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Donald Trump's political life...his presidency...and perhaps even his freedom...are in grave peril. Whether Republicans believe Michael Cohen or not...whether they think Trump's former personal lawyer and so-called "fixer" for more than ten years is credible or not...the
proof is in the pudding (or in the eleven illegal hush money reimbursement checks that are mostly signed by Trump himself), which are, therefore evidence that he - the man who holds the title of president of the United States - engaged in criminal activities while occupying The Oval Office.
The bottom line is...if Michael Cohen was honest with his testimony - and I do agree with the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Congressman Elijah Cummings, Democrat of Maryland who told reporters after the hearing that he believes Cohen "told the truth" - then Donald Trump (as "Individual 1" in federal court documents) was involved in a cunning conspiracy in which he participated in breaking the federal campaign finance law, along with obstruction of justice with his cover-up.
Trump being a bully is no shock to anyone. We've seen him in action for years. What most of us didn't know...is what Cohen testified to before Congress. Cohen claims that "over a ten-year period," Trump directed him - or "used others" - to "threaten" people or entities "probably" around "500 times." It seems as if Trump has run his company straight off the pages of a script from a Martin Scorsese gangster movie. Cohen painted a stunning portrait of a mob-world within New York City's Trump Tower.
Trump's "keeper of the secrets" - in explosive, under oath testimony before the House Oversight Committee - told Congress and all of America, on Wednesday, February 27th, 2019, that not only is Trump's distinctive signature on certain reimbursement checks, but some payments have a "John Hancock" inked by Donald
Trump, Jr. and The Trump Organization's chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg. The money was to pay back Cohen for the $130,000 he paid to porn star Stormy Daniels - whose real name is Stephanie Clifford - to keep her mouth shut, prior to the 2016 presidential election, about her alleged 2006 sexual affair with Trump, which "The Donald" has never admitted having. Such a pay-off to Daniels was basically a bribe to benefit Trump. If voters had found out before the election about Trump's alleged romp between the sheets with Daniels, it could have been detrimental to Trump's campaign and his chances of winning. Such a discovery could have tremendously affected the outcome of the vote. That in and of itself makes for a criminal illegality. Cohen's sworn bombshell testimony gives Special Counsel Robert Mueller and prosecutors in the Southern District of New York the ammunition necessary to investigate further and to even possibly indict Trump, Jr. and Weisselberg.
We - the people of the United States of America - cannot shove the U.S. Constitution aside and say the hell with it. Our Founding Fathers created this most precious of documents to protect each and every American. It is imperative - in fact, it is mandatory - for Congress to fully investigate every claim and every shred of evidence that Cohen presented to lawmakers.
According to The Fact Checker of The Washington Post, since Donald Trump took the presidential oath of office on January 20th, 2017, he has made 8,718 false or misleading claims, as of February 17th, 2019. But let's call a spade a spade. They're lies. And that is what Trump does best. He lies. Michael Cohen says that he witnessed firsthand - during his decade of work at The Trump Organization - that "lying" for Trump is "the norm."
Trump being a bully is no shock to anyone. We've seen him in action for years. What most of us didn't know...is what Cohen testified to before Congress. Cohen claims that "over a ten-year period," Trump directed him - or "used others" - to "threaten" people or entities "probably" around "500 times." It seems as if Trump has run his company straight off the pages of a script from a Martin Scorsese gangster movie. Cohen painted a stunning portrait of a mob-world within New York City's Trump Tower.
Some Americans have recently compared Michael Cohen to John Dean. You may recall when Richard Nixon's former White House counsel - who on June 25th, 1973 appeared before Congress in the Watergate hearings - famously testified that he warned President
Nixon on March 21st, 1973 "that there was a cancer growing on the presidency. And if the cancer was not removed, the president himself would be killed by it. I also told him that it was important that this cancer be removed immediately because it was growing more deadly everyday." Nixon was forced to resign the presidency on August 9th, 1974. But Dean never called Nixon a "racist," or a "conman," or a "cheater." Those three words were, however, used by Michael Cohen to describe Donald Trump to Members of Congress.
As I predicted in a Facebook post during his congressional appearance, Michael Cohen is going to walk away with less prison time than he's already been sentenced. Based on his testimony on Wednesday - before a huge daytime audience on live national television (preliminary ratings from Nielsen indicate more than 13.5 million viewers) - Cohen told all of America that beyond the Mueller investigation, he is still being interviewed by officials with the Southern District of New York. It is, therefore, obvious to me that the prosecutors in Manhattan think that Cohen has more "beans to spill," specifically about Donald Trump...and not necessarily regarding Russia or anything pertaining to Trump's campaign or his presidency. Once Cohen provides SDNY prosecutors with the "dirt" they are looking for...and he pushes Trump completely "under the bus"...it will be Trump who is crushed to smithereens...while Cohen will probably be sporting a big old smile, as he winds up with a significantly shorter prison term, which is allowed by law. Rule 35(b) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure permits a court to reduce a previously imposed prison sentence based on "substantial assistance" by a defendant, after that person has already been sentenced. It's possible that Cohen may end up with no time behind bars at all. Depending on what Cohen tells SDNY prosecutors, that information might very well be instrumental in leading to Trump's impeachment, conviction, and removal from office...or his forced resignation from the presidency.
