No family is there today. Cohen did not want to expose them to any ‘embarassing’ testimony.
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All true…
R’s are knashing at the bit to condemn him and refute his testimony.
Cohen trying to tell the unvarnashed truth, despite all their contradictions.
On Wednesday, Cohen will try to be a hero of this age, in the Greek sense of the hero: a flawed man with special powers, brought low by his own hubris, who moves the plot forward. It could be his greatest act of heroism. During his testimony, he will—he claims—lay bare many things that he knows about Trump, and he will bring proof. He will bring receipts that show that Trump knowingly reimbursed Cohen for his contribution to an illegal scheme to silence a woman with whom Trump had an affair. He will tell us, in detail, Trump’s view of America, the Presidency, African-Americans, and how, Cohen says, Trump said that running for President was the “greatest infomercial in political history.” Most important, perhaps, Cohen will provide something that followers of the special counsel’s investigation have desperately wanted: actual financial statements from 2011 to 2013, a period when the Trump Organization was engaged in a range of suspicious business practices around the world.
Republicans are already seeking to impeach Cohen’s testimony, to reveal him to be a liar and a criminal. That will be easy to do. Cohen went to one of the worst law schools in America, and then spent years working alongside a string of lawyers and others who would go on to be convicted of crimes. His first legal job was with a lawyer who later pleaded guilty to bribing insurance adjusters.
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Humor
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Interesting. I would think that his family has a TV set, but that’s not my problem, I guess. My question stands. I have no idea how they decided seating in these things; maybe the others who are in view besides his lawyers are random people…
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Cohen alleged that Trump knew in advance that WikiLeaks planned to publish hacked Democratic National Committee emails intended to damage Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign. In his prepared written testimony, Cohen alleged that, in July 2016, he witnessed Trump taking a phone call from Roger Stone, who was on speakerphone. Stone told Trump that “he had just gotten off the phone with [WikiLeaks founder] Julian Assange and that …within a couple of days, there would be a massive dump of emails that would damage Hillary Clinton’s campaign.” (Washington Post / CNN)
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Day 678: Trump told Robert Mueller that Roger Stone did not tell him about WikiLeaks and that he was not told about the 2016 Trump Tower meeting between Trump Jr., campaign officials, and a Russian lawyer promising dirt on Hillary Clinton. Trump added a caveat that his responses were to the best of his recollection. For comparison, Trump also does not “remember much” from the meeting with George Papadopoulos, where Papadopoulos offered to arrange a meeting with Putin. Trump, however, has previously claimed to have “one of the great memories of all time,” using it as justification for not using notes during his meeting with Kim Jong Un, and blaming Sgt. La David Johnson’s widow when he stumbled over the solider’s name during a condolence call. (CNN) - [Perspective] Why it Matters if Trump Knew About Stone’s Contacts with WikiLeaks. It matters because WikiLeaks has a long and documented history of engaging in activities damaging to U.S. national security. (Lawfare)
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YES!
Cohen denied this previously. Some conspiracists? and others think that he did go to Prague to pay off some hackers.
I still want to know. 
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Wow. If all this is what Cohen was willing to talk about, why was SDNY so harsh on him for not cooperating in their sentencing memo?
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Cohen said he doesn’t “know of direct evidence” that “Trump or his campaign colluded with Russia” during the 2016 election, “but I have my suspicions.” Cohen added that he was in the room with Trump, “probably in early June 2016,” when Trump Jr. “came into the room and walked behind his father’s desk,” leaned over “to his father and speaking in a low voice, which I could clearly hear, and saying: ‘The meeting is all set.’ I remember Mr. Trump saying, ‘Ok good…let me know.’”
