How They Do It–Michael Cohen testifies to Congress that yes, Trump is a crook

ed note–and here we go again, ladies and Gentile-men…

The author of this piece, Jennifer Rubin–

Is a lying, warmongering, Jewish supremacist gangstress and NeoCon Israel firster, and who is aligned with this guy–

David Frum, a lying, warmongering, Jewish supremacist gangster and NeoCon Israel firster and who is closely aligned with this guy–

Eliot Cohen, also a lying, warmongering, Jewish supremacist gangster and NeoCon Israel firster, who is aligned with this guy–

Bill Kristol, also a lying, warmongering, Jewish supremacist gangster and NeoCon Israel firster who is aligned with this guy–

Paul Wolfowitz, a lying, warmongering, Jewish supremacist gangster and NeoCon Israel firster, who is aligned with this guy–

Robert Kagan, a lying, warmongering, Jewish supremacist gangster and NeoCon Israel firster, 

…As well as his portly brother, who are both aligned with this guy–

Eli Lake, a lying, seditious, warmongering, Jewish supremacist gangster and NeoCon Israel firster, who is aligned with this guy–

Max Boot, a lying, warmongering, Jewish supremacist gangster and NeoCon Israel firster who is aligned with this guy–

…That is, before he recently died and went to hell…

And who are all deeply, DEEPLY plugged into Israel’s Likud party, Israel’s intelligence apparatus and who were all in some way intimately involved not only with the events of 9/11, but as well, the disastrous ‘clash of civilizations’ that has followed, better known as the ‘war on terror’.

In addition to this, they are all deeply, DEEPLY committed to seeing Trump removed from office, and for the singular reason that he stands opposed to any new military adventures for Israel’s benefit and is dedicated to reigning in this Judaic mad dog before it blows up the entire world.

Also keep in mind, that an entire gaggle of geniuses, experts, and prophets, some of the ‘brightest luminaries’ in fact within the ‘9/11 trooth moooooovment’, find themselves in the peculiar and perplexing circumstance of standing alongside these aforementioned warmongering, Neocon Zionist Jews by lending their voices and their support in causing Trump as much discomfort as possible, thus assisting Israel in her drive to see this guy–

Mike Pence, a died-in-the-wool Christian Zionist, take over as the new occupant at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

Just try doing the math on that one…

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again and for the simple reason that there are still quite a few out there who just don’t seem to ‘get it’ yet–

Gangsters don’t shoot the horses they have bet all their money on to win in a race they have fixed. They give them an open road to 1st place and only a political dolt who has as much business performing brain surgery as they do rendering commentary and analysis on complex and oftentimes convoluted political drama can’t see this.

Jennifer Rubin for the Washington Post

Americans will see Wednesday just why President Trump and his cronies freaked out when the FBI raided his ex-attorney and fixer Michael Cohen’s office and home. In testimony to the House Oversight Committee, Cohen is spilling the proverbial beans and in the process burying his former boss.

Cohen’s written statement set the stage. He described Trump in unsparing terms: “He is a racist. He is a con man. He is a cheat. He was a presidential candidate who knew that Roger Stone was talking with Julian Assange about a WikiLeaks drop of Democratic National Committee emails.”

And there was the first blockbuster: Cohen’s direct eyewitness to a telephone conversation between Stone and Trump wherein Stone previewed the WikiLeaks release of stolen emails. “In July 2016, days before the Democratic convention, I was in Mr. Trump’s office when his secretary announced that Roger Stone was on the phone. Mr. Trump put Mr. Stone on the speakerphone,” Cohen said in his written statement. “Mr. Stone told Mr. Trump that he had just gotten off the phone with Julian Assange and that Mr. Assange told Mr. Stone that, within a couple of days, there would be a massive dump of emails that would damage Hillary Clinton’s campaign.” Stone added, “Mr. Trump responded by stating to the effect of ‘wouldn’t that be great.’” Understand what Cohen is saying: Trump encouraged an associate to keep abreast and feed him information on WikiLeaks and the release of hacked documents. This not only smacks of conspiracy but also reportedly contradicts Trump’s answers to special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s written questions.

