We are approaching CNN's 40th-year, bringing to the world 24-hour news coverage on a real-time basis. Today, television has been gifted with two diametrically opposed events occurring exactly 12-hours and 8286 miles apart that could lead to two monumental conclusions:
Donald Trump: Nobel Peace Prize / Impeachment
Trump already had dinner yesterday with Kim Jung-Un at the Metropole Hotel in Hanoi. Hey, that's where I stayed when I visited Vietnam. Today, they meet to agree on the denuclearization of North Korea, and what they will get for making that decision.
Yesterday, President Donald Trump's personal lawyer, and designated-fixer, Michael Cohen, testified behind closed doors for nine hours before the U.S. Senate. Grilling was extensive, but no significant details have leaked. However, Senator Mark Warner (D-Va) expressed alarm at what Cohen said. But that is because Republicans run the Senate, and their goal is to protect this Republican president.
Today, at 10AM DC time, 10PM Hanoi time, 5AM Hawaii time, Cohen began testifying before the Democratically controlled House Oversight Committee. He publicly accused Trump for committing crimes while in office. On Thursday, Cohen will testify in another closed-door hearing before the House Intelligence Committee.
Cohen has already been convicted of lying to Congress and will be jailed in May for a three-year sentence. One wonders why Trump and Cohen didn't agree to a pardon if he continued to support the President. Supposedly, legal/political minds have said it would be both a legal and strategic error for Trump to do so, and Paul Manafort also, but any political repercussions would pale next to jail-time for the President. After all, President Gerald Ford did in 1974 pardon former President Richard Nixon for his "serious' crime. But Ford lost the subsequent election to Jimmy Carter.
If you have any time, you should watch the proceedings on one of those major news channel. For example, at the beginning of this House hearing today, Republicans argued that this was all illegal. Ten minutes into those arguments, Chairman Elijah Cummings just shut down the Republicans with some hocus pocus voting and went on to his opening statement. Finally at 10:26AM EST Cohen made his opening statement with a raspy voice. One day down yesterday, and two more to go.
Then again, on the other hand, why waste your time. Republicans will do everything they can to discredit Cohen and make it difficult for Democrats to proceed. Similarly, Democrats will try to pound more nails into Trump's coffin. Make this clear, though, that Democrats want Trump to be the Republican presidential candidate in 2020. A time will soon come when more than half of voting Americans will almost certainly recognize that Trump's character has become too much of an embarrassment for this greatest country today.
Oh, last night The New York Times published Cohen's opening statement, introducing scathing evidence, and called Trump a racist, con man, lier and cheat. Read it all here. Interestingly enough, The Washington Post last year reported that Trump lies almost ten times/day, adding up to, maybe 8,000 lies.
Have a good day, Donald. Don't give away the house to Jung-Un, but go for that Nobel Peace Prize.
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