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Day 172: Donald Trump Jr. met with a Kremlin-connected Russian lawyer to acquire damaging information about Hillary Clinton in June 2016 at Trump Tower in New York City. On Saturday, Trump Jr. said the meeting was about the issue of US adoptions of Russian children and not the campaign. However, in March, Trump Jr. said he never met with any Russians while working in a campaign capacity. The meeting – attended by Trump Jr., Paul Manafort, and Jared Kushner – was disclosed when Kushner filed a revised form in order to obtain a security clearance. Manafort also recently disclosed the meeting, and Trump Jr.’s role in organizing it, to congressional investigators looking into his foreign contacts. (New York Times / Washington Post)
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Day 544: Michael Cohen says Trump knew in advance about Trump Jr.'s meeting at Trump Tower in June 2016 with a Russian lawyer promising dirt on Hillary Clinton. Cohen doesn’t have evidence to back up his claim, but he is reportedly willing to make the assertion as part of his testimony to Robert Mueller. Cohen claims that he, along with several others, were in the room when Trump Jr. told Trump about the Russian’s offer. According to Cohen, Trump approved the meeting with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya. Cohen’s claim contradicts Trump, Trump Jr., their lawyers, and administration officials who have repeatedly said Trump didn’t know about the meeting until he was asked about it in July 2017. Trump’s response at the time was: “No. That I didn’t know. Until a couple of days ago, when I heard about this. No I didn’t know about that.” A few days later, Trump was again asked whether he knew about the meeting. His response: “No, I didn’t know anything about the meeting…. must have been a very unimportant meeting, because I never even heard about it … nobody told me.”(CNN / NBC News / Washington Post)
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Day 554: Trump tweeted that he “did NOT know” in advance about Trump Jr.'s Trump Tower meeting , disputing Michael Cohen’s assertion that he did and accusing him of “trying to make up stories.” Cohen said he’s willing to testify that then-candidate Trump knew in advance about the 2016 meeting in Trump Tower. In July 2017, it was reported that Trump personally dictatedTrump Jr.'s statement about the latter’s meeting with the Russian lawyer, claiming they had “primarily discussed a program about the adoption of Russian children.” (Washington Post / CNN)
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Good point. I think Cohen was never in a plea agreement with SDNY because Cohen wanted to ‘protect’ some of his information I believe. Cohen was not fully forthcoming…and yet, Cohen did give hours of discussions (without a plea) and it was felt (I believe) that Cohen was not to be rewarded for his picking-and-choosing what he wanted to divulge.
Sentencing memo was in Dec 2018. Cohen was talking with Mueller, SDNY throughout 2018, without any pleas. At some point, I think Cohen thought perhaps that T might pardon him and/or protect him. But when no funds for any legal backing came from T 'n Co, as well as T totally berating him made Cohen want to talk, albeit selectively.
Cohen was astounded that he did not get a lighter sentence.
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Excellent comment From Rep Raskin
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Fixer-in-chief
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Cohen suggested that federal prosecutors in New York are investigating an unspecified crime involving Trump that has not been made public yet . Cohen said he has “been asked by them not to discuss, and not to talk about these issues.” Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York recently issued a request for documents related to donations and spending by Trump’s inaugural committee. (Washington Post)
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All the documents Cohen brought to congress. 
click to see visual aids.
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1/Cohen says he did not want to go to the White House. Note: Among Trump’s orbit it was always widely believed that he did in fact want a gig there. But again, Cohen is denying this right now.
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Cohen trying to parse out what his testimony today would do to affect a Rule 35 (reduction of sentence.) yes and no. If he lies today, all bets off.
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bigly
@ kylegriffin1 2m2 minutes ago
Cohen tells Peter Welch what Roger Stone said to Trump in July 2016: “Mr. Trump, I just want to let you know that I just got off the phone with Julian Assange and in a couple days there’s going to be a massive dump of emails that’s going to severely hurt the Clinton campaign.”
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Ben Rhodes
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Denies this…
I thought it was known he had been to Czechoslovakia
Will have to look up what I thought he had said (like 10 yrs previously.) But I guess, why lie now? Very important that he not lie.
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Here is the original Prague story
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Some related WTF blurbs:
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Day 707: Michael Cohen’s cell phone was briefly activated near Prague around time of the Russia meeting described in the Steele dossier , which purports that Cohen and one or more Kremlin officials met in or around the Czech capital to plot ways to limit discovery of the close “liaison” between the Trump campaign and Russia. Additionally, around the same period of late August or early September 2016, electronic eavesdropping by an Eastern European intelligence agency picked up Russians remarking that Cohen was in Prague. The cell phone and eavesdropping evidence was shared with Robert Mueller. (McClatchy DC)
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Day 450: Robert Mueller has evidence that Michael Cohen made a secret trip to Prague during the 2016 presidential campaign , entering through Germany in “August or early September.” Confirmation of the trip corroborates part of the Christopher Steele dossier that Cohen met with an ally of Putin. Cohen has denied that he has ever been in Prague and that he colluded with Russia during the campaign. (McClatchy DC)
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Humor
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