Cohen’s statement to Congress
Politico has a copy of the prepared statement of Trump’s former lawyer and fixer to Congress. There’s so much in there it is hard to know what is the most potent, and will his base even care?
The big takeaways are:
- Trump knew from Roger Stone that Wikileaks was going to dump the DNC e-mails hacked by Russia. He may not have known Russia gave them to Wikileaks, but still significant.
- Trump wrote personal cheques to reimburse Cohen, while President for the pay off of Stormy Daniels – very likely a felony offence.
- Trump paid for a portrait of himself from his charitable foundation
- Trump threatened his high schools and colleges to never release his grades, which implies they were pretty shit or at least well below what he boasted
- Trump was briefed on the Moscow Tower project regularly while denying any business dealings in Russia, and Trump’s other lawyers approved the Cohen statement perjuring Cohen before Congress last time
- Trump never expected to win the primary – he saw it as the best free infomercial ever for his brand.
- Trump is not as wealthy as he claims (no surprise there)
No 2 may be the most problematic as it is a clear crime. He can’t be prosecuted for it though as he is President.