Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

Eh, that’s media spin. biden’s health is fine and he’s doing a good job.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

If you are still in the GOP, you are an extremist.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

You cannot shame the shameless.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

After roe, women are no longer free.

This really is a full service blog.

It’s time for the GOP to dust off that post-2012 autopsy, completely ignore it, and light the party on fire again.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / “Alexa, order ALL the popcorn!”

“Alexa, order ALL the popcorn!”

by | 189 Comments

This post is in: ,

Via The Times:

Michael D. Cohen, President Trump’s former personal lawyer who implicated him in a scheme to pay hush money to two women claiming to have had affairs with him, has agreed to testify before the House Oversight Committee next month and give “a full and credible account” of his work for Mr. Trump.

Mr. Cohen’s decision to appear before the House Oversight and Reform Committee on Feb. 7 sets the stage for a blockbuster public hearing that threatens to further damage the president’s image and could clarify the depth of his legal woes. Mr. Cohen, a consigliere to Mr. Trump when he was a real estate developer and presidential candidate as well as informally as president, was privy to the machinations of Mr. Trump’s inner circle and key moments under scrutiny by both the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, and federal prosecutors in New York.

He could soon share them on national television under oath.

“In furtherance of my commitment to cooperate and provide the American people with answers, I have accepted the invitation by Chairman Elijah Cummings to appear publicly on February 7,” Mr. Cohen said in a statement. “I look forward to having the privilege of being afforded a platform with which to give a full and credible account of the events which have transpired.”

I’m taking that day off.

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

189Comments

  3. 3.

    trollhattan

    Appearing before Elijah Cummings is absolutely the best icing on this cake that I could imagine. Please proceed, congressman!

  5. 5.

    Jeffro

    preznit* bwah bwah bwah: “EXEKUTIV PRIVLEGGE!!!1!”

    Nancy Smash: “go f*** yourself”

    Cohen: “yeah…yeah! go f*** yourself!”

    Let him shut the government down: we know how to walk and chew gum. And so, it appears, does the Speaker

  6. 6.

    Elizabelle

    My three favorite words in Cohen’s statement:

    to appear publicly

    C-Span, bring it on.

    And Elijah Cummings deserves to be a household name. He will be.

  7. 7.

    Elizabelle

    The WaPost is learning. Headline and blurb at top of news right now:

    Democrats try — and fail — to pass bills to reopen agencies

    As lawmakers negotiated in Washington, the president announced that he would scrap his plans to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, later this month.

    It’s not just Congress. It’s Democrats. Of course, they’re fail monkeys again, but at least they get credit this time.

  8. 8.

    Cheap Jim

    I know they wanted to knock Roscoe Bartlett out of the House, but I miss being in MD-7, so I could vote for E. E. Cummings.

  11. 11.

    tobie

    Oh my gosh. I think I’ll see if CafePress has baseball hats with “Impeach the Mother Fucker” printed on them. Emily Post would say you should always dress appropriately for every occasion.

  12. 12.

    gene108

    he would scrap his plans to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland

    Probably hates it there. He’s not the center of attention, and all the truly rich guys and government officials from other rich countries aren’t bowing down to him or sucking up to him.

  13. 13.

    Jeffro

    @Elizabelle:

    They’re setting the table for the Mueller Report feast, which may arrive before spring.

    Oh I think you’re right. I still think Rosenstein will get it from Mueller and send it on to all members of Congress about 2 seconds later (and then walk out the door of the FBI one last time about 2 seconds after that.)

  14. 14.

    catclub

    I look forward to having the privilege of being afforded a platform with which to give a full and credible account of the events which have transpired

    He is still known more for lying than telling the truth, so credible may be too high a bar. How about ‘entertaining’?

  18. 18.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Yutsano: Scott is:
    1) Clueless in general.
    2) Unable to recognize that anyone other than Rick Scott is an actual subject to be interacted with, rather than an object to be manipulated for Scott’s personal benefit and gain.
    3) Afraid of small, portable electronic devices like mini fans.

  21. 21.

    Amir Khalid

    I look forward to learning that Michael Cohen has implicated Trump in yet more crimes, laying out a feast for the Special Counsel’s investigation, as Cohen surely will. Der Müller Gottes mahlt langsam, aber mahlt außerordentlich fein.

  22. 22.

    Elizabelle

    Incidentally, Davos is one snowy place right now. Austria, Switzerland and southern Germany got a “50 year” snowstorm this week.

    NY Times, with some gorgeous photos (Bavarian horses in the snow!). Heavy Snowfall in Alps Leaves 6 Dead and Strands Tourists

    There’s a video of some train engineers freeing a trapped wild animal (“a chamois, a type of goat-antelope”) from snow. “It then continued its way through the countryside, seemingly unimpressed.”

    Link is well worth a click.

    BERLIN — Once-in-a-generation heavy snowfall has paralyzed travel and tourism in parts of the Alps, with conditions that have left at least six people dead, Austrian officials said on Thursday.

    Heavy snowfall and strong winds are projected to continue in Austria and southern parts of Germany until at least Friday, bringing at least an additional 20 inches, or 50 centimeters, of snow over 24 hours to parts of the Alps that have already seen as much as 10 feet over the past week.

    …. Davos, Switzerland, where many world and business leaders are to gather for the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum at the end of the month, has reported nearly 25 inches of snow.