Donald Trump is a moron...plain and simple. For someone who tags himself as the "smartest person in the room," Trump clearly is not. He should have kissed Michael Cohen's ass and given him the world. Cohen's marathon testimony this week - in open session with the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday...in closed sessions with the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday, February 26th and the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday, February 28th - along with additional information that Cohen will give to the House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday, March 6th, plus future details that he plans to provide to the Southern District of New York...should be enough -
combined with Special Counsel Mueller's report - to bury Trump, and his entire family and company.
As I also posted on my Facebook page on Wednesday...it was day one of the Trump impeachment hearings. It wasn't called that. But that's what it was.
As Michael Cohen told the Members of the House Oversight Committee, Donald Trump ran for president "to make his brand great, not to make our country great." But tragically...Trump is destroying everything.
And that's The Controversy for today.
I'm Gary B. Duglin.
"We'll talk again."
The Controversy is a publication of GBD Productions. Founder and Editor-In-Chief of The Controversy is Gary B. Duglin.
Please express your personal opinions by following the instructions printed at the top of this column. And thanks for reading The Controversy.
Photo credits: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images (Michael Cohen #1), PBS (Donald Trump's check to Michael Cohen), Curtis Means/Daily Mail (Donald Trump, Jr.), J. B. Miller/The Trump Organization (Allen Weisselberg), MSNBC Screenshot/NBC News (Congressman Elijah Cummings), New York Film Academy (Martin Scorsese), Bettmann/CORBIS/The Associated Press/Getty Images (Former White House Counsel John Dean), Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images (Michael Cohen #2), Chicago Tribune (Donald Trump) and Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call and Slate (Special Counsel Robert Mueller)
Copyright 2019 Gary B. Duglin and TheControversy.net. All Rights Reserved.
I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. Laugh at all the unproven accusations you make or cry that there are so many people that would believe Michael Cohen about much of anything, this hearing was bought and paid for by the Clintons through Lanny Davis. Cohen will hopefully be going back to court on new charges of perjury and lying to Congress. Before the hearing he signed a statement with the Federal penalty of perjury saying that over the past 2 years he has had no foreign contracts and then testified that he had foreign contracts, he is on tape talking about wanting to working in the White House and testimony of people say he wanted and pushed for the Chief of Staff job and then testified that he never wanted to work at the White House, the list goes on and on, very sad you believe him. As for what you call “illegal hush money” there is NOTHING ILLEGAL about paying some to keep quiet, and the FEC law states that if there is a secondary purpose such as your personal life that you would have paid to keep this quiet even if you weren’t running then it is not a crime. Even your hero Michael Cohen testified that one of the reasons the President wanted to keep them quiet was so his wife and son wouldn’t find out about it, that makes it not a crime, that’s the law! As I have said in the past, since when did the Democrats care about the law? As for your other hero Congressman Elijah Cummings, or should I say the Trump hater, hater of Republicans, just a plane HATER, he would lie, cheat or steal to get even with President Trump for beating Hillary.
ReplyDeleteWayne, why, why, why must you use the "H" word? Why must you call Democrats "haters." We are NOT haters. And for you to maliciously attack one of our nation's most beloved, most respected, and greatest Members of Congress is totally uncalled for. Representative Elijah Cummings doesn't deserve your wrath.
ReplyDeleteThere's no need for me to comment about some of your remarks regarding Michael Cohen because obviously I've made my point in my column above. I stand by my words that if Cohen does what I think he's going to do, he might not serve one day in prison. I can assure you that Cohen was not about to lie under oath again.
Wayne, Wayne, Wayne...it's obvious that you just don't know the law. Now I'm not a lawyer - and neither are you - but there are enough legal and constitutional scholars who have definitively stated that since Donald Trump directed Michael Cohen to pay the hush money in order to influence the election, that's the key. And THAT...is a violation of the federal campaign finance law. The whole idea that you don't seem to understand is that if Trump was not running for president in 2016 and he paid off women to keep their mouths shut, then nobody would care. However, the fact that Trump's hush money payments to both Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal were to affect the outcome of the election...THAT...IS... ILLEGAL! So don't go saying "there is nothing illegal" because there is.
You began your comments by saying that you "don't know whether to laugh or cry." Well you might as well start crying not laughing because the end is coming for the Trump presidency. You ought to read my February 22nd and February 26th columns in addition to re-reading my column above. I think you'll see that freedom might be gone soon for not just "The Donald," but for ALL THE TRUMPS!!!
GBD