Lights, Camera, Cohen...

[Lord Jim]

The response to which I give the award for the best line of the day, from the delegate from the U.S. Virgin Islands (I forget her name) - "the Democratic majority is able to walk and chew gum at the same time".

My favorite line of the day came from Cohen when one of the Vichy Republicans accused him of being "a pathological liar" and he jumped in to ask, "Excuse me Congressman, are you talking about me, or the President?"

[Scooter]

Paul Gosar, who got his ass handed to him in that exchange, is the loser whose siblings appeared in the attack ad against him:

[Lord Jim]

I suppose I should point out that at least one (of the 18) Republicans on the panel did in fact, to at least some extent, actually do his job and ask some relevant questions:

After Three Hours, One GOP Rep. Broke Ranks And Asked Cohen A Real Question

Most of Wednesday’s House Oversight Committee hearing has been a partisan circus, with the likes of Reps. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Mark Meadows (R-NC) using their questioning time to put on a show of outrage and gotcha questions.

Three hours into the cacophony, Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI) took a different tack, asking a question actually seeking information from Michael Cohen, the answer to which could have even proved damaging to President Donald Trump.

He set the stage for what could have been a show-stopping moment: “Mr. Cohen, I don’t know whether we should believe you today, but I’m going to ask you this one last question: what is the truth that you know President Trump fears most?” Amash asked.

Cohen seemed taken aback and shook his head for a while, concluding that it was a “tough question” that he didn’t have an answer for.

Amash also asked more about how Cohen says that Trump speaks in “code,” basically relaying his desires and marching orders through implication rather than directness.

The congressman concluded by asking about how Cohen plans to rehabilitate himself and his life.

Cohen expressed his gratitude at the Republican’s rogue line of questioning.

“Thank you for your questions,” Cohen said. “Some of the other ones really make it difficult to try to show some redemption, but I am, I am trying.”

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/afte ... l-question

Gee a Republican member of the The House Oversight Committee actually doing his job...

He stood out like a sore thumb; what a freakin' weirdo...

[Scooter]

He was also one of the 13 Republicans who voted for the House resolution on the emergency declaration.

[RayThom]

A Closer Look: All you need to know about Cohen's Congressional testimony.



For the record -- I believe Cohen is sincere and contrite. However, I must keep in mind he is where he is because he was caught by the Feds and the State of New York. There is no altruism to be found in anything that he has said to date. I trust the House will take it from here and make my president, Lord Dampnut, accountable.

C'mon Mueller, do your stuff.

[BoSoxGal]

I'm so embarrassed i wrote john lewis instead of elijah cummings - I've had lewis on the brain since the oscars sunday.

(no, all black people do not look the same to me.)

[Burning Petard]

The end was worth the weight. The female junior member from New York, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez revealed why the GOP has attacked her so heavily--she is competent and smart.

snailgate

[Lord Jim]

He was also one of the 13 Republicans who voted for the House resolution on the emergency declaration.

I believe he was also the only House Republican to sign on as a co-sponsor of the resolution...

A Republican House member who actually takes seriously some of the principles that Republicans have long professed to believe in...

Well we can't have that; Trump will definitely be gunning for him...

[Burning Petard]

Special Thanks to Scooter for observing the niceties of the US Congress. He noted that the person from US Virgin Islands is not a Representative, but a Delegate.

A question for all the good citizens of the USA here on this board: Did you know that if you are in Puerto Rico, you have no right to trial by a jury of your peers?

snailgate

[Lord Jim]

The end was worth the weight. The female junior member from New York, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez revealed why the GOP has attacked her so heavily--she is competent and smart.

snailgate

I was pleasantly surprised by the serious, low key professionalism that AOC exhibited...

She's had a number youthful hubris driven missteps, (the latest being her belittling the importance of actually having an office open in her district for her constituents)

It seemed like the national attention was really going to her head, and she was losing perspective...

Yesterday she came across as someone who had done her homework and had shown up to work, not just preen...

[Scooter]

One of my hopes about what may come from this (and it may very well be a false hope) ...

Is that seeing someone who was so deeply enmeshed in the cult of Trump coming back to reality might help at least a few Trumpanzees to get woke...

Why do you imagine that wes is spending most of life in a drunken stupor these days? Because he is beginning to recognize that the emperor has no clothes and he was played for the fool that he is.

[Scooter]

[Lord Jim]

Republicans: And what about Rod Rosenstein!

[Crackpot]

Hmm that’s odd I thought Amash was one of the loonier members of the Michigan Republican Party but Outside of support for Rand Paul I can’t find any of the bad behavior I thought he was guilty of. He seems to be along the lines of a true libertarian rather than libertarian only when it doesn’t conflict with the Republican Party agenda.

