BY PRIYANKA ARIBINDI, BRIAN BEUTLER & CROOKED MEDIA
Wednesday, February 27, 2019 | —Michael Cohen when Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) called him a “pathological liar.” Got em! | Michael Cohen, testifying under oath before the House oversight committee, implicated President Trump, his business associates, and members of his family, in several potential felonies, which they committed both before and during his presidency. Among the most serious accusations: - Cohen claims Trump and Trump’s criminal lawyer Jay Sekulow essentially coached him to lie to Congress about the extent of Trump’s real-estate negotiations with Moscow during the 2016 campaign, though he notes that Trump did not give him an explicit order to lie.
- He testified that Trump’s lawyers—along with Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner’s lawyer Abbe Lowell—reviewed and edited his prepared testimony, including the perjurious language about Trump Tower Moscow.
- Cohen says he overheard Roger Stone give Trump advance notice of Wikileaks’s plans to publish tens of thousands of stolen emails, days in advance of the DNC email dump in July 2016. He suggested that Special Counsel Robert Mueller can corroborate this phone call, presumably through phone records. Trump reportedly denied in sworn, written testimony to Mueller that Stone tipped him off about Wikileaks.
- He presented checks he received after the inauguration, one signed by Trump himself, another signed by Donald Trump, Jr., and Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg, which were meant to reimburse Cohen for the illegal hush money payments he made on Trump’s behalf to silence Trump’s former mistresses.
- Cohen claims to be in “constant contact” with Manhattan prosecutors about ongoing investigations, and declined to provide the details of his final phone call with Trump, in the weeks after the FBI raided his office and other places, because the subject matter of that phone call is relevant to one of those investigations.
- He also suggested Trump committed bank fraud by knowingly giving Deutsche Bank false information in order to secure a loan.
This litany of criminal activity doesn’t touch on Cohen’s wide-ranging and convincing testimony detailing Trump’s racism, lies, and general bad character. It also doesn’t touch on Cohen’s belief—which he can’t prove—that he overheard Donald Trump, Jr., give his father a heads up about the infamous Trump Tower meeting he convened with Russian agents offering dirt on Hillary Clinton. What Cohen testified to Wednesday is stunning. He appeared at the hearing knowing that all hope for a pardon is gone, and that if he gets caught lying under oath again, he might face more time in prison. And yet, Republicans spent the entire hearing ginning up conspiracy theories, and pretending to believe Cohen couldn’t be taken seriously because he’s a convicted liar—without noting that he was convicted of lying to help Trump cover up his own lies about the Trump Tower Moscow project. We should never get so desensitized that we stop being shocked to see Republicans, almost to a member, going all-in on this mobster president. Not a single Republican has run out of patience with Trump. To the contrary, they’re escalating their efforts to cover up for him. | Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) has introduced a Medicare for all bill with 107 Democratic cosponsors in the House. The measure would eliminate co-pays, premiums, and deductibles, and would aim to redirect all Americans—not just those over the age of 65—into Medicare within two years. It would also prohibit private insurance from financing services covered under the government program. | The House of Representatives passed a universal background check bill on all gun sales in the United States. This is the most significantgun-control action the House has taken in over 20 years, though it is unlikely to receive a vote in the Senate. House Republicans secured an amendment to the bill requiring ICE to be alerted when an undocumented immigrant tries to purchase a gun. The United Methodist Church voted to uphold a ban on same-sex marriage and LGBT clergy, sparking backlash and likely prompting defections from the church. The United Methodist Church is the country's second-largest Protestant denomination. Most other Protestant denominations in America accept and support LGBT members. McCrae Dowless, the Republican who ran the illegal ballot-harvesting operation that invalidated the results of the NC-09 House race, has been indicted on seven criminal charges, including obstruction of justice, conspiracy to commit obstruction of justice, and possession of absentee ballots. Dowless’s operation supported Republican Mark Harris, who has announced that he will not be running in the new election. The White House banned four American journalists from covering President Trump’s dinner with Kim Jong Un because they shouted questions, including some about Michael Cohen’s testimony, in an earlier pool spray. Trump called Kim (who starves and murders people) a “great leader” and told him he isn’t as fucked up as other rich kids (cc Don Jr.). Chicago’s mayor will be a black woman for the first time, pending the results of a runoff between Toni Preckwinkle and Lori Lightfoot, which will be held on April 2. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) is under investigation by the Florida State Bar for his tweet threatening Michael Cohen ahead of his congressional testimony. Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the liberal Supreme Court justices in a 5-3 decision to block Alabama from executing an inmate suffering from dementia who can’t recall committing the murder he was convicted of, and is not capable of connecting it to the punishment. | Pakistan shot down two Indian warplanes and captured an Indian pilot after Indian fighter jets crossed into the bitterly contested Kashmir region on Tuesday to launch an airstrike in Pakistan’s territory for the first time since 1971. Pakistan claims it took the action to demonstrate the country’s self-defense power, and was in “retaliation” for India’s airstrikes. India claims that its airstrike was in retaliation for a suicide bombing that killed dozens of Indian soldiers in the portion of Kashmir that India controls. Both countries possess nuclear weapons. | School districts that educate predominantly white students receive $23 billion more in state and local funding than school districts that are predominantly non-white, despite the fact that they serve roughly the same number of students, largely because public schools tend to be funded by property taxes. Though states often try to give slightly more money to nonwhite districts, these stark disparities persist, especially in areas where school districts are intentionally small, and thus limit the extent to which taxes on the wealthy benefit poorer students. In states where districts encompass entire counties, funding is more equitable. | In 2008, the polar bear became the first animal listed as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) because of climate change. Today, for International Polar Bear Day, we’ve set a goal of collecting donations from 2,008 supporters—in honor of the polar bear’s 2008 listing—to protect American climate action with a gift. Your gift to fight climate change will be matched $1-for-$1 by the Robert W. Wilson Charitable Trust through midnight in honor of International Polar Bear Day. Thank you for acting on climate, Environmental Defense Fund | Congress has overwhelmingly passed a public lands conservation package to protect millions of acres across the country, create four new national monuments, and permanently reauthorize the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The land will be protected from mining, damming, and development, and the package will save taxpayers an estimated $9 million. Hell ya. | The real highlight of today's hearing: | Did someone forward you this email? Sign up to get What A Day in your inbox! Want to advertise with us? What are you waiting for?! | |