Cohen’s next blockbuster came with receipts, or more accurately, a check. He told the committee:

I am giving the Committee today a copy of the $130,000 wire transfer from me to Ms. Clifford’s attorney during the closing days of the presidential campaign that was demanded by Ms. Clifford to maintain her silence about her affair with Mr. Trump. This is Exhibit 4 to my testimony.

Mr. Trump directed me to use my own personal funds from a Home Equity Line of Credit to avoid any money being traced back to him that could negatively impact his campaign. I did that, too — without bothering to consider whether that was improper, much less whether it was the right thing to do or how it would impact me, my family, or the public.

I am going to jail in part because of my decision to help Mr. Trump hide that payment from the American people before they voted a few days later. As Exhibit 5 to my testimony shows, I am providing a copy of a $35,000 check that President Trump personally signed from his personal bank account …

This evidence directly contradicts Trump’s original denial of any knowledge of the payments. (He has since effectively admitted to knowing about the payments.) This puts some meat on the bones of prosecutors’ allegation that Trump directed Cohen to violate campaign finance laws.

Cohen released a third bombshell: While Trump never said to Cohen, “Please lie,” Cohen paints a damning picture of Trump’s assumption that Cohen would back up his own false statements. (“In conversations we had during the campaign, at the same time I was actively negotiating in Russia for him, he would look me in the eye and tell me there’s no business in Russia and then go out and lie to the American people by saying the same thing. In his way, he was telling me to lie.”) Cohen also claims Trump’s lawyers vetted false testimony. If these lawyers knew Trump and Cohen were lying, they were suborning perjury; if they were instructed by Trump simply to make certain there were no contradictions, Trump would have been using unwitting go-betweens to shape false testimony.

And that brings us to a fourth bombshell:

There were at least a half-dozen times between the Iowa Caucus in January 2016 and the end of June when he would ask me “How’s it going in Russia?” — referring to the Moscow Tower project. You need to know that Mr. Trump’s personal lawyers reviewed and edited my statement to Congress about the timing of the Moscow Tower negotiations before I gave it. To be clear: Mr. Trump knew of and directed the Trump Moscow negotiations throughout the campaign and lied about it. He lied about it because he never expected to win the election. He also lied about it because he stood to make hundreds of millions of dollars on the Moscow real estate project.

This is the first time we’ve heard details as to how closely Trump was following the Moscow Tower deal. In essence, Trump defrauded voters by concealing his selfish motive to make money, a scheme that would have required the approval of Russian President Vladimir Putin. This explains much of his appalling defense of Putin during the campaign, and may be the reason he and others continued to lie about contacts with Russia. Knowledge of a personal business deal Trump wanted to conceal from voters gave Russia leverage over Trump.

Finally, Cohen suggested Trump engaged in bank fraud. “As previously stated, I’m giving the Committee today three years of President Trump’s financial statements, from 2011-2013, which he gave to Deutsche Bank to inquire about a loan to buy the Buffalo Bills and to Forbes,” Cohen said. “It was my experience that Mr. Trump inflated his total assets when it served his purposes, such as trying to be listed among the wealthiest people in Forbes, and deflated his assets to reduce his real estate taxes. I am sharing with you two newspaper articles, side by side, that are examples of Mr. Trump inflating and deflating his assets, as I said, to suit his financial interests.” Whether these or other materials can demonstrate Trump committed financial crimes is unknown, but they surely must be the subject of ongoing investigation by the prosecutors of the Southern District of New York.

In short, Cohen is providing evidence of lies and sleazy practices, but also of concrete crimes. As a felon, Cohen’s credibility will be assailed, but as in a mob trial, witnesses to a pattern of illegality are not angels. Congress and the voters are getting their first up-close look at the mound of evidence that could be Trump’s undoing.

Read more:

Greg Sargent: Four big takeaways from Michael Cohen’s explosive testimony

Greg Sargent: New Michael Cohen testimony may undermine Trump’s spin on Mueller

David Byler: The really scandalous part of Michael Cohen’s poll-fixing efforts

Paul Waldman: Michael Cohen is about to sing, and Trump is in big trouble

Jennifer Rubin
Jennifer Rubin writes reported opinion for The Washington Post. Follow
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