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More Michael Cohen: “I Have My Suspicions” About Trump Collusion With Russia — But No Evidence
Hotair ^
| 02/27/2019
| Ed Morrissey
Posted on 02/27/2019 8:20:27 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Well, lots of people have suspicions. We have an entire industry dedicated to suspicions about the Russia-collusion hypothesis. Does the man who served as Donald Trump’s legal “body man” have any specific evidence to give the House Oversight Committee to prove it true, or even advance the story? Judging from Michael Cohen’s written statement … no, not really.
Here’s the only relevant part of the written statement to the committee’s primary interest:
Questions have been raised about whether I know of direct evidence that Mr. Trump or his campaign colluded with Russia. I do not. I want to be clear. But, I have my suspicions.
Sometime in the summer of 2017, I read all over the media that there had been a meeting in Trump Tower in June 2016 involving Don Jr. and others from the campaign with Russians, including a representative of the Russian government, and an email setting up the meeting with the subject line, Dirt on Hillary Clinton. Something clicked in my mind. I remember being in the room with Mr. Trump, probably in early June 2016, when something peculiar happened. Don Jr. came into the room and walked behind his fathers desk which in itself was unusual. People didnt just walk behind Mr. Trumps desk to talk to him. I recalled Don Jr. leaning over to his father and speaking in a low voice, which I could clearly hear, and saying: The meeting is all set. I remember Mr. Trump saying, Ok good
let me know.
What struck me as I looked back and thought about that exchange between Don Jr. and his father was, first, that Mr. Trump had frequently told me and others that his son Don Jr. had the worst judgment of anyone in the world. And also, that Don Jr. would never set up any meeting of any significance alone and certainly not without checking with his father.
I also knew that nothing went on in Trump world, especially the campaign, without Mr. Trumps knowledge and approval. So, I concluded that Don Jr. was referring to that June 2016 Trump Tower meeting about dirt on Hillary with the Russian representative when he walked behind his dads desk that day — and that Mr. Trump knew that was the meeting Don Jr. was talking about when he said, Thats good
let me know.
This certainly solves one mystery, but likely not the one Democrats wanted. It makes clear why Robert Mueller had little interest in Cohen, booting him to the Southern District of New York early in the probe. Cohen’s not kidding when he says he has “no evidence” if this half-baked recalled memory is the best he can do on Russia collusion. Testimony like this wouldn’t get laughed out of court; it wouldn’t make it through the door in the first place. It’s useless and baseless speculation, which makes it equivalent to much of what the Suspicion Industry has produced thus far.
Let’s parse this out. Sometime a year later, Cohen remembers Don Jr telling his father that “the meeting is all set” at some time the previous summer, “probably” in early June before the now-infamous Trump Tower meeting with Natalia Veselnitskaya. Maybe Cohen remembers that correctly, although Don Jr also helps run the family business and presumably takes a lot of meetings. As “nothing went on in Trump world … without Mr. Trump’s knowledge and approval,” that might have been a reference to any number of meetings. Cohen even frames this in light of Don Jr’s incompetence requiring his father’s close supervision (which the Trump Tower episode tends to confirm anyway). None of this “struck” him as odd until, apparently, Cohen had incentives to start thinking of things in that way. Not to mention, although I will, that Cohen’s a convicted perjurer.
If that’s all Michael Cohen has to give on the Russia-collusion hypothesis, then one can scratch off yet another potential conduit for that conspiracy theory. Who’s left in Trump’s inner circle as the middleman for the hypothesis to work? Trump trusted Cohen to do his dirty work for years, and yet Cohen’s got nothing but this ephemeral speculative memory. Mueller threw the book at Manafort but never connected him to any Russia-collusion efforts. Roger Stone might have told Trump that Wikileaks had dirt on Hillary Clinton, but why would Trump need Stone to pass that gossip along if Trump was colluding to get it from Russia? For that matter, why would he need Wikileaks?
While the rest of Cohen’s statement might be of interest to Oversight, the two intelligence committees will find Cohen a waste of time, at least based on this opening salvo. That would put them on par with Robert Mueller and his team, who managed to learn that lesson a hell of a lot more quickly than Congress has.
TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: cohentestimony; collusion; housejudiciary; michaelcohen; russia; trumprussia
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To: SeekAndFind
Mr. Cohen:
Were you lying then or are you lying now, or are you just a liar all the time?
To: SeekAndFind
i have my suspicions that hillary is a russian bot.
3
posted on
02/27/2019 8:24:22 AM PST
by
teeman8r
(Armageddon won't be pretty, but it's not like it's the end of the world.)
To: teeman8r
IT’s that Hillary word which has more verity when you are taking about the downfall of America.
4
posted on
02/27/2019 8:25:34 AM PST
by
himno hero
(had'nff)
To: SeekAndFind
What a coincidence that this hearing is taking place when our President is 8000 miles away, engaged in some very important negotiations with one of our enemies. I pray that America sees this for what it is, and votes every piece of Democratic scum out of office in the next several election cycles.
5
posted on
02/27/2019 8:25:48 AM PST
by
jimbug
To: SeekAndFind
Watching Lannie Davis behind Cohen, I didnt realize what a snake Davis us! I. cant understand how Hannity can be so pleasant with the SOB
6
posted on
02/27/2019 8:26:26 AM PST
by
eeriegeno
To: eeriegeno
I. cant understand how Hannity can be so pleasant with the SOB That's easy. If he's not pleasant, Lanny won't come on his show.
7
posted on
02/27/2019 8:29:20 AM PST
by
Steely Tom
([Seth Rich] == [the Democrat's John Dean])
To: SeekAndFind
“suspicions”? That’s it? HaHaHa.
Mr. Cohen, are you now or have you ever been a card carrying member of Liars Anonymous?
8
posted on
02/27/2019 8:29:50 AM PST
by
SpeedyInTexas
(Localization, not Globalization)
To: SeekAndFind
I have my suspicions Michael Cohen is a maniacal mass murderer but I have no evidence...
Does that count as real in 'liberal world'??
9
posted on
02/27/2019 8:30:23 AM PST
by
GOPJ
(Same MSNBC and CNN fools who believed Jussie Smollett & Michael Avenatti will believe Michael Cohen.)
To: SeekAndFind
The animal rights people ought to be after him with a vengeance for beating a dead horse.
10
posted on
02/27/2019 8:30:49 AM PST
by
Don Corleone
(Nothing makes the delusional more furious than truth.)
To: SeekAndFind
Didn’t I read overnight that he had all of this ‘evidence’ he was going to intermingle with his ‘testimony’? Just more fake news as wishful thinking.
11
posted on
02/27/2019 8:31:05 AM PST
by
BlackbirdSST
(Con-gre$$, the biggest welfare class this country has ever produced.)
To: SeekAndFind
QUOTE of the Decade.
“I lied.. but I’m not a liar.”
CONgre$$ rests it case.
A nation turns its head away from the ugliness that has become standard mode for the Left and its minions of doom.
12
posted on
02/27/2019 8:31:16 AM PST
by
NormsRevenge
(Semper Fi - Monthly Donors Rock!!!)
To: SeekAndFind
Look at this fat greaseball “fixer”-— JUST the kind of guy needed as a firewall against the DREGS of humanity who troll anyone with money for “blackmail” ransom and a lot else. So you need a greedy greaseball.
NOW- as to EVIDENCE-— there IS evidence about the ENTIRE Clinton campaign and their operatives working with known Russian agents to set up the media impressions and the FALSE warrants for a FALSE result. Mounds of real evidence, to include Marc Elias (who showed up in FL during Presidential election to “monitor” for voter manipulation) the bag man/paymaster still employed at Perkins Coie law firm- who paid GPS Fusion (who employed Nellie Ohr, who IS a Russian agent, frankly) Glen Simpson, to create a fake file with the help of another Russian agent (this one UK origin) to make up crap to leak to media and then use media reports as the basis of FISA warrants to compliant lib judges.
Every string on this web — demoncrat- Russian collusion against our Legally elected President. By Tyrant/Totalitarian mobocray elitist globalist Anti-Constitutional demo-crats. Plenty of evidence there- including YOUR very “testimony”— to Congress— Who paid for your atty Lanny Davis? Hmmmm? The clintons. Thugs, criminals, shakedown artists who sold our National Resources of Uranium to our Enemy. Period. Game. Set. Match.