    While the amount of snow that has fallen in the past weeks varies widely from area to area, it is unusual for so much snow to fall over such an extended period of time, according to Thomas Wostal, a spokesman at Austria’s Central Meteorological Office.

    “In terms of amount of snow over 10 days, statistically this only happens every 30 to 100 years, depending on the region,” he said.

    Hohentauern, a village in the central part of [Austria], has been cut off since Saturday. Roughly 270 visitors, including about 60 children, are waiting for one of the two passes leading from the village to open again.

    “The village is safe and we’re keeping the streets clear” said Franz Haas, owner of a hotel in Hohentauern. “The children are enjoying outdoor walks, tobogganing and the building of snowmen.”

    Because fewer tourists than usual are staying in the village, and because there are farms nearby, there is no shortage of food, Mr. Haas said, and there is enough gas to heat cabins and hotels for at least two more weeks.

    Doesn’t sound so bad. Except for the people dying in avalanches.

    I rather like the idea of the world’s elites being snowed in. Too early, snowstorm!

  23. 23.

    Ken

    @Jeffro:

    preznit* bwah bwah bwah: “EXEKUTIV PRIVLEGGE!!!1!”

    Mr. Cohen, a consigliere to Mr. Trump … informally as president

    I suspect executive privilege doesn’t apply unless someone actually works for the office of the President, or at least somewhere in the executive branch of government. Which might leave Jared and Ivanka in a popcorn-worthy position.

  25. 25.

    eemom

    @humboldtblue:

    Apologies if I’m mixing you up with some other Cali person, but did you have an emergency with a baby in the family recently? If so, I hope s/he is ok!

  28. 28.

    Jeffro

    @Ken: I think you’re correct – doesn’t mean trumpov won’t try to say it applies to everyone he’s ever talked to in his entire life. The ultimate, retroactive, get-out-of-jail-free card, right? WRONG, Donnie, WRONG.

  31. 31.

    Mike in NC

    @gene108: What Trump would be able to contribute to the World Economic Forum could fit on the head of a pin. He’d just go shopping for Swiss chocolates for Ivanka and maybe a new watch for himself.

  33. 33.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Ken: Correct. There is no executive privilege here. Cohen has never worked for the US government. He only ever worked for the President in the President’s private capacity. The President’s attorneys have, however, attempted to claim executive privilege for anything done during the transition between November 2016 and January 2017, but it doesn’t apply there either as we only have one president at a time no matter what the current president and/or Rudy Giuliani or Emmet Flood think and/or say.

  34. 34.

    Mandalay

    This is beyond vile:

    Less than a year after the deadliest school shooting in Florida history, a state lawmaker has filed a bill that would repeal gun control regulations passed after the tragedy.

    State Rep. Mike Hill, R-Pensacola, is pushing to remove provisions that raised the age to purchase a rifle from 18 to 21, created a three-day waiting period for long gun sales, and established risk-protection orders that made it easier for law enforcement to seize guns from dangerous people…

    …He announced his plan in front of the city’s Confederate monument. He’s also sponsored a bill that would protect Confederate statues on public property in Florida.

    The cherry on top of this shitshow is that the politician trying to protect Confederate monuments is black.

  35. 35.

    humboldtblue

    @eemom:

    That was me. eemom, and the little guy is still in NICU and the doctors are preparing to close his chest (he had open heart surgery to correct some veins carrying blood) in just a few minutes.

    It’s heart-breaking to speak with my poor niece who has yet been able to even feed the little guy because he’s been connected to so many machines and in one of those plastic box-things, but my sister has been updating us and the staff at the hospital have gotten nothing but A+++ praise.

    He’s got a long road ahead of him but slowly but surely he’s getting better so here’s to more success and healing!

    Thanks for asking.

  36. 36.

    Betty Cracker

    @Yutsano: From the linked article:

    “The word went out from Scott World — not explicitly but we understood what he meant — if you go to DeSantis’ inaugural, you’re dead to Rick,” said one GOP consultant. “You’re finished.”

    LMAO!

  39. 39.

    Misterforkbeard

    I’m not totally convinced that having Micheal Cohen publicly testify is a good idea.

    The dude is very squirrely and generally unconvincing. He’s also a known liar – while he might say something really interesting about Trump, the entire Republican establishment is going to claim he’s completely untrustworthy and then pretend the whole investigation is predicated on Cohen, so the whole investigation must be thrown out. That’s in addition to the fact that there’s a good chance that they’ll rattle him and he’ll make a mistake that damages himself.

    I think it’ll be entertaining but not ultimately beneficial, not unless something else drops around the same time.

  46. 46.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Yutsano: Apparently not:
    http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/15/politics/florida-debate-fangate/index.html

    Washington (CNN) — Florida Gov. Rick Scott refused to go onstage for the first seven minutes of a debate Wednesday night, because his opponent had a fan.

    No, not a rowdy supporter in the audience. An actual electric fan.

    Scott’s Democratic challenger, former Gov. Charlie Crist, had set up a small fan underneath his podium, apparently trying to keep himself from sweating under the Broward College stage’s lights. Scott saw the fan, a prop that often accompanies Crist at public appearances, as a violation of the debate’s rules and said he wouldn’t participate.

    The moderators tried to explain the disagreement while Republicans in the audience chided Crist for breaking rules — at least as Scott saw them — against props on stage.

