Trump is well-known for lying. When he claims Michael Cohen ask for a presidential pardon, it is impossible to say whether Cohen did or not. Trump's claim should be considered untrue -- that is, a lie -- until proved otherwise by actual evidence.
6
I can't help but think Mr. Trump would say anything to further his own case and invalidate his "opponent". Truth means nothing to him.
6
tRump reminds me of a guy I was doing business with. He said we would have a huge opportunity to install computer equipment in hundreds of stores. When I called the President of the company in question as part of my due diligence, the President said, "I've never heard of your colleague".
So I called him at home and got his wife on the phone. "Ralph (not his real name) has no idea if he is lying or being truthful. It's a shame, because he's a really nice guy." Same with tRump, except for the nice guy part.
4
Let he, who has never told a lie, be the first to accuse someone of lying.
Seriously, while the credibility of Mr. Cohen needs to be checked given his background, the credibility of Mr. tRump needs no check; he has proven himself not worthy of being believed as telling the truth on anything. Since they contradict each other, one of them is lying and the other is telling the truth. Which one? No proof of whom yet, but the overwhelming evidence suggests that it's Mr. Cohen who is telling the truth, albeit partial, in this case.
2
Liar's poker. Trump's responsibility is towards the country, Cohen's just personal. DJT is a scourge on this nation, we are so much better than this....
4
Who to believe? My money is on Cohen who will face consequences if found to be lying. Trump obviously has nothing to risk since he has gotten away with lying over 9000 times publicly and is still in office.
6
Any pardon sought by Cohen would have been used by Trump to hide payoffs made by Cohen. At least Cohen has provided evidence of the payments while Trump continues to lie about having the affairs.
5
Why are you repeating Trump lies when the impact is corrosive to the future of our country? There is no statement from Trump that should be regarded as anything but a lie and the perpetuation of the media con he’s been engaged with since the campaign, makes the media appear as co-perpetuators of his fraud. Of course they dangled pardon to try to silence him. Cohen has said that. The article converts another effort to obstruct justice from T, to an attack on someone who is now telling the truth. If not, Mueller would have informed us, as he did with the other snake Manafort. And now his miguided confederate jurist who would probably describe himself as otherwise blameless too, shows disregard for the law, and exposes a life of bias. He should be removed. He seems to have lost his legal marbles if he ever had any.
4
By exposing the inherent flaws in this ongoing political and social experiment called the United States of America, trump may have been a necessary evil. One example. The presidential pardon. Bill Clinton seems to have made questionable pardons. Trump will pardon crooks and cheats. Our immigration laws. With parts of central and South America soon to become uninhabitable do to global climate change, our laws need updating. Impeachable offenses could use an update. Unlike Nixon before, trump was already drunk with power when misguided citizens were duped. But after Nixon resigned, laws were changed that made those abuses of power, criminal. We are now in similar circumstances. The trump presidency makes changes necessary for us and the world to meet the environmental threat upon our doorstep along with vitriolic political threats. Trump is an outlaw in town. Time for the citizens to rid the town of his kind. Then pass new laws to prevent them from coming around again.
1
As a friend once stated. . . let me get this straight. DJT's most favorite book is the Bible and he actually remembers Cohen requesting a pardon when he cannot recall that Sessions was already the Attorney General when the Russia inquiry was started. I guess, as my friend would say, the border wall has been almost completely built and Mexico has paid for it utilizing voodoo economics. And by the way, the accomplishments are so fantastic because the stock market is soaring, thanks to corporations purchasing buying and selling its own stock. BTW, don't leave out that Mr. Un of North Korea is no longer a threat, whilst that dictator continues to advance and strengthen his nuclear weapons cache. America is about to receive the best medical insurance ever, if DJT chooses to resurrect that promise. So to repeat the question, whose is lying? Help me please, now! I cannot make up this truly bad television program up of I tried.
1
I wonder if Pence would pardon Trump if he's convicted... Probably, since Donald is a great Christian of strong faith, a true follower of Christ, beloved by millions of Godly Americans.
12
Credibility? Do you mean the 6'3", Swedish genius who is a self-made "Billionarie", a successful businessman, the brilliant negotiator who trashed the Iran deal and solved the North Korean crisis, solved our global trade imbalance while strengthening our historical alliances, and is the best president ever who "beat" Hillary Clinton without Russian help?
Oh wait...
14
Is there anything tackier than two liars accusing each other of lying?