Hope you find someone to really harass your”a@@” in fed prison— and we should constantly harass you anyway with our own “reporters”. 3 years, and indicted/prosecuted by Mueller the sacred “demonrat” prosecutor. So this is a clinton paid hit job.
13
posted on
02/27/2019 8:32:32 AM PST
by
John S Mosby
(Sic Semper Tyrannis)
To: John S Mosby
Most likely Cohen will wind up in a Club Fed. A real prison doesn’t tolerate snitches well.
To: SeekAndFind
What all of this has to do with Black History Month, I have no idea!
To: SeekAndFind
Nobody will ever completely trust a lawyer again. My only negative takeaway is that President Trump kept this creep as his attorney.
16
posted on
02/27/2019 8:37:23 AM PST
by
grania
("We're all just pawns in their game")
To: grania
I wonder what Alan Dershowitz’s take on this will be, he seems generally fair when it comes to these things.
17
posted on
02/27/2019 8:39:14 AM PST
by
dfwgator
(Endut! Hoch Hech!)
To: SeekAndFind
The convicted liar and disbarred attorney..... nuff said
18
posted on
02/27/2019 8:39:44 AM PST
by
Nifster
(I see puppy dogs in the clouds)
To: SeekAndFind
This farce is so ridiculously dangerous. Imagine you are the Russian government and/or people. In Trump’s campaign you hear him say the USA and Russia should have good relations and get away from the Obama policies, and Hillary literally pushing for war.
Trump is elected. You see him vilified and attacked, you see an intelligence community coup happening, and you see his own party force him into a corner, demanding continued and increased hostilities. You see a a girl in her 20 arrested as your spy and locked in solitary for 6 months.
If you are that Russian leader, you are CERTAIN you didn’t steal and release Hillary’s/Podesta’s emails to Wikileaks. You are CERTAIN that Maria Butina was not a spy sent to infiltrate the NRA. You are CERTAIN that the Steele dossier was produced and written from whole cloth by British intel as part of the 5-eyes plot to obstruct Trump and no Russian was part of it.
Knowing all that, and watching how you are blamed for everything, even some ridiculous seeming things. I would seek all the ties I could with China, arm myself to the teeth, become very suspicious, and prepare for anything.
Creeps like Cohen, telling the coup whatever it wants to hear is not just his personal low character, it is downright dangerous to America.
The bottom line is that they recognize a revolutionary socialist, atheist, heavily armed aggressive nation run by the intelligence community when they see one..... they used to be one themselves and realize the danger of what they face.
Dangerous times.
19
posted on
02/27/2019 8:40:18 AM PST
by
DesertRhino
(Dog is man's best friend, and moslems hate dogs. Add that up. ....)
To: SeekAndFind
This farce is so ridiculously dangerous. Imagine you are the Russian government and/or people. In Trump’s campaign you hear him say the USA and Russia should have good relations and get away from the Obama policies, and Hillary literally pushing for war.
Trump is elected. You see him vilified and attacked, you see an intelligence community coup happening, and you see his own party force him into a corner, demanding continued and increased hostilities. You see a a girl in her 20 arrested as your spy and locked in solitary for 6 months.
If you are that Russian leader, you are CERTAIN you didn’t steal and release Hillary’s/Podesta’s emails to Wikileaks. You are CERTAIN that Maria Butina was not a spy sent to infiltrate the NRA. You are CERTAIN that the Steele dossier was produced and written from whole cloth by British intel as part of the 5-eyes plot to obstruct Trump and no Russian was part of it.
Knowing all that, and watching how you are blamed for everything, even some ridiculous seeming things. I would seek all the ties I could with China, arm myself to the teeth, become very suspicious, and prepare for anything.
Creeps like Cohen, telling the coup whatever it wants to hear is not just his personal low character, it is downright dangerous to America.
The bottom line is that they recognize a revolutionary socialist, atheist, heavily armed aggressive nation run by the intelligence community when they see one..... they used to be one themselves and realize the danger of what they face.
Dangerous times.
20
posted on
02/27/2019 8:40:19 AM PST
by
DesertRhino
(Dog is man's best friend, and moslems hate dogs. Add that up. ....)
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