House GOP Wants Early Start On Trump Revenge – Michael Cohen First Up

The news has been talking a lot lately about Trump’s plans for revenge if he gets back into the White House. Worse, it’s not just Trump ranting on the campaign trail. Actual, detailed plans have already been crafted and will be added to and “improved” over time so a newly installed Trump can hit the ground running. With a team of people ready, willing and worst of all able to start exacting retribution on any and everyone. Many in the GOP are excited and can’t wait to help.

In fact, it seems like for some House Republicans that last part of not being able to wait to help is literally true. I won’t pretend to know who is at the very top of Trump’s hit list of people he hates and wants to punish as harshly as possible. He’s probably not decided himself, or that given how more people are turning on him seemingly every day (looking at you Jenna Ellis and Sydney Powell!) he’s not going to pick the “first wave” for a while yet. However I feel safe in saying his onetime prime “fixer” Michael Cohen is on the short-list of top enemies to feed through the Trump/MAGA wood chipper.

Perhaps they are angling for a position to be one of the Trump administration people who will carry out Trump’s revenge but according to The Hill a couple of members of the House Intelligence Committee have decided to get a head start on Trump’s behalf by sending a Criminal Referral letter to the DOJ:

The criminal referral letter — sent by House Intelligence Chair Mike Turner (R-Ohio) and committee member Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) — accuses Cohen of committing perjury and having “knowingly made false statements” before the congressional panel four years ago.

Now, this letter has no legal weight and is more of a PR stunt, no doubt something that can be played up on RWNJ media and of course get Trump’s attention. Again, that’s probably the point. But it’s still the kind of crap that will fuel the MAGA fire.

At issue is some of the fireworks that took place during Trump’s NY fraud trial while Cohen was testifying. Trump attorney Alina Habba zeroed in on testimony (under oath) Cohen gave to the House in 2019 compared to what he testified to in the NY trial. It’s complicated and pretty much comes down to semantics and Abba’s selective use of Cohen’s Congressional testimony:

Cohen’s lawyer, Jeffrey K. Levine, called the referral “meritless” and based only on an “out-of-context, cherry picked, answer from a 2019 Intelligence Committee deposition transcript” in a statement to The Hill.

One should keep in mind Cohen is, or at least was a lawyer himself. How good of one I can’t say, especially since he was more of a fixer than a litigator or true corporate lawyer. He is however savvy and street smart and his in-laws are people who have lived in shall we say a murky world where being able to wiggle out of potential legal jams is a necessary trait. My point being that Cohen, both before Congress and in the fraud trial is trained legally in how to phrase things. More importantly he was there to explain how TRUMP phrased things, using “mob boss” statements to say what he wanted done without actually saying “Do this specific thing.” Trump is no King Henry lamenting “Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest” but like a lot of crime bosses he knows how to say exactly what crimes he wants underlings to commit without actually saying words that could convict him in a trial.

You might remember the whole flap, but I’ll bet you have to think about it because even in RWNJ media world it wound up not having legs. It was as Ursula likes to say an attempt at a “Perry Mason moment” and Team Trump tried to play it that way on that day but it fizzled because Cohen/prosecutors cleaned up the confusion on re-direct:

“Upon re-direct by the prosecution, and what the Representatives chose not to include in their referral letter, was Mr. Cohen clarified his trial testimony,” Levine said in his statement to The Hill. “The prosecution had Mr. Cohen read through the 2019 deposition testimony the defense omitted. In doing so Mr. Cohen was able to provide necessary context and corrected his trial testimony that he was truthful to the Committee.”

None of that matters to Stefankik however, nor I assume to Turner. The point is to stir the “Revenge Pot” with something and for the moment Cohen is that something. In fact, Stefanik released a statement today calling on DOJ to “take off the blinders” so it looks like she and her committee chair are truly trying to turn this nothingburger into a full sh*t sandwich Trump can serve up. (And maybe get themselves a spot in his new administration by doing so)