Biggest loser in Michael Cohen’s testimony was …
Nobody shined during Michael Cohen’s testimony before Congress on Wednesday. Cohen came off as a disgruntled former bosom buddy of President Donald Trump.
While he offered some nuggets for
Congress and the public to chew on, he also aired loads of irrelevant dirty laundry and made it a point to use language certain to make headlines
— labeling Trump a racist, con man and cheat.
By allowing Cohen to ramble about things that happened long ago, well before Trump’s campaign and presidency, the Democrats in charge of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform allowed their public venue to be overrun with rambling anti-Trump campaign fodder that they knew would be widely watched.
That includes Trump’s medical deferment from serving in the Vietnam War, and how he treated vendors and employees as a businessman.
The Republicans on the committee came off as sore losers. They whined about technicalities of Cohen’s appearance, such as whether he had provided his testimony far enough in advance. And instead of trying to pick apart what he said, they mostly pounded away at his lack of credibility, repeatedly labeling Cohen a convict, disbarred attorney, tax cheat and liar.
Cohen’s credibility — or lack of it — is fair game. His past is heinous. He’s going to prison in a few months for a host of wrongs, including lying to Congress. While he told Congress Wednesday that his lies don’t make him a liar, that’s just another lie.
While Cohen repeatedly testified that he had changed his ways, he still had a few tricks up his sleeve. While being questioned by some Republicans, Cohen asked them to repeat questions and told them he didn’t understand what they were asking. He knew members had only five minutes apiece to grill him, and he was eating up their time.
All of that said, his appearance did yield some important information.
Particularly significant was a check he presented to the committee — which he said was from Trump’s personal bank account and was signed by Trump while he was president — as “payment of hush money” to cover up his alleged affair with adult film star Stormy Daniels.
His opinion that Trump is a racist should be noted by Congress as it continues to negotiate with the president about immigration, both legal and illegal.
Also pertinent was Cohen’s testimony that Trump continued to direct negotiations about construction of a company hotel in Moscow during the campaign, and that Trump lied about it.
A lot of things Cohen said to bash the president’s character went well beyond what the scope of the hearing should have been. An example:
“Mr. Trump is an enigma. He is complicated, as am I. He has both good and bad, as do we all. But the bad far outweighs the good, and since taking office, he has become the worst version of himself.
“He is capable of behaving kindly, but he is not kind. He is capable of committing acts of generosity, but he is not generous. He is capable of being loyal, but he is fundamentally disloyal. Donald Trump is a man who ran for office to make his brand great, not to make our country great. He had no desire or intention to lead this nation — only to market himself and to build his wealth and power. Mr. Trump would often say, this campaign was going to be the greatest infomercial in political history.”
That’s a great sound bite. But it has nothing to do with whether Trump broke laws, which is what the House committee should be focusing on.
Cohen likewise didn’t have to criticize Donald Trump Jr.; he said Trump told him that his son “had the worst judgment of anyone in the world.”
The chairman of the House committee, Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., should have told Cohen to refrain from using the forum for personal attacks.
And Republican members should have come better prepared to dissect the allegations made against their party’s president, instead of repeatedly cutting down the man who raised them.
But the biggest loser? That’s the rest of us, the nation.
When the president’s character goes on trial, with a felon as the star and lone witness, we all look bad.
paul.muschick@mcall.com 610-820-6582 Paul Muschick’s columns are published Monday through Friday at themorningcall.com and Sunday, Wednesday and Friday in The Morning Call. Follow me on Facebook at PaulMuschickColumns, Twitter @mcwatchdog and themorningcall.com/muschick.