What Percent of Cohen’s Testimony Don’t You Believe?

By JOHN YOUNG

“Well, I don’t believe him.” nn“Well, what part don’t you believe?”

What we hear from Trump lock-steppers about Michael Cohen reminds me of what the same people said when Michael Moore came out with his explosive Fahrenheit 9/11 about the lie-filled build-up to invading Iraq.

The film has inaccuracies, they said. Disregard it.

What I said: If even 10% of it is true, what a jaw-dropping scandal.

Which part of Michael Cohen’s testimony don’t you believe?

The part about the pass-through check to buy the silence of a porn star, which Donald Trump said he didn’t pay but whose reimbursement check to Cohen has Trump’s signature on it?

The part about the wildly inflated, then deflated, then inflated property valuations used for purposes of insurance fraud, tax fraud and bank fraud? The figures are right there for one to observe.

The part about hiding from Congress the extent of Trump’s dealings in Moscow while he ran for president?

“I have no deals in Moscow because I’ve stayed away,” said the least trustworthy president in American history.

I lost count, but David Cay Johnston, a Pulitzer Prize-winner who has tried to keep up on all the suspect things Trump did in business, says he counted 14 federal crimes among all the things Trump’s former fixer asserted.

That doesn’t include, presumably, threats to any number of people and institutions, including threats to the colleges that have records about what a horrible student this president was.

What percent of these allegations do you not believe? If you heard Cohen and you say “zero percent,” you need an audiologist visit.

Republicans in Congress are playing deaf. They want to hear Deep State conspiracies and schemes by Democrats. Well, Michael Cohen is no Democrat. Robert Mueller is no Democrat. Rod Rosenstein. Andrew McCabe. Not one of them a Democrat.

Let’s flip the scenario. If even one of these 14 offenses – choose any you like — were alleged of President Obama and was reported by his former lawyer, what would the Trump lock-steppers be saying and doing?

Obama, by the way, was president eight years without anyone in his inner circle indicted, convicted or having fled the premises with the law on his or her tail.

You don’t have to believe everything Michael Cohen said to know that in 2016 we elected a racist, a con man, a cheat and a liar.

He should be impeached. Proceedings should begin as soon as possible. Congress doesn’t even need Mueller’s report.

Impeachment is an inquiry, a trial. Congress knows enough already to begin that. The fact that the Senate likely would block Trump’s removal by impeachment should he be convicted by the House is of no matter. We should know the truth about the man to whom we gave the keys to this country – our country.

Cohen’s testimony has given this matter the distinct feel of Watergate. He is the John Dean (Nixon White House counsel) of this scandal, and we are about to hear from many more players, including Trump family attorney Allen Weisselberg. We also should hear from Trump’s adult children and conspirator-in-law Jared Kushner.

We should hear from Felix Sater, Trump’s point man in pursuing the Trump Tower Moscow deal. We should hear from anyone who knew anything about the Trump Tower meeting in which Don Jr., Kushner and others met with a Russian contingent.

You say you don’t believe any of it. Deep State stuff. Witch hunt.

The thing is, it shouldn’t matter what you or anyone thinks. This is damning information. Is it true? The truth is all that should matter. That’s what impeachment is about.

Say what you will about Michael Cohen. He knows more about Individual 1 than just about anyone.

John Young is a longtime Texas newspaperman who now lives in Fort Collins, Colo. Email jyoungcolumn@gmail.com. See johnyoungcolumn.com.

From The Progressive Populist, April 1, 2019

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