  49. 49.

    Ohio Mom

    @humboldtblue: The last I heard, great nephew was in a helicopter on the way to surgery, so this is a welcomed update.

    On another note, I can’t help but imagine the Davos attendees all high-fiving one another, or whatever folks in that socio-economic group do, in joy that they’ll be spared Trump’s presence.

  51. 51.

    Adam L Silverman

    Very stable genius!!!!

  54. 54.

    Adam L Silverman

    Co-President Hannity has arrived at the border in Hot Air Force 1:

  55. 55.

    Ruckus

    @Ohio Mom:
    They tip each other the exact same pre agreed upon amount so that no one looses a dime, but they all feel like they did something significant, because money was involved.

  56. 56.

    debit

    @Misterforkbeard: Am I the only one who remembers that Mueller knows everything, and Cohen knows that Mueller knows everything and that Cohen is desperate to be shown as cooperating so he can get his sentence reduced? He has no incentive to lie and will be punished if he does. He may not be very smart but after already paying for lying to the FBI does anyone think he’ll roll the dice and lie to Congress on top of it?

  58. 58.

    Yarrow

    @humboldtblue: Glad he’s improving. Hospitals are exhausting, so glad your niece feels good about the hospital and staff.

    I spent half the day at the hospital visiting a family member today. Public service announcement, if your older relative is suddenly having issues with disorientation, lucidity, etc., insist the doctor/hospital check for a UTI. For some reason it’s commonly overlooked, especially in men, and can cause those sorts of issues.

  63. 63.

    Yarrow

    @schrodingers_cat: Apparently this is the “translation”:

    Trump's "argument": Critics say a wall is a medieval kind of defence. But some medieval things are still awesome. Like, wheels. There were wheels in medieval times and there are also wheels now. So if wheels remain awesome and existent, why not walls? https://t.co/OrH92mq9ek— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) January 10, 2019

  64. 64.

    humboldtblue

    @Ohio Mom:

    The last I heard, great nephew was in a helicopter on the way to surgery, so this is a welcomed update.

    Thanks for asking, and things are looking relatively better. The little guy has had a very hard start to life and has spent his first days connected to a plethora of machines and according to my sister when he started crying on Monday my niece almost crumbled completely. He’s got some of the best in the world looking after him, I jist hope the damage isn’t too long-lasting.

  66. 66.

    Elizabelle

    @schrodingers_cat: and Bill in Glendale:

    I think Trump is stung by a few articles in the WaPost describing the wall as a medieval device.

    So he’s thinking about wheels. How the great man’s mind turns. My guess, anyway.

    And I would guess walls and fences predate wheels, but what do I know?

  67. 67.

    Ohio Mom

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I suspect there are subgroupings of rich people we don’t know about.

    I always imagine the Mar-a-Lago crowd to be mainly owners of chains of car dealerships, and presidents of small savings and loans — people who are big fish in small ponds and don’t realize how small their ponds are.

    I picture the Davos crowd as really big fish, Fortune 500 types, as well as government ministers and secretaries. People who have better places to go than Mar-A-Lago.

    But I might be misguided.

  68. 68.

    StringOnAStick

    @Misterforkbeard: MAybe some of our legal types who post here can assess this situation. Cohen concerns me just because he’s been a dirtbag for his entire legal career (such as it is) and I’m not entirely sure how genuine his recent conversion to non-dirtbagness really is. My main concern though when any of these guys testify is does it taint the evidence for trial or increase the potential for a mistrial? I remember all too clearly how this maneuver got Oliver North out of being tried.

  70. 70.

    Elie

    @Jeffro:
    This is Nancy’s assymetrical warfare throw down. Trump had his little show yesterday. Today we turn the flame up under the frog from simmer to a soft boil. Watch out though. He’s gonna get even crazier!

  72. 72.

    Elizabelle

    On medieval technology: WaPost: Trump says medieval walls worked. They didn’t.

    President Trump’s demand for a wall across most of the U.S.-Mexico border has been mocked (and embraced) as a “medieval” idea. Responding to the president’s prime-time speech from the Oval Office on Tuesday, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) tweeted, “We are not paying a $5 billion ransom note for your medieval ? border wall.” A day later, on Wednesday, Trump responded by embracing that characterization: “[Democrats] say it’s a medieval solution, a wall. It’s true, because it worked then, and it works even better now.”

    Since then, others have seized on the idea, and the association seems to have stuck. Walls generally, but this wall in particular, are straight from the Middle Ages. …

    … But as a scholar of medieval history, I have noticed something has been missing in all this discussion. In short, calling the proposed 700 to 1,200 mile border wall “medieval” is deeply misleading because walls in the actual European Middle Ages simply did not work the way Trump apparently thinks they did. If anything, their true function may speak to Trump’s intentions: Poor tools of defense, medieval walls had more to do with reassuring those who lived inside them than with dividing self from other.

    The author is Matthew Gabriele.

    Matthew Gabriele  is a professor of medieval studies in the department of religion and culture at Virginia Tech and has published widely on religion and violence in the Middle Ages.

  75. 75.

    Ohio Mom

    @humboldtblue: Yes, your poor niece. I thought I knew what being hormonal was, and then I gave birth. Going from pregnant to labor to new motherhood entails a tsunami of hormones in a very short time span. Which can only add to your niece’s anguish.

