[Squeegee Beckenheim]

Popehat article on why everybody involved yesterday made errors, and why it's all bad news for Trump

 

[Squeegee Beckenheim]

https://twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/1100791142487085056

Cohen just confirmed that the Trump Tower Moscow deal extended *at least* into late July 2016 (previously, the news said the negotiations ended in June 2016). So Trump was secretly negotiating with the Kremlin a *nine-figure deal* (!) when he said "Russia, if you're listening..."

https://twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/1100802627875598337

Michael Cohen says he briefed Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump on the Trump Tower Moscow project *ten times*...

...all *during the presidential campaign*.

https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1100791451301171200

DWS: Is it possible the whole Trump family is conflicted or compromised with a foreign adversary in the months before the election?

Michael Cohen: Yes.

This is the most explicitly I've seen Ivanka implicated, although anybody paying attention over the last couple of years would have already surmised that she's in it all up to her eyeballs.

 

[Squeegee Beckenheim]

I didn't get to watch the rest of the testimony yesterday, but I've watched a few highlights on YouTube. If I'm reading the exchange with Oscasio-Cortez right, she's not only established reasons to subpoena various people in Trump's orbit, but also established reasons to subpoena Trump's tax returns.

 

[smartcooky]

https://twitter.com/Popehat/status/1100793482157817856

Actually, there are some excellent one-liners and replies to Popehat there

"It’s like they all attended the Rudy Giuliani school of law"

"Everyone has different techniques. The GOP ones on the HGO Committee got theirs from the Book of Job"

"Jim Jordan is not ready for prime time against a NYC fixer. He's just not."

"This feels like when I would try to out lawyer my dad. But I was eight and he was an actual lawyer."

"Jordan is what happens when you don't insist that athletes get a real education."​

For those who missed the earlier parts, GOP members kept ceding their leftover time to Congressman Jim Jordan, and he kept using it to make a complete arse of himself. This was an open invitation for Cohen to then hand it to him on a plate, and Cohen duly obliged - several times.

 

[smartcooky]

Popehat article on why everybody involved yesterday made errors, and why it's all bad news for Trump

"Today Republicans had the opportunity to learn <snip> that theatrical committee hearing tactics are ineffective against a witness trained to withstand cross-examination. Will the president of the United States ever learn that a federal criminal investigation is not a reality show?"

 

[ponderingturtle]

False Dichotomy, no one lies 100% of the time,

I don't know, I think if trump says something with any kind of factual basis it is completely by accident.

 

[Craig4]

yeah, your boy is going to prison. ******* sleazy ****

he is a liar and a scumbag

You're right, he is. That was obvious during his opening remarks. And Trump chose him as his attorney. Only a sleazy gutter rat would have a need for the services of someone like Cohen.

 

[P.J. Denyer]

One thing Cohen just said rings absolutely true.

'Mr Trump would never hit Melania, never. [..]'

I think if he hit her she'd be more than capable of taking him apart. I've no doubt that she is a damn sight tougher than him mentally and physically.

 

[ponderingturtle]

So the logic behind the attacks of Cohen is that as the justice department framed him for committing crimes at the behest of Individual One(who later became president) and lying under oath about it while he was totally innocent of all those charges but the deep state convinced him to now lie about things under oath for the first time?

Why aren't they worried and all about the miscarriage of justice in Cohen's plea deal?

 

[Toontown]

So the logic behind the attacks of Cohen is that as the justice department framed him for committing crimes at the behest of Individual One(who later became president) and lying under oath about it while he was totally innocent of all those charges but the deep state convinced him to now lie about things under oath for the first time?

Why aren't they worried and all about the miscarriage of justice in Cohen's plea deal?

You're giving "them" too much credit. Clearly, "they" don't think that deeply.

 

[dann]

From my personal experience, its one of the key aspects of narcissistic behaviour that they NEVER use physical violence to control people;

You may be right about your personal experience, but in general it doesn't seem to be the case: The Role of Narcissism in Aggression and Violence: A Systematic Review (SAGE Journals, 2016)

 

[varwoche]

The past three years have often felt like a vivid dream nightmare. But now that I know there are "literal monsters" walking about, the stakes got a whole lot higher. I'm going to to enlist some superheros, literally possessing super-human powers. I'll get to that right after attending services for the dear, departed word literally.