[Scooter]

We've only just begun, folks:

House Oversight seeks interviews with Ivanka Trump, Don Jr.

The House Oversight Committee will pursue interviews with some of President Donald Trump's children and closest allies who were implicated in Michael Cohen’s bombshell testimony before the panel, Chairman Elijah Cummings said Thursday.

“All you have to do is follow the transcript. If there are names that were mentioned or records that were mentioned during the hearing, we want to take a look at all of that,” Cummings told reporters.

In his nearly six-hour appearance before the key House panel investigating the president and his business dealings, Cohen name-dropped several of Trump’s closest confidants and associates, including several of his adult children. After Wednesday’s hearing, Democrats said they were interested in speaking with Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump and Allen Weisselberg, the longtime chief financial officer of The Trump Organization.

“They have a good chance of hearing from us — at least an interview,” Cummings added. “We’ll go through it, we’ll figure out who we want to talk to, and we’ll bring them in.”

Cohen indicated to lawmakers on Wednesday that Trump Jr. had a role in the hush-money payments to Stormy Daniels, the adult-film actress who claims she had an affair with the president.

The president’s former attorney and fixer also said Trump Jr. knew more about the negotiations surrounding the Trump Tower Moscow project than Trump Jr. had led investigators to believe. He also said Ivanka Trump was briefed about the talks. Weisselberg was mentioned several times during the hearing, most notably when Cohen said the Trump Organization CFO signed one of the reimbursement checks for the hush-money payments and was involved in discussions about the scheme.

“They are people who can put meat on the flesh to what Michael Cohen offered. They are people who know intimately the details of the Trump personality and business,” Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), a member of the Oversight Committee, said. “And I think it’s important to follow up on what Michael Cohen said with those people.”

Cummings said it’s possible that some of the information gleaned from Cohen’s testimony would fall under the purview of other House committees that have launched their own investigations into the president. He said the chairs of those committees — Intelligence, Foreign Affairs, Ways and Means, Judiciary, and others — meet at least once a week to “try to figure out who’s doing what.”

Despite Cohen’s testimony, Democratic leaders remain wary of embracing calls to begin impeachment proceedings against Trump. Cummings declined to say whether Cohen’s testimony raises the specter of impeachment, insisting that his panel is simply gathering facts and evidence.

“I’m not there,” Cummings said, answering a question about impeachment. “I do find it interesting that there was not one Democrat that I remember who even mentioned the word ‘impeach.’ Nobody. Nobody.”

House Democrats to Probe Trump Attacks on FBI, Courts, Media

House Democrats are opening an investigation into what they say are abuses of power by President Donald Trump through his attacks on the courts, the Justice Department, the FBI and the media, according to a House official familiar with the plans.

Topics for the inquiry will include Trump’s public humiliation of former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, his attacks on actions by the liberal Ninth Circuit Court and his abuse of reporters as “dishonest” and “enemies of the people,” said the person, who asked for anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

The Judiciary Committee led by Democrat Jerrold Nadler of New York will announce the probe in days, the official said. There are plans to hold public hearings with witnesses, but it’s not immediately clear who will be summoned. A spokesman for Nadler said he had no immediate comment.

Presidents have wide leeway to use their bully pulpit to attack foes and get their way -- and the panel isn’t planning to focus on potential crimes. But the effort comes amid a broader push by Democrats now controlling the House to investigate actions of the president and his administration.

The official said there are questions about whether Trump, through some of his actions, is going too far and undermining the rule of law, a reference to established and defined limits on the arbitrary exercise of power.

Nadler is opening the investigation in part because his committee is responsible for defending the rule of law, said the official. Issues will include determining in what circumstances, if any, Congress should take steps to curb some of Trump’s actions, and how that might be accomplished.

The planned public hearings and findings also will give Democrats their own platform to allege, explore and spotlight abuses of power.

Trump’s attacks on the news media, singling them out for abuse and ridicule, potentially threatens freedom of the press, and also could serve to intimidate other journalists, the official said. The president regularly denounces "fake news" as “the enemy of the people” in tweets and at campaign-style rallies.

Trump also has been attacking the judiciary since before he was elected, including using racially tinged language during the 2016 presidential campaign in attacking a federal judge who ruled against him. Since taking office, Trump has blasted court rulings, particularly by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which has been at the center of several White House defeats tied to lawsuits seeking to block Trump executive orders.

The committee will study whether such actions either reflect or blur the Constitution’s separation of powers, said the official.

[Scooter]

[Scooter]

[Lord Jim]

Democrats said they were interested in speaking with Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump and Allen Weisselberg, the longtime chief financial officer of The Trump Organization.

Bring on the bookkeeper...

[RayThom]

The Kingdom is crumbling.



And AOC gets high praise once again.

[Econoline]