  76. 76.

    eemom

    @humboldtblue:

    Thank you for the update. Deeply hoping for a speedy and complete recovery for the dear little baby, and comfort and relief to your niece.

    My son was in the NICU for a couple of days after he was born, for what thank God turned out to be a minor issue……so I know how harrowing those places are…..those tiny little bodies hooked up to all those machines.

  79. 79.

    sukabi

    @gene108: hates it because he’s not the attraction, he’s forced to sit thru talks he doesn’t understand and has no interest in learning anout, and everybody else is wealthier, better looking and smarter.

    Nothing about Davos feeds his tiny blackhole of an ego.

  80. 80.

    StringOnAStick

    @Yarrow:

    I spent half the day at the hospital visiting a family member today. Public service announcement, if your older relative is suddenly having issues with disorientation, lucidity, etc., insist the doctor/hospital check for a UTI. For some reason it’s commonly overlooked, especially in men, and can cause those sorts of issues.

    This is so, so true. I’ve seen it several times.

  82. 82.

    eemom

    @Ohio Mom:

    Going from pregnant to labor to new motherhood entails a tsunami of hormones in a very short time span.

    omg, YES. And sleep deprivation to top it all off!

  83. 83.

    lahke

    @Yarrow: Whoa, I didn’t know that guys get it that way too. Just went through that with a friend, and the hospital kept her a week and did a boat load of expensive tests, including a lumbar puncture that was really painful, before her PCP figured that it was a UTI.
    Not our best local hospital, obviously. Or maybe the sneakiest–her insurance company paid a lot.

  84. 84.

    Elizabelle

    LOL. Dr. Gabriele of VaTech noted that Dana Milbank of the Post took Trump’s remarks and ran with them. Boy, did he.

    WaPost: Trump’s wall isn’t evil. It’s medieval.

    If the plan is to bet the United States’ national security on the siege-warfare technology of the ancient and medieval worlds, which is what a wall does, then our strategy has to be much more Byzantine.

    I therefore reached out to various medievalists around the world to get their recommendations on how the United States can use technology that became obsolete in the 16th century to deter the murderous hordes of Trump’s fantasy amassing on the Mexican border. Just as the Pentagon undertakes a Nuclear Posture Review every few years, I did a Medieval Posture Review — and we’re slouches.

    To turn the 2,000-mile border into the walled fortress Trump desires, my experts suggest a medieval arms race as terrifying as the plague. Not only will we need a 30-foot “glorious wall” (Trump will like that term) with towers rising to 50 feet, but we’ll also need two more “curtain” walls, a moat and an earthen berm to keep away the invading migrants’ siege towers, ladders, battering rams and pole axes.

    Atop the 10-foot-thick walls, crenelated parapets, screened by animal skins, will protect our archers from arrows and stones. The towers, rounded to deflect incoming boulders, will project outward — the better to hit illegal immigrants with enfilading fire from crossbows.

    …. Leif Inge Ree Petersen, a siege-warfare expert at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, explained to me that to do this right — and Trump wants only the best — we should match the “gold standard” in defensive walls: the Theodosian walls that protected Constantinople from George Soros-funded migrant caravans for 1,000 years, until 1453.

    Problem is, this wall had towers every 50 to 80 meters and required at least 20,000 people to defend its six-kilometer perimeter. To scale that up, Trump’s border wall will need 51,200 towers and 10.7 million people to perform its various chores: pouring hot oil and dropping rocks on invaders, pushing away their ladders, firing flaming arrows, digging counter-tunnels to intercept invaders’ tunnels and pulling ropes to operate the torsion catapults.

    Hey. Trump finally has a jobs program.

    On the positive side, my experts said it will not be necessary to stock the moats with alligators (this was a Hollywood invention) nor to hurl diseased animal carcasses at the migrants (ineffective).

    This is all going to cost well more than the $5.7 billion Trump has requested for the wall and requires mass conscription of civilians. But if we don’t win the medieval arms race, we risk a bloody repeat of the Sassanian Siege of Amida in 359, when Romans holding the city were overrun and killed (much as Trump claims illegal immigrants are doing to Americans).

  85. 85.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @Mandalay:
    What pisses me off the most about that is that these assholes in the state government are passing these laws to protect Confederate monuments that many of the locals don’t want around anymore. Small government my ass.

  86. 86.

    MCA1

    @Misterforkbeard: I think you’re overworrying on that one.

    For one thing, Cohen’s just one person who will be brought back in. Schiff, Nadler, Cummings and whoever else are going to be dragging Jr., Prince, Geroge Nadler, Stone, and others up to the Hill, too. Sezhoo is just one part of the mosaic of corruption and betrayals we’re going to see.

    In addition, Cohen’s already been busted once for lying to Congress, and he’s for months been cooperating with Mueller. Obviously, based on last month’s very public Team Mueller briefing on the matter, not quite as thoroughly and robustly as he wanted everyone to believe, I guess. But regardless, Mueller knows everything, he’s already been sentenced to 3 years in the federal pen and there’s still more lingering legal jeopardy for him out there. What benefit does he have from being dishonest at this point? Besides, it doesn’t matter how duplicitous and unreliable they try and paint Cohen. He’s not some rando accuser – he was Drumpf’s most trusted righthand man. Cohen’s nefariousness (further) lowers people’s judgment of his former boss.

