Big news in the Wall Street Journal—apparently, former Donald Trump attorney Michael Cohen is going to to testify Wednesday to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform that Trump committed crimes while he was president!
What crimes, you say? Hmm, not sure, other than it’s related to the hush-money payment that was made to Trump’s alleged extramarital affair partner Stormy Daniels:
The person familiar with Mr. Cohen’s anticipated testimony said Mr. Cohen would provide “evidence of criminal conduct since Mr. Trump became president,” but other than saying it involved the [Stormy Daniels] payment, wouldn’t offer more specifics before Wednesday’s House hearing.
I guess we’ll see! Anyway, big news in the New York Times as well—apparently, former Donald Trump attorney Michael Cohen is going to to testify Wednesday that Trump committed crimes while he was president!
What crimes you say?
Among the most explosive and potentially damning aspects of Mr. Cohen’s testimony will be providing evidence of potential criminal conduct since Mr. Trump became president, according to the person familiar with the plans.
That potential conduct stems from reimbursements that were made to Mr. Cohen in 2017 for hush money payments that he made to Stormy Daniels, a pornographic film actress.
That’s all the Times has too! I guess that’s why we’ll have to watch the hearing! Excitement is building!
Seriously, though: Cohen has said (in court) that he and Trump arranged the payment to Daniels in secret, with Cohen fronting the money himself, to circumvent campaign-spending disclosure laws. But that payment was made in October 2016, before the election. We do know from court filings that Cohen wasn’t actually reimbursed for his expense until Trump took office, so perhaps the “criminal conduct since Mr. Trump became president” that Cohen is going to describe is just the repayment. But that would be kind of boring. I hope it’s more exciting than that, like a stabbing or an armored-car robbery or something!
