CONGRESS/MICHAEL COHEN/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Long before Michael Cohen came to Congress to cast President Donald Trump as a ‘con man’ and possibly a criminal, the president’s longtime personal attorney had given doubters plenty to chew on. Cohen arrived at House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s much-anticipated hearing on Wednesday [2-27-19] just two months removed from pleading guilty to lying to Congress about his own dealings with Trump. And a little more than two months from now, Cohen must begin a three-year prison sentence that has raised as many questions about his own credibility as that of his former boss, whom Cohen called a ‘racist,’ a ‘con man’ and a ‘cheat.’ Cohen, who once boasted that he would take a bullet for the president, said Trump implicitly encouraged him to lie to Congress in 2017 about the pursuit of a Moscow tower project; ordered hush money payments to women in violation of campaign finance laws; and knew in advance that WikiLeaks would release stolen emails from Hillary Clinton. Over six hours of sworn testimony, Cohen linked Trump more directly than ever to the criminal investigations that have loomed over his presidency.”
–Christal Hayes and Kevin Johnson, “After Michael Cohen’s testimony about President Trump, one question remains: Whom to believe?,” USA Today, February 28, 2019 2:47 pm