    It kind of feels like the jig is finally up with Dotard and all of his enablers in Congress, anyway. No one’s listening to them anymore. None of them have any credibility left. Even the modest production values Chuck and Nancy Show is outperforming The Real World: Orangefarts now. They can’t even roll out Very Special Episodes and get the viewers anymore, based on this week’s ratings. The worm has turned, the train’s off the rails, whatever cliche we want to use, but people have finally figured this whole thing out and they want to see the crash now.

  88. 88.

    WaterGirl

    @debit: I actually believe that after years of being a total scumbag, Cohen has had his eyes opened about Trump and wants to tell the truth. He is surely hoping that the truth will set him free. (or at least let him get less prison time)

  90. 90.

    Yarrow

    @StringOnAStick: @lahke: It’s commonly overlooked in men. Fortunately my relative got a top notch NP who made a guess and ordered the test. She told us that as men age and can have enlarged prostates that it can be more common. The enlarged prostate can lead to not vacating completely and lead to the UTI. Why it isn’t tested right away in both men and women who have sudden onset issues with lucidity is beyond me. It should be.

  92. 92.

    Elizabelle

    A rhyme, that’s in the WaPost reader’s comments to the Milbank article on walls.

    Humpty Trumpty wanted his wall.
    Humpty Trumpty had a big fall.
    All Mueller’s horses and all of his men,
    Put Humpty Trumpty in the federal pen.

  94. 94.

    James E Powell

    @Ken:

    I suspect executive privilege doesn’t apply unless someone actually works for the office of the President, or at least somewhere in the executive branch of government. Which might leave Jared and Ivanka in a popcorn-worthy position.

    I suspect executive privilege applies wherever Roberts, Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh say it does.

  96. 96.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Ohio Mom: A lot of the local to Palm Beach Mar a Lago members are Jews because the other private members clubs in Palm Beach don’t admit Jews. One of the ways that the President sold the club idea to the zoning board and the city council is that he would not have a discriminatory membership policy: Jews, African Americans, and Latinx/Hispanic Americans would be eligible for membership. Several years later when he got into a fight with the city council, he then tried to leverage this by accusing them of being anti-Semitic for not supporting his plans because he owned and ran the only non-discriminatory club in the area, including the two Jewish members of the council, because they wouldn’t give him what he wanted in terms of rezoning.
    https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/01/trump-marla-and-the-epic-battle-for-mar-a-lago

  97. 97.

    Jay

    @StringOnAStick:

    The War Criminal Oliver North was granted limited immunity from prosecution by Congress in order to have him testify rather than take the 5th.

    That limited immunity however, “allowed” his testimony in front of Congress, to “taint” his jury trial on criminal charges.

    Nobody’s offering Cohen immunity.

  98. 98.

    Misterforkbeard

    @debit: I’m not saying he’ll lie.

    I’m saying he’ll look foolish and Republicans will say he has a history of lying, and they’ll trip him up on some minor thing and then Republican media will run with it. Even if they don’t trip him up, it’s very doubtful he’ll come across as “credible” in total. They’ll try to use it to ruin the results of Mueller’s report with Republicans, despite the fact that Mueller has corroborated Cohen’s applicable testimony with other sources. And then the next day, the mainstream media will run with it and bothsides the shit out of it.

    THAT’S what I’m afraid of. It may go the other way – new juicy soundbites or something. But he’s not going to make major news in the sense of revealing things we don’t know yet, and we KNOW that Republican media will do their best to scourge him and hide the truth from their audience. I’m not just sure there’s enough upside here.

  99. 99.

    The Moar You Know

    Rudy Giuliani tells Fox News he can’t imagine why Elijah Cummings would want to hear testimony from Michael Cohen before Congress, as he is, “a thoroughly discredited liar.” per @johnrobertsFox— Pat Ward (@WardDPatrick) January 10, 2019

    @germy: I have a suggestion for who the second guy in Cummings’ hot seat should be.

    Speaking of discredited liars.

  101. 101.

    Misterforkbeard

    @StringOnAStick: I don’t think it’ll taint the trial. The real danger here is to public perception of the probe. If Republicans can make Cohen the face of the report, that’s good for them. Because he’s such an obvious dirtbag.

    He’s not going to lie or even purposefully contradict his testimony. It won’t affect the legal part of this at all – but surrounding that is the PR war, and that’s what I’m worried about.

  102. 102.

    Adam L Silverman

    @StringOnAStick: His attorneys and Cummings and Cummings senior counsel will all coordinate with the prosecutors in the Southern District of NY and the Special Counsel’s Office to ensure nothing gets outside the lines.

  103. 103.

    The Moar You Know

    I actually believe that after years of being a total scumbag, Cohen has had his eyes opened about Trump and wants to tell the truth.

    @WaterGirl: I think Cohen has always known what he was working for. Really no mystery there.

    Cohen is trying to keep himself out of more jail. Guy like him, doing the shit he did, you know damn well they didn’t come close to charging him with everything that they could have.

  105. 105.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Trump: “A wheel is older than a wall. And I looked, and every single car out there, even the really expensive ones that the Secret Service uses, and believe me they are expensive, I said, ‘Do they all have wheels?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Oh. I thought it was medieval.'”

