The real reason today’s Michael Cohen testimony was such a disaster for Donald Trump
If Donald Trump has been watching Michael Cohen’s live televised testimony today, it means Trump has been up all night watching it. Trump is in Vietnam right now, which is twelve time zones away from Washington DC – and the way the hearings have been going, Trump might end up deciding to just stay in Vietnam forever.
At one point Michael Cohen provided documents proving that Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr, and Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg all signed checks reimbursing him for his crimes. At another point Cohen revealed he’d overheard Donald Trump and Roger Stone discussing their election rigging conspiracy with WikiLeaks. Then there was the just plain humiliating moment where Cohen produced documents showing that Trump was petrified about his school grades and SAT scores coming out.
But the real consequence of today’s hearings is that House Democrats have just been given a roadmap for who and what to subpoena next. They used their questions to zero in on the precise location of incriminating documents that are apparently in Trump Tower. They’ll be subpoenaed, and if Trump doesn’t comply, a judge will sign off on a raid of Trump Tower. Yes, we’re approaching that point now.
House Democrats are also now aware of the specific Team Trump attorneys who allegedly told Michael Cohen to lie to Congress. They’ll be subpoenaed to publicly testify, even as federal prosecutors presumably lean on them to cut plea deals against Donald Trump. What Cohen really did today was he broke down a whole lot of walls, allowing everyone involved to get to the treasure trove of criminal corruption that’s on the other side.