9
Cohen's public testimony at House oversight committee not perjury because Cohen answered the question asked,Cohen said that he did not ask Trump for a pardon .Cohen's lawyers did.Cohen revealed that SDNY may be investigating this as obstruction.One week after Cohen testimony,Rudy G goes to WHouse and Trump says Cohen "directly"asked him for pardon.Factual predicate set for Fox and Rudy to say Cohen , the liar, lied to House, again, and undermine SDNY. This is more evidence that Trump will fight the investigation and impeachment to the end.
3
Rather than keeping track of Trump's lies, maybe we can begin to document how often he utters, perhaps inadvertently, a true statement.
4
“At the same time, Mr. Trump has often said things that are not true.”
Indeed. Ah, the contortions the MSM are going through to treat our narcissist-in-chief “fairly.” Because to say straight out that he lies habitually, however well documented, might just be seen as liberal bias in the eyes of the paranoid right. ‘Lies’ of course imply intent, and one must be careful not to assign intent to the 9000 or so false statements Trump has uttered or tweeted since taking office. Of course, if they weren’t lies, they are a fairly breathtaking display of his incompetence as a communicator. Either explanation is disqualifying for a president, and the press is doing a grave disservice when it normalizes such behavior.
13
Thank you Michael. Habermans coddling of trump is a form of lying. Let’s tell maggie to take off the gloves.
6
When Trump testifies under oath with the threat of perjury hanging over his head, and only after his testimony is fully vetted and all pertinent documents turned in and available to We the People, then and only then will I believe anything he has to say. His track record is a junk heap of lies, of obfuscations, misdirections and crude deflections.
8
This lie is only for the sake of his base. The base will believe him because the base wants to believe him.
5
trump accuses Cohen and others of being liars, of being disgraced and of hurting our country. Does he think the American people are so stupid that we don't realize he is the poster boy for all those things? Is he so delusional that he doesn't realize he is describing himself?
He is the fox, yelling at another fox for raiding the henhouse, and all the while, feathers are flying from his mouth.
6
All of this proves that the Presidential pardon power needs to end.
Maybe a President should be able to recommend a pardon but it would have to be ratified by a joint sitting of House and Senate.
5
The President is a proven, repetitive liar. Why would anyone believe this purported request for pardon has any relationship to actual events?
5
Mr. Cohen couldn't have "directly" (or indirectly) asked for a pardon -- something you ask after being arrested and charged with something -- after it became widely known that Cohen was helping investigators with information harmful to Trump -- the very person he would have asked for a pardon.
On the face of it, there is no rational basis for asking a pardon from someone you are trying to put into jail by helping ot the police. It is surprising that this was even worth reporting, since it is lending validity to a silly accusatory tweet.
4
Giuliani has said the president might consider pardons in the future yet the President has flat out denied a pardon for Cohen. Is it possible that pardons for others are performance-based?
7
Whether Cohen asked Trump for a pardon or not, it really doesn't matter. They are both confirmed liars and con men. He was hired by Trump because he could lie to support Trump's lies. To ask who is lying is a diversion.
2
Two liars, one a convicted one and one a born liar (cf. Reggie Jackson), whose every utterance is a lie and whose "career" is based on lies and deceit?
Who to believe?
In this case, it's got to be Cohen, who at least testified under oath, unlike Trump.
And of course, most of Cohen's lies were at Trump's specific direction or in the service of Trump. Whereas Trump lies all the time, about everything, and all of them are in his own interests.
And when will Trump be forced to testify under oath, under penalty of perjury? His OWN lawyers don't want him to do that because they know he'll perjure himself!
4
And again the Press, all the Press, falls for the endless lying scheme of this horrific President.
Individual ONE has achieved more by lying as by governing. Of course One knew that by stating that there were conversations between him and Cohen, he would undermine his former lawyer and play in the hands of the Press and his hardcore neo fascist supporters.
After having lied non stop for two years in which he only served himself, America is suddenly believing that Trump now does not lie as he has always done before.
America believes criminal one even if someone would find out that a conversation between Cohen and One never happened.
There is something incredible sick in our world of information.
4
If this is not the most corrupt administration in the entire history of our country then someone please, enlighten me. Was there ever more corruption, greed, lies and self-dealing of this magnitude, ever?
6
Who cares what Trump says. Based on his past record, this too is a lie.
5
Of course Cohen asked for a pardon. I mean, come on. Is anyone naive enough to think he would be cooperating like he is if he felt confident that he'd get a pardon?
What's important here is not whether the worst sort of lawyer is a decent person, it's what is going on with the president. Much of what Cohen has said rings true or has been corroborated.
