Imran Jan |
Michael Cohen, President Trump’s former lawyer and “fixer”, was sentenced to three years in prison for his role in paying hush-money to two adult film actresses and for lying to the Congress about a proposed Trump Tower project in Russia. Cohen had paid the porn star Stormy Daniels $130,000 and had also helped arrange a $150,000 to former Playboy model Karen McDougal so that the two women would keep quiet about their past relationships with Mr. Trump.
This silencing jihad by Cohen was at the height of the election campaign, which resulted in Trump’s unexpected victory. Cohen said he did it “to help him and the campaign” and that this was done “about two weeks or so before the election” following the leaking of a recording of Trump boasting to the celebrity interviewer Billy Bush about grabbing the genitals of women. The US District Judge William Pauley in Manhattan gave Cohen three years for the hush-payment and two months for lying to the Congress. The two sentences will run concurrently.
The man doesn’t tell the truth, and it’s sad that I should take responsibility for his dirty deeds.” And it is hard not to agree with him despite how nefarious and despicable he might be.
Cohen had in the past said that he would “take a bullet” for his boss. He has faced criticism for his immoral and illegal role. The Judge who sentenced him rightly said that Cohen being a lawyer “should have known better”. Cohen felt remorse for what he did. It is a career-ending punishment for him. President Trump’s treatment of this story has been a classic case of “alternative facts”.
The Washington Post ran a fact check on Trump’s statements over this issue and has ventured into labeling it not as misleading or merely false statements but rather outright lies. The Post’s Fact Checker had documented 4229 false or misleading claims. Trump’s attorney Rudolph Giuliani said, “Truth isn’t the truth.”
Days before the election, Trump campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks while responding to the hush payment story said, “we have no knowledge of any of this.” Later, when Trump was directly asked if he knew about the payments being made to the porn star, he flatly said, “No, no”. Less than a month later, Giuliani said that Cohen did pay the porn star $130,000 but “That money was not campaign money.”
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Then comes the release of the recording of a phone conversation between Trump and his “fixer” Cohen from September 2016, about 2 months before the election discussing paying $150,000 to Karen McDougal. Trump can be heard in the conversation saying, “So, what do we got to pay for this? One-fifty?” About a month after that Trump gave an interview to Fox where when asked if he knew about the hush-payment he said, “Later on, I knew. Later on.”
Trump’s relationship with the truth is more bruised than his relationship with the media. First, he didn’t know. Then he knew. And then the money wasn’t paid from the campaign finance. From what I understand, regardless of the criticism hurled at Cohen, he really took the bullet for Trump. This is a funny justice system.
Paul Manafort, Michael Cohen, and Michael Flynn are some of the many. I have no doubt many of his voters are in trouble because of his policies. We should all be alarmed.
The man who actually slept with a porn star and a model, betrayed his wife, paid them hush-money out of the campaign finance cash, repeatedly lied about it, betrayed the American people, and the American democracy, and continues to cook up “alternative facts” and lies, is revealing in the highest office in the country. While the man who got paid for cleaning his mess behind him is in jail.
Cohen said, “Here is the truth: The people of the United States of America, the people of the world don’t believe what he’s saying. The man doesn’t tell the truth, and it’s sad that I should take responsibility for his dirty deeds.” And it is hard not to agree with him despite how nefarious and despicable he might be.
Cohen told the ABC program “Good Morning America”, “He directed me to make the payments. He directed me to become involved in these matters.” When asked if Trump knew the payments were wrong, Cohen said, “Of course.”
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I am wondering what guarantee do we have that after repeatedly lying, he is not lying now? They say, to cover one lie, a thousand more lies are told. And Washington Post has documented over 4 thousand of his known lies. Somehow, the people who serve him end up in some sort of trouble. Paul Manafort, Michael Cohen, and Michael Flynn are some of the many. I have no doubt many of his voters are in trouble because of his policies. We should all be alarmed.
Imran Jan is a political analyst, he can be reached at imran.jan@gmail.com. The Views expressed in this article are author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Global Village Space.