Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez paves the way for Democrats to assign Trump's tax returns to Michael Cohen's audience.

At the hearing with Michael Cohen, a former lawyer for President Donald Trump, at the hearing before the House of Representatives Oversight Committee, a legislator came forward with an apparently clear purpose. As it was Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's turn to ask questions, she focused on answering brief, laser-centered questions about Trump's finances and taxes. The Democrats had long wanted to get their hands on Trump's tax returns, but they lacked a clear reason to be able to summon them. Ocasio-Cortez may have just put it back in a silver tray.

Ocasio-Cortez began by revisiting his previous questions to find out if he knew if Trump would "ever hand over inflated assets to an insurance company". When Cohen answered yes, she continued, "Do you think we need to look at his financial statements and come back to compare them?" Cohen answered yes again.

During his interrogation, Ocasio-Cortez repeatedly asked Cohen how Cohen had tried to reduce his tax by undervaluing his properties. At one point, she quoted a New York Times article that Trump had undervalued the properties he had inherited.
Cohen said he did not know anything about it because he was not working for Trump at the time, but said Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg could shed some light on the problem. "Would that help the committee get federal and state tax returns from the president and his company to remedy this discrepancy?" Asked Ocasio-Cortez. "I think so," replied Cohen.

With these questions, the freshman seemed to at least try to show what Democrats could say to justify demanding Trump's tax returns. Although some analysts believe that this would still not be sufficient justification, it could at least lay the groundwork for a summons to appear. It goes without saying a lot were impressed the series of questions from the first-year legislator.