    Yeah. So, Republicans, are you still willing to defend this very stable genius?

    As an aside, if you ever bring up Trump’s weird sniffling thing he does sometimes with a Trump supporter, they get so offended and say he has a “deviated septum” and that’s bullying. My mother found that out the other day on Faceborg with a former friend of hers. My mother even deleted it because she thought the comment was too mean, but this friend of hers saw it. She stewed for a day about it because she couldn’t comment on the original post that my mother deleted to “correct” her.

    She then went after my mother for a funny meme she posted of Obama holding a baby with Trump’s face photoshopped onto it. Relatively harmless, right? The woman typically never commented on anything else my mom ever posted. My mom was always pretty tolerant when it came to this woman’s beliefs, but the former “friend” couldn’t reciprocate. They’re not friends anymore, suffice it to say.

  106. 106.

    humboldtblue

    @Adam L Silverman: @Elizabelle:

    Thank you. I hesitated to bring this up last week but I’ve been reading and commenting on this blog since before Betty came over from RumpRoast and it’s still one of the best commentariats on the internet. There is a lot of experience and knowledge in this crowd and I’ve been taking advantage of that in a thousand ways including with this issue.

  107. 107.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Patricia Kayden:

    or those of you who remember the Angry Black Lady when she used to be a frontpager here

    I wish she still was. I would welcome her back with cries of joy. I learned SO MUCH from that woman.

    @Adam L Silverman:

    He also believes that the President betrayed him

    The President did betray him. Every person who went “I’ll shut my mouth and Trump will pardon me!” soon found out that Trump takes care of Trump.

  108. 108.

    satby

    @humboldtblue: Foster granddaughter born at 25 weeks gestation spent from her birth in January until her original due date in April there. She’s now a fairly healthy almost 7 year old. She has some lingering issues but they’re very minor considering the start she got. You have reason to be optimistic. That’s a great hospital and staff!

  110. 110.

    Kraux Pas

    @Misterforkbeard:

    I’m not totally convinced that having Micheal Cohen publicly testify is a good idea.

    The dude is very squirrely and generally unconvincing.

    I think information seeking is a good unto itself. Just because Congress interviews Michael Cohen doesn’t mean they have to take everything he says at face value.

    He’s also a known liar – while he might say something really interesting about Trump, the entire Republican establishment is going to claim he’s completely untrustworthy and then pretend the whole investigation is predicated on Cohen, so the whole investigation must be thrown out.

    They’re already doing that anyway. If he comes across as credible and his word can be corroborated, this can start to undo that narrative. If not, Democrats will find out they need to pursue new avenues. Cohen may reveal a fruitful path of inquiry even if he is mostly not one himself.

    That’s in addition to the fact that there’s a good chance that they’ll rattle him and he’ll make a mistake that damages himself.

    If he’s telling the truth, that should be pretty easy for him to keep track of.

  112. 112.

    Fair Economist

    @Elizabelle: It is inaccurate to say the Democratic bills “failed” because the Senate could still take them up and pass them. Actually that is still the most likely result. But it’s not like a little thing like accuracy will stop the MSM from criticizing Democrats.

  113. 113.

    Kay

    I’m pleased there will be finally be public hearings on the 2016 election. Let people hear from Cohen and see how that shakes out.

  118. 118.

    Kay

    Jeremy Herb
    ‏Verified account
    @jeremyherb
    1h1 hour ago
    More
    Cummings to @npfandos and me on the Cohen hearing: “He’ll have a chance to tell his side of the story, and we’ll have a chance to question him. The American people deserve that.”

    Exactly. Do the right thing and let the rest take care of itself.

    Who should they call next? Which ones can’t claim executive privilege but are also not Mueller targets? They should just float names and let Mueller indicate he doesn’t want them called – then we’ll know which ones are getting indicted :)

    I’ll start : Don Jr.

  119. 119.

    catclub

    @donnah: TPM noted that. 1958, CBS, con man named Trump convinces the rubes they need to build a wall.
    That was all I got from the teasers.

  120. 120.

    Mary G

    @MomSense: That is breaking my heart. The idiots who love destroying wild land with their ATVs are having a field day. Once they’ve killed everything off, whoever took over from Zinke at Interior will say “too bad, but now we can sell the land for condos and make a fortune.” Someone is probably spraying paint from a can over the ancient petroglyphs as I write.

  122. 122.

    humboldtblue

    @satby:

    I can only hope he will recover fully enough to enjoy life as much as he can. We have a strong family and my sister is an amazing woman so overall we’re in good shape.

    @A Ghost To Most:

    Indeed.

  123. 123.

    trollhattan

    @Adam L Silverman:
    IMHO that’s what’s at stake here. Cohen hung out with goombahs long enough to understand not hitting back at the one who betrayed you is a serious flaw.

  124. 124.

    Fair Economist

    @MomSense: That well deserves to be brought up. Maybe somebody should tweet it to some “both parties are the same” twits.

    (Also livid about that)

  125. 125.

    WaterGirl

    @MomSense: Oh my god, that’s beyond irresponsible. No one could have predicted, right?

    They are driving us over the cliff day after day after day. This makes me want to smash something.

  127. 127.

    Kay

    Call Jared. No one in the public has ever heard The Trump Prince speak and I bet there’s a good reason for that.

    Schedule it during a ski vacation.

