[Ed. – Cohen’s admitting in his opening statement he has lied but is not a liar can’t hurt either.]
Michael Cohen … spent much of his time savaging the president unmercifully, which earned him savage treatment of his own from the Republican members of the committee and strange new respect from members on the other side of the aisle.
[…]
…His testimony and answers actually helped the president when it came to the matter of Trump’s possible impeachment.
Trending: BREAKING: U.S. Federal Reserve system down; banks unable to make e-transfers; *UPDATE*
It turns out his lawyer-fixer doesn’t have the goods.
Early reports on what Cohen might say suggested he was going to tell the committee that Trump told him to lie to Congress about his alleged porn-star payoffs. That would have meant the president had suborned perjury — a serious crime. Such testimony would indeed have amounted to a smoking cruise missile aimed directly at the White House.
But that is not what Cohen said.
This is what he said: “Mr. Trump did not directly tell me to lie to Congress. That’s not how he operates. In conversations we had during the campaign … 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.” …
