This story broke after I had put the What Now?!? column to bed and, to be quite frank, I had put myself to bed. But this story cannot wait until tomorrow morning. The long ans short of it is Donald J. Trump personally ordered his agent and attorney and fixer, Michael Cohen, to lie to Congress about the Moscow Trump Tower project and there is documentary or some other tangible physical proof (perhaps a recording) of this other than Michael Cohen’s word. That is the crime of suborning perjury, and constitutes obstruction of justice.
BuzzFeed News reports “President Trump directed his longtime attorney Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about negotiations to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, according to two federal law enforcement officials.”
“Trump also supported a plan, set up by Cohen, to visit Russia during the presidential campaign, in order to personally meet President Vladimir Putin and jump-start the tower negotiations.”
“And even as Trump told the public he had no business deals with Russia, the sources said Trump and his children, Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr., received regular, detailed updates about the real estate development from Cohen, whom they put in charge of the project.”
Key takeaway: “The special counsel’s office learned about Trump’s directive for Cohen to lie to Congress through interviews with multiple witnesses from the Trump Organization and internal company emails, text messages, and a cache of other documents. Cohen then acknowledged those instructions during his interviews with that office.”
“Democratic leaders reacted with fury and demanded an investigation late Thursday following a new report that President Trump personally directed his former attorney, Michael Cohen, to lie to Congress about the president’s push for a lucrative condo project in Moscow in the lead-up to the 2016 election,” the Washington Post reports.
“Democrats said that if the report is accurate, Trump must quickly be held to account for his role in the perjury, with some raising the specter of impeachment.”
Playbook: “Since the president canceled the Democratic trip to Afghanistan, all top key Democrats — people like Rep. Adam Schiff and Speaker Nancy Pelosi — are probably around to comment about this story.”
Cohen is slated to testify before the House Oversight Committee on February 7.
Sweet summer child…… (mandatory SOIAF reference for Pandora 🙂 )
If McConnell and the GOP werent also guilty of treason, this MIGHT be it.
But they clearly are accomplices. Accomplices who know their traitor voters will reelect them. They think they can run out the clock and maybe even steal the election in 2020. If not, run out the clock and at the 11th hour….. pardons all around… sure there will be some state charges for the Trump family, but do you think this ass hole cares about his sons?
Looking to the future… unless the dems win the presidency and 60+ senate seats, we’re back to 2009/10 and the TEA party reemerges. the GOP is cancer and you cant expect that cancer will ever do anything other than become worse.
At best, this will just be campaign material. we’re that boned.
Demography and old age beg to differ. The Republicans know their running out of angry old white men, their dying off or becoming incapacitated, they also know America grows more diverse every day and that “these are not their people”. Finally they’ve tipped their hand on numerous dirty tricks they could play including the pardon game, if they try it they’ll be punished at the polls and know it. As for the Tea Party that’s the first reference to it I’ve seen in years, their as dead as their rhetoric.
Somewhere, Mike Pence is smiling.
Probably just gas… Can never tell with that guy
Charlie Pierce notes that this story most likely means that Mueller has *all* of the receipts. But until the GOP stops letting Trumpworld trample all over their Congressional privileges and responsibilities it is tough to see where this goes. Lying to Congress used to be a real source of bipartisan outrage.
And what do we think this means for the shutdown? The GRIFTUS might be talked into giving up the wall to deflect from this new Cohen story?
I don’t trust the Cohen story. Why didn’t he come out with this earlier? And lawyers are supposed to be professionals in the legal field; they give legal council, they don’t take legal council from their clients. This guy is trying to save his ass from Mueller the prep school bully.
The reporting indicates the source for this information is “law enforcement.” It’s unlikely Meuller leaked, OR that Cohen is speaking out of turn.
As Cassandra said, Mueller has “all” the receipts. No need to trust Cohen.
Fake News
Keep telling yourself that. You don’t have to believe the truth for it to be the truth. Chump.
Special Council’s office:
“BuzzFeed’s description of specific statements to the Special Counsel’s Office, and characterization of documents and testimony obtained by this office, regarding Michael Cohen’s Congressional testimony are not accurate,”
Not accurate. Not untrue, just not accurate.
The truth doesn’t care what you think.