  128. 128.

    JPL

    @donnah: It’s all over twitter. I’m not sure if the link has another link to snopes, but it’s true. They spoke more about the tv show. It’s creepy.

  129. 129.

    Ohio Mom

    @Adam L Silverman: That’s an interesting backstory (sadly, full of shanda fur die goyim).

    My basic premise, that Mar-A-Lago members and Davos attendees are two different categories of rich people seems to stand.

  130. 130.

    MomSense

    @Mary G: @Fair Economist:

    I’m so angry when I think about what these evil, greedy Republicans do every day to our environment but this is really reprehensible. They have no appreciation for nature, science, the arts, literature – really anything that offers beauty and grace to our lives. It’s all about the money and their ugly, ostentatious spoils. I loathe them so much.

  131. 131.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @humboldtblue:

    I wasn’t aware this was happening as other commenters were, but want to say I hope your grand nephew will make a full recovery and have a happy life with you and your family.

  136. 136.

    humboldtblue

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??:

    Thank you so much, that’s very kind of you.

    @StringOnAStick:

    Hey, String, how the hell are ya?

    Yeah, I remember the day John made his announcement and introduced Betty and I was hammering him for being a tanker meathead who didn’t deserve her. I think even Kevin thought I was being serious when all I was doing was what I do best, insult Cole.

    I still want Betty to re-tell the story about her daughter and the XBox for Christmas, that’s still a classic.

  137. 137.

    humboldtblue

    And for the other Californians and anyone interested, Governor Newsom has introduced his first budget.

    It’s pretty solid and addresses some key issues locally such as money for housing, particularly housing and food security for college students, a free second year of Community College and funding to address our ongoing wildland management and fire management systems. The EITC has been expanded dramatically and there are protections and funding for immigrant services as well.

  138. 138.

    eemom

    @Adam L Silverman:

    A lot of the local to Palm Beach Mar a Lago members are Jews because the other private members clubs in Palm Beach don’t admit Jews.

    I am hoping you mean years ago when Dump bought the place? If not, I am horrified that that shit is still a thing in fucking 2019, and that anybody would want to belong to a place that did it.

  139. 139.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Yarrow: They would also torture mass murders with wheels before killing them in the Medieval period; the hangman would take a cart wheel, smash the condemns limbs with it then, then tie to condemned to the wheel, put it all on a poll and let the condemned die slowly.

    That’s getting Medieval with a wheel.

  140. 140.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    While Skinny Pop may taste wonderful and may be slightly addictive, it will not make you skinny.

    What about Thin Mints? It’s almost Girl Scout Cookie time, and this year I’d really like to get thin.

  142. 142.

    StringOnAStick

    @humboldtblue: Agreed, that was a classic story. Rumproast was a fine, fine place. This place is so wide ranging though and I learn so much here!

    All my best for your grandsprout. Modern medicine, especially for tiny ones like this, has advanced by amazing leaps and bounds and the doctor you linked to looks like the one he needs.

  144. 144.

    Ruckus

    @MomSense:
    And while a lot of them are wealthy, a lot of them are faking it when it comes to actually being wealthy. So all that leaves is being shitty human beings. So they’ve got that going for them. Too bad they’ve had too much practice at it.

  145. 145.

    plato

    @Kay:

    Amazing how easily these families of conmen, grifters, tax frauds and plain frauds skated into the most powerful positions in the world. The whole checks & balances is just a joke.

  146. 146.

    WaterGirl

    I have added the Cohen hearing to my calendar as an all day event. I am assuming that a date never would have been set without a consultation with Mueller, so I am extra hopeful about this.

  149. 149.

    Steeplejack

    @(((CassandraLeo))):

    I really like Orville Redenbacher’s Tender White microwave popcorn. Not available in every grocery, but worth looking for. Perfect blend with just a little butter and salt, IMO.

  150. 150.

    WaterGirl

    @Ella in New Mexico: I would pay good money to see him answer that one. But their might be a slight problem with attorney-client privilege.

    I want to know what role Hannity is being groomed for – he was apparently not hanging with the press peeps at the border event.

  153. 153.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @WaterGirl:

    There’s definitely no comparison between the popcorn that you microwave at home and the stuff at the movie theater. The popcorn and the candy is best part of the moviegoing experience imo, though it’s too bad it’s so expensive. Nearly two years ago, I spent nearly $20 on popcorn, candy, and a drink. That’s how theaters make most of their money, but jesus that’s painful for my wallet.

  154. 154.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @WaterGirl:

    I have added the Cohen hearing to my calendar as an all day event.

    Haha! I did exactly the same! No way lunch with anybody is going to mess with that Must See TV.

  156. 156.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @WaterGirl: according to the Seinfeld episode in which Kramer starts using butter to shave, SPOILER ALERT! it smells like Kenny Rogers Broasted Chicken. Drove Newman nuts.

  164. 164.

    WaterGirl

    Anyone else still have their tree up? I wasn’t feeling all that much in the Christmas spirit before Christmas, so I left my tree up and have been feeling in the spirit since then. I think another week or two should do it.

    I have been hopelessly behind on TV, so since Christmas I have been trying to make room on my Tivo box. After catching up on at least 10 episodes of Arrow, I got to the whole season of The Good Doctor, then Endeavour. Now I have started in on This is Us. I was 20 episodes behind, now I’m at 12 or 13.

    edit: Do not watch the episode of This is Us where the dad dies the night before the anniversary of your father’s death. Lots of tears shed on that one.

