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UPDATE: Did you ever see a dream walking? Well I did.

 

 

 

https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000169-2d31-dc75-affd-bfb99a790001

Couldn’t agree more with Congressman Stephen Lynch:

“We want to hear about the relationship between Mr. Cohen and the President and candidate Trump, and so if he were inclined to have a lengthy discussion and an instructive discussion on, that then I’d like to have him proceed,” said Rep. Stephen Lynch, a Massachusetts Democrat on the Oversight panel. “The way we have it sort of walled off here, I’m not sure that may be possible.”

Asked about splitting the lines of inquiries between multiple committees, Lynch added: “I’m not sure that’s the most effective way to do it.”

It sure isn’t, in fact they should forget walling stuff off and instead knock down all the walls and have a full Select Committee-not to mention an impeachment inquiry.
On Tuesday, Schiff praised Cummings handling of the public hearing and defended the decision to split the topics between the committees.
“I think that’s a good division of labor which will allow the public to get information about the President’s conduct, but will also ensure that we can get complete answers to our questions in the intelligence committee and that we also respect the equities of the Justice Department and our own investigative needs,” Schiff told CNN.
How is information going to get to the public as the HSPCI is conducting their hearing behind closed doors-just like Devin Nunes? Does Schiff even intend to have a public hearing on Russia? I also don’t understand the idea that you have to keep it private to make Muelelr happy-the Watergate Dems had their own Select Committee alongside Leon Jaworski’s Independent Counsel.
If Schiff is trying to subsume all Russia questions and insisting the hearings all be behind closed doors-rather than having both a public and private hearing then how is the public ever going to be informed? By that Mueller report that may or may not be coming? Does Schiff think the public only needs to hear about hush money payments?
One Democratic source says that the agreement struck by Schiff and Cummings shows the “adults in the room” were able to successfully resolve legitimate differences over the overlapping interests of the committees.
Asked about Schiff’s role, Connolly said: “It’s my understanding that he has staked out a role for the intelligence committee that largely subsumes questions about Russia.”
Nor is releasing the transcripts way in the future remotely sufficient or adequate. The Dem leaders keep saying public support for impeachment has to be higher than the current 40%-50% it is currently-ignoring that the inquiry itself builds support for impeachment. But if you aren’t going to give people real time public hearings you are shackling any chance you have to so move public opinion.
https://twitter.com/TreasonHappens/status/1100641174652624896
https://twitter.com/EvanMcMullin/status/1100625136233918464

Clearly he’s angling to do a John Dean:

Last August, under oath, Cohen publicly implicated his former boss in committing a felony by directing him to make payments to Daniels. But Trump, potentially protected by Justice Department guidelines that suggest a sitting president cannot be indicted, has so far not been touched by the arms of justice. Nor have his approval ratings among supporters budged much. That could change on Wednesday, when Cohen is given a platform to elucidate the president’s alleged crimes. Cohen’s lawyer and public spokesperson, __Lanny Davis,__has said that Cohen could be a modern-day John Dean, the former White House counsel whose testimony before Congress helped take down Richard Nixon in the Watergate scandal. Dean himself was sentenced in August 1974 to one-to-four years in a minimum-security prison, part of which he served at a safe house near Baltimore. Decades later, he is better remembered for the lies he exposed than his own crimes. Cohen, as he prepares to speak his truth before the world, might be hoping for the same.

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/02/michael-cohen-preparing-to-shock-lawmakers-with-disclosures

EmptyWheel apparently assumes the claim that Cohen overheard Donald Jr tell Sr about the Trump Tower Russia meeting was a lie.

But thankfully the Democrats do plan to ask him about it:

Congressional investigators will certainly be interested in the Trump Tower episode, too. “Who would have been aware of the false testimony that he was giving?” House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff asked Sunday on ABC’s This Week, previewing the questions Democrats are likely to pose when they interview Cohen. “What more could he tell us about the Trump Tower New York meeting or any other issues relevant to our investigation?”

https://twitter.com/TreasonHappens/status/1100413445780848640

https://www.wsj.com/articles/cohen-to-testify-that-trump-engaged-in-criminal-conduct-while-in-office-11551175201

However I see no reason for the Democrats to be accommodating Richard Burr who is clearly running defense for Trump though much more subtly than Devin Nunes.

Meanwhile, there won’t be revelations about election meddling, at least in public. The House of Representatives set the scope for the hearings after consulting with both the Department of Justice and the Senate Intelligence Committee, which are both still investigating any ties between Russian election interference and the Trump campaign. Cohen will, however, be asked about the president’s debts and payments relating to efforts to influence the election, along with what he knows about Trump’s business activities and charitable organization, potential conflicts of interest and campaign-finance violations, and his compliance with other requirements and laws.”

For me I question the common narrative that this Senate Intel investigation has been worth much-it was clearly conducted behind closed doors to spare Burr’s ‘President’ political embarrassment. As we’ve seen none of their work I’m not just going to presume it’s been useful. If Burr wants to prove me wrong he can release the transcripts. But the House which is finally having public hearings should not be accommodating the Senate which is hiding behind closed doors.

Just recently Burr was declaring ‘no collusion’ while refusing to let us see any of the evidence or testimony they’ve looked at. As far as I’m concerned he doesn’t get any benefit of the doubt-show your work.

“Cohen’s final stand in D.C.—the specter of a convicted felon making potentially sordid allegations against a sitting president on live television—is likely to be spectacular political theater, perfectly construed for our reality-TV, post-reality times. What makes it all the more spectacular is how precipitously the relationship between Cohen and Trump has devolved. Around a year ago, as news of the Daniels hush-money payment began to reverberate, Cohen kept in close touch with the president, visiting him twice at Mar-a-Lago and speaking with him near daily on the phone. It wasn’t until after Cohen’s home, office, and hotel room were searched by the F.B.I. in early April—an event Trump initially called “an attack on our country”—that the cracks in the relationship began to show. Trump soon distanced himself from Cohen and his legal troubles, saying in interviews with Fox News that Cohen did very little legal work for him, and that Cohen was being investigated for crimes unrelated to him. Squabbles over who would foot Cohen’s legal bills intensified the rift, as did what Cohen perceived to be a coordinated strategy by people in Trump’s orbit to discredit him.”

But perhaps the most spectacular aspect of all will be the split-screen tension. As Cohen rips into his former boss on the world’s stage, and lawmakers, in turn, rip into him, Trump will be at a crucial summit with Kim in Vietnam.

I have to quibble a little here as it’s less a ‘crucial summit’ so much as a #TreasonSummit.

Michael Iskikoff is also calling out the Democrats for having the Russia portion of the testimony behind closed doors.

For a president who cares primarily about ratings and the public spectacle of power, rather than the actual work and weight of it all, this could be one of the most heightened, hyped, and, ultimately, pivotal weeks of his presidency.

https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1100368644511596545

Seth Abramson:

 

 

 

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/02/if-cohen-is-telling-the-truth-trump-may-have-lied-to-mueller

UPDATE: The GOP couldn’t even wait until tomorrow to begin its attempt to obstruct this hearing that they claim will be a nothingburger

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://twitter.com/Budz442Bud/status/1100522238397349888

As it turned out yes there are because Speaker Pelosi is minding the store.

While that may be a conjecture guess who Gaetz just had dinner with?

 

David Corn-Michael Isikoff-Mimi Roach on what Congress should ask Michael Cohen:

Here’s What Congress Should Ask Michael Cohen

 

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