All You Need to Know About Michael Cohen’s Testimony

This week’s popular news is Michael Cohen’s public testimony before congress against President Trump. Michael Cohen was President Trump’s attorney for 12 years and served as the Vice President of the Trump Organization, Vice President of The Eric Trump Foundation, and Co-President of Trump Entertainment. In Summer of 2018, Cohen pleaded guilty to tax fraud, bank fraud, and violating financial laws during the 2016 campaign. He has been sentenced to three years in federal prison as well as fined $50,000. Cohen is expected to begin his sentence in May of 2019. This week, Michael Cohen testifies on the basis that the felonies he will be going to jail for, were committed in coordination with President Donald Trump. Cohen admitted to lying in his previous testimony in order to protect the President. Mr. Cohen has also submitted written statements and pieces of evidence to support his testimony that will be evaluated. Chairman Cummings begins the hearing by emphasizing the importance that all Americans take advantage of their right to watch the testimony and form their own opinion on Mr. Cohen’s credibility because the deeply disturbing information told during the hearing will great effect on the American people. 

After being sworn in, Michael Cohen begins his testimony by prefacing that he regrets the day he said yes to working for President Trump during the 2016 campaign which was on a “platform of hate and intolerance”. Cohen acknowledges why there could be doubt to his credibility and mentions that he has irrefutable evidence to prove his statements are true. Some of the evidence sent to congress one night prior include a copy of a check from Trump’s personal bank account in the amount of $130,000 to reimburse Cohen for the hush payment to an adult film actress, copies of financial statements from 2011-2013, and threatening letters to Trump’s high school and colleges to not release Trump’s transcripts or SAT scores. 

Highlights: 

1. When asked, Cohen states that based off his experience, Mr. Trump is capable of colluding with foreign powers in order to win the presidential election. However, he was unable to confirm that President Trump “colluded” with Russia during the 2016 campaign. 

• Representative Paul Gosar calls Michael Cohen a pathological liar and accuses his appearance for his second testimony is an attempt to reduce his sentence in federal prison. 

•  When asked, Michael Cohen was unable to say under oath that he will not pursue a movie or book deal regarding his 12-year experience working for Donald Trump. He also stated that he would be unable to commit under oath that he will not be making commentary to major news channels about the matter. 

• Cohen states that President Trump requested a meeting before his initial testimony in 2017 to ensure that Cohen would “cooperate” and reinforce the message that Trump wanted Cohen to convey. 

• Cohen states that President Trump specifically asked him to state that he was not knowledgeable of the payments or reimbursements regarding the $130,000 paid to an adult film star in order to silence her about having an affair with Mr. Trump. Cohen also states that Trump asked Cohen to lie to Trump’s wife about the matter, which he did.

• When asked by Representative Speier, Cohen confirms that President Trump asked Cohen to threaten entities on Trump’s behalf over 500 times. 

• When asked by Representative Lawrence, Cohen confirms that the reason for his testimony being postponed 20 days was threats against Cohen’s family by the President and attorney Giuliani. 

• Checks were shown before the committee that showed Michael Cohen was paid by both Trump’s personal account and Trust account. When asked by Representative Khanna, Cohen confirms that the President, Donald Trump Jr., and Allen Weisselberg directed payments as a criminal conspiracy of financial fraud. Cohen added that of the four people equally involved in this conspiracy, he is the only one facing the consequences. 

• Cohen confirms that the President provided inflated assets to an insurance companies. 
•  Cohen states that President Trump is a racist by explaining Trumps remarks about people of color. When passing by a struggling area in Chicago, Trump commented “only black people could live that way”. He also said that he would not get votes by black voters because they are “too stupid”. 

Elijah Cummings closes the testimony by keeping an optimistic tone that Michael Cohen’s statements were true and recognizes that the goal of the hearing is to protect our democracy as a country by giving the American people more information and an opportunity to know our President’s character better. Cummings also states that as a country, we are “better than this” he proceeds to explain that we are better than to have our president calling former partners like Cohen “rats” and better than have our president make over 8000 false statements publicly. Cummings concludes by restating that his hope for the testimony heard today is for a better United States of America, a better Michael Cohen, and a better Donald Trump, and a better world. 

Source: All can view the 7-hour hearing at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eeswj9AjEKs