  166. 166.

    Elizabelle

    @WaterGirl: Didn’t put up a tree this year, but I still have my Christmas decorations out and am enjoying them, every single day.

    So enjoy that tree! Unless it’s becoming flammable. Then it has to go.

  168. 168.

    Elizabelle

    I am all excited about the Cohen hearing but, gosh, February 7 is too far away.

    Although: tick tock tick tock in Trump’s addled head.

  169. 169.

    WaterGirl

    @Elizabelle: Not flammable, so we’re safe. Most of my ornaments are blown glass, so it’s like seeing beautiful old friends I had forgotten about.

    edit: It’s on a rotating stand, so I get to see them all!

  172. 172.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @JR: you pop the corn in ghee? that sounds really intriguing. I put the butter in with the kernels

  173. 173.

    Ruckus

    @humboldtblue:
    Hard way to start a life. Many thoughts his way that it will get better.
    A lot of the residents that I see at the VA are from UCLA. And I see a lot of them. The vast majority are very good, and they are residents, still learning. That says a lot about the organization and the people that are teaching them.

  174. 174.

    Immanentize

    @WaterGirl: I am with you. We got our tree pretty early for us (first weekend of December) but it was a beauty and stayed nice throughout. Unfortunately, my town picks up trees only once and this week is it (after epiphany) so we took it down last night, earlier than I wanted to. Leave it up as long as you like!

  175. 175.

    Ruckus

    @germy:
    Has RG ever uttered a true statement in his life? Is his senility that advanced? Or is he just blind because his head is firmly inserted in his ass?
    All of the above?

  177. 177.

    Ruckus

    @Yarrow:
    Having had two in 2016 I can attest that you don’t realize something is wrong at first and then life just kind of turns gray. But you still don’t feel actually ill. Not really at all painful even. So depending on one’s age and general health, it can go unnoticed for way too long. Fun times.

  178. 178.

    Ruckus

    @schrodingers_cat:
    It means that our most likely not actually elected president is having mental health issues. Far more than advisable in someone supposedly running a country. Of course we know that he isn’t doing that, so what us worry?

  179. 179.

    Ruckus

    @StringOnAStick:
    I don’t think he’s had any kind of conversion. I think he does understand how deep the shit he’s standing in is. And that his only hope is being the honest boy scout. Not that he seems to have ever understood what the phrase honest boy scout stands for but he seems not to be dumber than a flat rock either so maybe it was explained carefully to him, in small words and short phrases. Self preservation didn’t bring a lot of good results with mob guys, because they knew the penalty was far worse for talking. Here the worst penalty is in not talking. So… I’d bet he’s going to do everything he can to save his ass as much as possible. That doesn’t make him a good guy, but it does make him not the stupidest in this crowd.

  180. 180.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Ruckus:

    Thanks, and thanks for the reassurance. The response from the experts has been extraordinary and it is another sobering reminder of the importance of accessible competent health care.

    It highlights the fear that — even for a family that has resources and that is prepared — you can be immediately overwhelmed by the enormous expense that comes with major and life-threatening medical procedures and care.

    But it also reflects that California can afford to look after those like the little guy without bankrupting a family.

  181. 181.

    J R in WV

    @Patricia Kayden:

    She hates Bernie and Trump as much as I do so she’s a perfect read.

    NO ONE hates Bernie and Trump as much as I do.

    Well, maybe as much as, but NO ONE hates Bernie and Trump MORE than I do!

  183. 183.

    Ruckus

    @HumboldtBlue:
    All we have to do is figure out how to convince people that money is not the proper measure of equality and propriety, any more than color of skin is, or religion, or place of birth or age or genitalia . Because we have only very briefly had that as any kind of ideal and a lot of people at that time didn’t believe it any more than a lot of people do today.

  185. 185.

    Ruckus

    @J R in WV:
    I wouldn’t bet on that with ABL. She’s not angry at the cost of getting her hair done. OK she might be but I’d bet that would be a lot of lines down on her list.

  186. 186.

    Miss Bianca

    @Yarrow: OMG. I have a sudden revelation as to what might be going on with a guy I know, whose cognitive decline in the last three months has been sudden and alarming. He’s either really drunk all the time (which is, unfortunately, a possibility with him), or he’s dealing with early onsent dementia, or both – but it never occurred to me that a UTI could be responsible for symptoms like that!

  188. 188.

    J R in WV

    @Goku:

    One of our local movie-plexes has all you can eat, serve yourself, popcorn, add your own butter-sauce, pour your own drinks. Not free, but not that expensive either. Plus 3-D, Dolby surround-sound, stadium seating (which means big lounge chairs that lean back, not metal benches to sit on) and good projectors. $0.50 parking in the garage above the theater, too.

  189. 189.

    J R in WV

    @Steeplejack:

    I don’t usually like butter on popcorn, certainly not a lot.

    Popcorn is the medium to move the melted butter into your mouth, without using a spoon. I always melt the butter in a measuring cup, pop the corn with a high-smoke temp oil, pour some of it into a big bowl, then drizzle the butter over the popcorn in layers.

    With a little salt. Then watch the video with the popcorn and a cold beverage.

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