Michael Cohen has reinforced the accusations against Trump, but weakened the legal charges



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TThe words of a criminal liar should not be treated as gospels. Yet the three days of Michael Cohen's testimony have been revealing. Developer not in the sense of showing us something new, but in support of two beliefs we already had.

First, the internal stories of Cohen's Trump organization corroborated our long-standing impression of Donald Trump's character.

Secondly, Cohen's testimony has hollowed out some of the preferred accusations of Trump's criminal or impossible acts by Democrats.

Liberal democrats and commentators formally obsessed two accusations against Trump that would justify an indictment: "collusion" with Russia and obstruction of justice. Cohen weakened the arguments of the Democrats.

"Stunning revelations trigger the alarm for the Russian probe," CNN headlined in January. That followed BuzzFeed's bombing report that "President Donald Trump has asked his long-time lawyer, Michael Cohen, to lie to Congress."

Cohen defused the bomb during his testimony before the House Oversight Committee. "Mr. Trump did not directly tell me to lie to Congress," Cohen said.This was typical of any investigation into Mueller and Russia: leaks to the liberal media tell a story. salacious story, then the sworn testimony the minent.

However, Cohen's testimony about it did not really make Trump look good.

Cohen said, "In the conversations we had during the campaign, while I was actively negotiating for him in Russia, he looked me in the eye and told me that there was no problem. Business in Russia, then he lied to the Americans saying the same thing. In his way, he told me to lie.

This story is consistent with what we know about Trump and the ease with which the president says false things. But it is not a hindrance to justice either.

On the brink of collusion, Cohen's testimony was also exonerating.

The survey on Russia is rooted in a Democratic-funded opposition research memorandum drafted by Constable Christopher Steele. Although the memo was discredited a long time ago, the liberal media kept it as an old man will hang on to a long-gone dream. That's why the Twitter reporter asked members of Congress Wednesday to ask Michael Cohen if he had ever been to Prague – Cohen's alleged trip to Prague is a tent pole in Steele's collusion story.

Cohen said he had never been to Prague. So much for the memo.

Cohen's testimony is also at the heart of the collusion charge. Cohen said Trump was aware of his intention to publish hacked emails from Russia since the orbit of Hillary Clinton. This could suggest a kind of collusion with Russia. But what exactly was Trump's participation?

[No evidence of Trump colluded with Russia, Cohen says]

Cohen said Roger Stone told Trump: "Mr. Trump, I just want you to know that I just spoke on the phone with Julian Assange, and that in a few days there will be a huge amount of emails that will seriously hurt the Clinton campaign. "

In other words, Trump was vaguely informed of stolen emails by someone else. This is not a "collusion", whatever our definition. The source of the information was not necessarily reliable either, and it is therefore difficult to say that Trump had the duty to report to the authorities.

It would be foolish to take Cohen's testimony as a gospel. He's a liar. We hope however that the Republicans who have argued this point throughout the hearing realize that this too has negative consequences for the president. Why did Trump surround himself with Cohen, Stone and Paul Manafort? Probably because their lack of scruple makes them "killers", he thought he needed him in business and politics.

Cohen's testimony about Trump has consistently portrayed a morally poor man. But that was only adding details to the image that America had of Trump in November 2016 when she had elected him president. The question is whether Trump did something illegal or impeccable. Cohen has also not added anything new in this regard.

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