Michael Cohen admits Rep. Adam Schiff helped him prepare for Oversight Committee testimony
Michael Cohen’s Wednesday testimony before the House Oversight Committee was a vulgar display of political theater. But like any staged production, the disbarred attorney’s melodramatic performance required rehearsing with an experienced political choreographer.
Addressing the committee, Cohen admitted that he was prepped to testify by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), who talked with him about “topics that might come up” during Wednesday’s hearing. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) was floored by the revelation.
Political theater
“What did you talk to Mr. Schiff about?” Jordan asked. After a long pause to consider the question, Cohen answered: “I spoke to Mr. Schiff about topics that were going to be raised at the upcoming hearing.”
“Whoa,” Jordan responded, clearly alarmed. “Not just what time to show up? Actually what you’re going to talk about?” Unfortunately, the Ohio congressman had to yield the floor and never received an answer to his question.
Cohen says he spoke to House Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Adam Schiff about what topics would be covered in Wednesday’s hearing https://t.co/4McXejykRV pic.twitter.com/Ax3cMNrszx
— CBS News (@CBSNews) February 27, 2019
It wasn’t long before members of the establishment media came up with “a pretty simple likely explanation” as to why Schiff, who heads the House Intelligence Committee, spoke to Cohen prior to his appearance before the Oversight Committee. Washington Post senior political reporter Aaron Blake, who uses his platform as a journalist to constantly attack the president, argued that Schiff was just doing his job by consulting with the former attorney.
Jim Jordan expresses shock that Cohen discussed topics of his testimony with House Intel Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.).
There’s a pretty simple likely explanation: They needed to decide what topics were on- or off-limits, because of investigations.
— Aaron Blake (@AaronBlake) February 27, 2019
Fresh allegations or same old sob story?
Prior to Cohen’s appearance before the committee, 20 pages of the former Trump attorney’s opening statement were leaked to the press, and Schiff appeared on CNN on Wednesday morning to break those pages down.
“If Mr. Cohen’s allegations are correct, it means the president, while in office, literally while in the Oval Office was engaged in criminal activity, and that is furthering this campaign fraud scheme,” Schiff said. “So, that’s pretty breathtaking when you think about it, that the President of the United States is allegedly paying hush money as President of the United States, and misleading the country about it.”
On the balance, however, Cohen didn’t make any bombshell accusations that haven’t already been dismissed.
“We saw a man who was really determined to put the worst possible light on his former boss, and he certainly succeeded in doing that,” explained liberal Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz.
“He certainly painted him in the most negative possible way. But I listened carefully for new evidence of any criminal conduct and I found it difficult to find any.”
The show must go on
Indeed, Cohen took the opportunity before a national audience to savage the president as a “racist,” a “con man,” and a “cheat.”
Rep. Jordan, however, wasn’t about to let the recently convicted felon dominate the hearing. He fired back at Cohen with a broadside of his own, calling him “a fraudster, a cheat, a convicted felon and in two months, a federal inmate.”
“This might be the first time someone convicted of lying to Congress has appeared again so quickly in front of the Congress,” Jordan joked during the hours-long hearing. “Surely, it’s the first time a convicted perjurer was brought back to be a star witness in a hearing.”
Jordan kept up his relentless attack on the House witness throughout the day, and several Republican committee members yielded their time to their senior colleague so that he could continue his line of questioning. By the end of the day, the Ohio congressman accused Cohen of being the Democrat’s “patsy,” adding: “They’ve got to find somebody somewhere to say something so they can try to remove the president from office.”
https://www.conservativeinstitute.org/conserv...timony.htm
Michael Cohen’s Wednesday testimony before the House Oversight Committee was a vulgar display of political theater. But like any staged production, the disbarred attorney’s melodramatic performance required rehearsing with an experienced political choreographer.
Addressing the committee, Cohen admitted that he was prepped to testify by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), who talked with him about “topics that might come up” during Wednesday’s hearing. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) was floored by the revelation.
Political theater
“What did you talk to Mr. Schiff about?” Jordan asked. After a long pause to consider the question, Cohen answered: “I spoke to Mr. Schiff about topics that were going to be raised at the upcoming hearing.”
“Whoa,” Jordan responded, clearly alarmed. “Not just what time to show up? Actually what you’re going to talk about?” Unfortunately, the Ohio congressman had to yield the floor and never received an answer to his question.
Cohen says he spoke to House Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Adam Schiff about what topics would be covered in Wednesday’s hearing https://t.co/4McXejykRV pic.twitter.com/Ax3cMNrszx
— CBS News (@CBSNews) February 27, 2019
It wasn’t long before members of the establishment media came up with “a pretty simple likely explanation” as to why Schiff, who heads the House Intelligence Committee, spoke to Cohen prior to his appearance before the Oversight Committee. Washington Post senior political reporter Aaron Blake, who uses his platform as a journalist to constantly attack the president, argued that Schiff was just doing his job by consulting with the former attorney.
Jim Jordan expresses shock that Cohen discussed topics of his testimony with House Intel Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.).
There’s a pretty simple likely explanation: They needed to decide what topics were on- or off-limits, because of investigations.
— Aaron Blake (@AaronBlake) February 27, 2019
Fresh allegations or same old sob story?
Prior to Cohen’s appearance before the committee, 20 pages of the former Trump attorney’s opening statement were leaked to the press, and Schiff appeared on CNN on Wednesday morning to break those pages down.
“If Mr. Cohen’s allegations are correct, it means the president, while in office, literally while in the Oval Office was engaged in criminal activity, and that is furthering this campaign fraud scheme,” Schiff said. “So, that’s pretty breathtaking when you think about it, that the President of the United States is allegedly paying hush money as President of the United States, and misleading the country about it.”
On the balance, however, Cohen didn’t make any bombshell accusations that haven’t already been dismissed.
“We saw a man who was really determined to put the worst possible light on his former boss, and he certainly succeeded in doing that,” explained liberal Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz.
“He certainly painted him in the most negative possible way. But I listened carefully for new evidence of any criminal conduct and I found it difficult to find any.”
The show must go on
Indeed, Cohen took the opportunity before a national audience to savage the president as a “racist,” a “con man,” and a “cheat.”
Rep. Jordan, however, wasn’t about to let the recently convicted felon dominate the hearing. He fired back at Cohen with a broadside of his own, calling him “a fraudster, a cheat, a convicted felon and in two months, a federal inmate.”
“This might be the first time someone convicted of lying to Congress has appeared again so quickly in front of the Congress,” Jordan joked during the hours-long hearing. “Surely, it’s the first time a convicted perjurer was brought back to be a star witness in a hearing.”
Jordan kept up his relentless attack on the House witness throughout the day, and several Republican committee members yielded their time to their senior colleague so that he could continue his line of questioning. By the end of the day, the Ohio congressman accused Cohen of being the Democrat’s “patsy,” adding: “They’ve got to find somebody somewhere to say something so they can try to remove the president from office.”
https://www.conservativeinstitute.org/conserv...timony.htm
