Cohen Admits To Speaking with Democratic Party Before Testifying Against Trump
Michael Cohen, who formerly served as President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, told Congress on Wednesday that he and his team spoke with top Congressional Democrats before his testimony to the House Oversight and Reform Committee.
Cohen said he spoke with Democratic Rep. Elijah Cumming of Maryland, who chairs the committee Cohen spoke to Wednesday, and Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff of California, who chairs the House Intelligence Committee.
“What did you talk to Mr. Schiff about?”
Cohen: “I spoke to Mr. Schiff about topics that were going to be raised at the upcoming hearing.”
“Woah. Not just what time to show up? Actually what you’re going to talk about?” pic.twitter.com/c07dRqbQ8A
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) February 27, 2019
“We’ve spoken to the party,” Cohen said, adding that he spoke to Schiff “and his people” ahead of Wednesday’s hearing, according to Fox News.
DON’T MISS THIS massive credibility bombshell.
Cohen ADMITS to preparing & coordinating his congressional testimony with:
– The DNC
– Democratic Party leadership
– Chairman Cummings
– Chairman Adam Schiff
– “Various individuals” in the Democratic partyThis is a DNC hit job pic.twitter.com/1xXDTIRUo4
— Benny (@bennyjohnson) February 27, 2019
During the hearing, Cummings publicly commiserated with Cohen for being called a “rat” by Trump.
“When you call somebody a rat that’s one of the worst things you can call them because when they go to prison that means a snitch. I’m just saying. And so the President called you a rat. We’re better than that, we really are,” he said.
During his appearance, Cohen savaged Trump repeatedly.
He said, in closing, that if Trump loses the 2020 election “there will never be a peaceful transition of power,” The Guardian reported.
He also criticized Trump’s policies.
“You don’t shut down the government before Christmas and New Years just to appease your base. This behavior is churlish, it denigrates the office of the president and it simply is un-American. And it’s not you. So to those that support the President and his rhetoric as I once did, I pray the country doesn’t make the same mistakes that I have made or pay the heavy price that my family and I are paying,” Cohen said, according to CNN.
He claimed working for Trump was an endless cycle of lies.
“Every day most of us knew we were coming in and we were going to lie for him on something and that became the norm and that’s exactly what’s happening right now in this country and what’s happening here in the government,” he said.
Republicans pushed back against Cohen. Trump’s 2020 campaign sent out a statement that noted what was said about Cohen in past court appearances.
“As noted by the Southern District of New York, Cohen’s wide array of crimes were ‘marked by a pattern of deception that permeated his professional life’ and his ‘instinct to blame others is strong.’ Prosecutors said his actions were to ensure that he would ‘profit personally, build his own power, and enhance his level of influence.’ This is the same Michael Cohen who has admitted that he lied to Congress previously. Why did they even bother to swear him in this time?” the statement said.
During Cohen’s testimony, Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, the committee’s ranking Republican, invoked the issue of trust.
“Here’s the point, the chairman just gave you a 30-minute opening statement and you have a history of lying over and over and over again and frankly don’t take my word for it, take what the court said. ‘Cohen did crimes marked by a pattern of deception and that permeated his professional life,'” Jordan said.
“Here’s what I see,” he said according to the Springfield News Sun. “I see a guy who worked for 10 years in here trashing the guy he worked for … didn’t get a job in the White House and now you’re behaving just like everyone else who has got fired or didn’t get the job they wanted … same kind of selfish motivation after you don’t get the things you want.”
Cohen said he was not persuaded by Democrats to testify.
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