While Trump landed in Vietnam to meet with man crush Kim Jung Un, Stephanie Ruehl took a look at Michael Cohen arriving for a ten-hour interview with the Senate Intelligence committee.
"There's a lot going on. I want to get you caught up on where things stand right now. In a few minutes, Michael Cohen will meet behind closed doors with the Senate Intelligence committee. Richard Burr said the session could last more than ten -- did you hear me? Ten hours," Ruehl said.
"And no topics will be off-limits. Chairman Burr said that Cohen should expect to get any question from anywhere about anything. But this isn't Cohen's first rodeo. He testified before and pleaded guilty to lying to them, about abandoning a Trump business proposal in Moscow in January, 2016. That's not all. Cohen pleaded guilty for his involvement in payments to two women who claim they had sexual affairs with President Trump before he became president.
"Cohen is set to begin a three-year prison sentence in May. We could see the fireworks tomorrow, because that's where Cohen will testify publicly in front of the White House overnight committee.Cohen will describe behind the scenes personal observation anecdotes when he worked for President Trump for ten years. That includes allegations of lies, racism and cheating as a private businessman.
"He will provide evidence of criminal conduct by Mr. Trump, and this is the important part, since he became president. But the scope of tomorrow's hearing will not include Russia. On Thursday, Cohen will testify before the House Intel committee. That will be behind closed doors. Like his Senate interview today, nothing will be off limits. Let's go to Capitol Hill and Garrett Haake. Garrett, I hope you have eaten your Wheaties."
"Tomorrow is the day of the fireworks," Haake said. "Today is the day that Cohen will receive the chilliest reception he gets on Capitol Hill. He has so angered the chairman of the Senate Intelligence committee for lying to them for the first place. The first reason he is going to prison is for lying to this committee. And the second is for rescheduling after his surgery, the chairman felt that was sort of a weak excuse. He would have been fine to show up. And today's testimony could be very long, it could go as long as ten hours. The senators will go through Cohen's previous testimony with a fine-tooth comb. They want to be extremely specific with him, about the things he said in his last appearance and what was true and what was a lie.
"We learned overnight that part of the reason that Cohen was here late last week, was to review his transcript himself, to make sure he had his facts straight. We expect Cohen to be behind closed doors, in a secure area today, with nothing off-limits, and senators grilling him over this. Now, the question is, as the kids say, did he bring receipts? Will Cohen be able to back up what he says happened with the Trump Tower Moscow deal, and other areas, particularly on the Russian collusion question, of which he is uniquely knowledgeable."
