So, Cohen spoke to George Stephanopalous on Sunday, sort of. He did it off camera, and revealed that he placed his family and country first, leaving out “my ass above all else;” a fact so obvious it need not even be said. Interesting that given the interview was off-camera, Trump can never know all that was said, maybe some “on background”?
Regardless.
I’m a little slow on the uptake today, so in my first post this morning, it completely went over my head that if Cohen truly was Trump’s lawyer, even at a previous point in time, his professional loyalty IS to his client – at least if he’s following the law – and should come well before country. We do it all the time when we defend people in criminal court, the cases for which are often titled, “The United States of America versus Your Sorry Ass, Guilty Client.” In those cases, we do our duty, which is put our client ahead of country, so long as we stay within the rules and ethical concerns. Cohen didn’t say a thing about such a duty. He was never Trump’s real lawyer. Just a “Joe” (as they’re known in NYC) who “fixed things.”
Fox has had time to digest the interview, and being the razor-sharp analysts one expects from their state sponsored TV, or TV sponsoring the State (it is so tough to tell who is calling the shots), they had no trouble summing up the situation. Given that Cohen seems to have …ah, drifted? from his “I’d take a bullet for Trump” lie, to a more practical; “Someone give me a deal that will save my ass, either immunity from Mueller, or a pile of cash and a pardon from Trump,” Fox determined that – to the extent Cohen is now willing to testify against the president – Cohen is no longer credible.
What made him credible before?
I guess the presumption that he’d take a bullet for the president and lie, that’s credibility, because that’s loyalty, and that’s all that is respected around Trump, or Fox, for that matter. Fox analyst Harris Faulkner was all too ready to rebut a rather refreshingly candid statement about Russian meddling from Abby Hunstman:
“Where we are right now is if you know something that is so important, and yet, he is willing to talk to the president but seemingly going against him, what does that say about this person as a witness?” she opined. “It becomes difficult to see him credible at this point. I don’t know what he knows, but based on the way he is acting.”
Wait wait wait.
Faulkner is making this way to complicated. Cohen, like nearly every criminal defendant (or soon to be criminal defendant) is willing to talk to a witch-doctor if they believe it will help them stay out of the federal penitentiary.
Now, you’d think that being willing to say anything, would indeed hurt someone’s credibility. But, when a defendant does happen to know facts needed by the prosecution, and knows that the prosecution will let him or her off if he testifies, those same people are remarkably able to prove what they are saying is true. When sufficiently motivated, they come up with all kinds of corroborating evidence, such as texts, phone calls, plane tickets, bank statements, stuff that becomes sensible ONLY if the person is telling the truth. They virtually PROVE without a shadow of a doubt that they MUST be telling the truth, as if their lives depended on it, because their life does.
Thing is, Faulker knows this, too. But, Fox doesn’t employ Faulkner to analyze reality, they pay Faulkner to create reality. Thus, Faulkner is now acting as Trump’s lawyer, in mushing up Cohen’s credibility. The statement that Cohen is willing to go “both ways” makes what he’s saying less credible is only half true, and she knows it. Because if Cohen didn’t know anything factual that would send Trump up the river, and he just made shit up, trying to please Mueller, Mueller will see that coming within the first 2 minutes and excuse Cohen from the interview. Every decent federal prosecutor has heard a “story” so good that it should get a deal made, and every one of them knows to roll their eyes 30 seconds in.
Unless it happens to be true. The good part is, those same decent federal prosecutors? They know which stories happen to be true before they ever enter the meeting room.
Sorry, Harris Faulkner, you’re just stating the party line at Fox,and doing it so beautifully we do appreciate it; to the extent Michael Cohen has something mean to be said about Trump, he’s not believable.
Of course – that’s Fox for you.
Perfection, on a Monday morning no less.
Twitter, time: We really are reaching out to all kinds of new interests and friends beyond politics. We are into literature, UFOs, dophins, dogs, and accidents that happen to trophy hunters about to shoot an otherwise zoo-like lion. Meet up here: @MiciakZoom
