At the close of the Michael Cohen hearing, Elijah Cummings gave a long and heartfelt speech in which he offered forgiveness and encouragement as Cohen teared up. He talked about the nation we want, and not the one we have with Trump.

"I've sat here and listened to all of this and it's very painful. You made a lot of mistakes, Mr. Cohen, and you've admitted that. You know that one of the saddest part of this whole thing is that some innocent people are hurting, too, and that's your family...I don't know where you go from here...We are better than this. As a country, we are so much better than this...It sounds like you're crying out for a new normal, to get back to normal. It sounds to me like you want to make sure that our democracy stays intact. I'm hoping that the things you said today will help us to get back there.

"I want to first of all thank you. I know that this has been hard. I know that you face a lot," Cummings said.

"I know that you are worried about your family. Destiny, and hopefully this portion of your destiny will lead to a better Michael Cohen, a better Donald Trump. a better United States of America. And a better world. And I mean that from the depths of my heart. When we're dancing with the angels, the question will be asked: Did we stand on the sidelines and say nothing to keep our democracy intact? Did we -- I'm tired of statements saying, people coming here saying oh, this is the first hearing, it is not the first hearing." (He was referring to Republicans yammering at him that his "first hearing" featured a convicted felon.)

"The first hearing was with regard to prescription drugs. Remember a little girl, a lady sat there, her daughter died because she could not get $333 a month in insulin. That was our first hearing. Second hearing. HR1, voting rights. corruption in government.

"Come on now. we can do more than one thing. And we have got to get back to normal. with that, this meeting is adjourned."

If you felt like you'd been to church, you weren't the only one.