I don't understand why people (especially the Democrats) are allowing themselves to be distracted by continuing to talk about Cohen. The focus should be on Trump. It shows how far our expectations have fallen that people are not discussing why the Trump is engaged in the kind of Twitter war about his truthfulness that even middle school attendees consider beneath them.
4
Mr. Cohen possibly meant that he never asked Trump for a pardon after he was convicted for his crimes.
Remember that in August of 2018, Cohen had decided to reverse course and plead quilty and tell everything that he knew, including things that could implicate President Trump.
Also, a note to you people who still may be convinced that Cohen lied to Congress again, that still should not cause you to invalidate Cohen’s entire testimony and assume that a lawyer would be willing to pay $130,000 out of his own pocket without being reimbursed for it as simply a favor for an extremely wealthy client.
2
I think when Trump found out that lying about a pardon might give Cohen more jail time, he decoded to say this out of revenge. Unfortunately, this is a “he said, he said” situation that wont ever be resolved. Would like to have Trump say this under oath.
2
How sad that we can easily assume that the president of the US is lying about this. Cohen is also not trustworthy, but that does not make Trump any less a habitual liar.
4
“And he’s lied about a lot of things, but when he lied about the pardon, that was really a lie.”
Meaning in clear text that everything else was not a lie.
Thanks, Don Trumpolino!
1
The monkey chased the weasel. The monkey thought twas all in fun, pop goes the weasel. And Trump popped off as expected when Cohen testified. All he's doing is giving more credit to what Cohen is saying. Cohen has nothing to lose. Trump has everything to lose. I think it's time he lost it.
3
... and when has Trump ever lied?
Trump IS a perjury trap, and Mueller thus has no need to set one up.
2
Who cares what Trump says? His word mean nothing.
5
Here's the thing about being Donald Trump. When you assert that someone else is lying and you are telling the truth - NO ONE BELIEVES YOU.
Did Cohen directly ask for a pardon? I don't know. What I do know is Trump's comments on the issue add absolutely nothing to our knowledge of what happened. Anyone who takes anything Donald Trump says at face value is a fool. He lies just about as often as he laboriously inhales.
3
Bear in mind that it's Trump making the statement. You can believe him at your own risk.
2
This morning I awoke at 3:05 am and was greeted with the banter between Trump and Cohen.
But most in Horror was reading about Trump signing Bibles in
Alabama! In my opinion that was a desecration of something considered by the Christian faith as holy.
When I took my first Communion and received a signed Prayer
Book by my Bishop, I still consider that one of three defining moments in my long life of 81 years.
To see Donald Trump sign his name to the same Bible sent such a total revulsion of him I really cannot fully express.
6
What's wrong with Trump signing bibles? It’s customary for authors to sign books they wrote ... in this case, Trump's autobiography....
Seems like there is no honor among liars!
Odd that Donald waited nine days to recall that Cohen had asked him "directly" for a pardon.
2
One would think that the white House would refute the portion of the testimony incriminating the president. Of all that was said this is what they choose to contest
2
Why is it news that Trump said blah blah blah? Unless he has evidence, Trump's 8,000 lies suggest he is wholly untrustworthy.
2
There are very many reasons to doubt that ANY statement by POTUS is truthful. This president lies whenever he sees an advantage to himself in doing so, and that is very often. I would be surprised if future historians do not rank him at the very bottom of the list of presidents.
2
Even Solomon could not adjudicate a dispute between two people whose lives have been dedicated to deception - that's Beelzebub's job.
1
The amount of crazy unfolding every day is almost too much to bear. so now we have to choose between two liars to gauge credibility?
Like many, I'll take a reformed one over one who lies on a daily badis to advance his political agenda. He can't even refrain from drawing conclusions that Judge Ellis never made in court, flatly adding a word "no collusion" th at aren't in the transcript.
And while this goes on, this administration can't get and attract good people, or tackle the hard core problems Trump promised he'd tackle: infrastructure, the opiod crisis, manufacturing jobs, and ridding the government of career corruption, and making Americans safe.
Instead, we have a tabloid government,a tabloid presidency, and the equivalent of an ongoing National Enquirer society running this once great nation into the ground.
3
Gosh, if President Trump states in public, before the American people, that Michael "boy scout" Cohen made a particular request, well we can just take that to the bank.
The tiny problem with being a sociopathic liar is that the general public has no reason to trust what such a person says.
1
If Cohen actually did ask, trump would not have said no emphatically and everyone knows it. Yea they’re both liars but Trump has much more to gain by lying now. And when one has lied 9000 times, well, how credible are you?
2
One known liar had motivation to only tell the truth. The other known liar had motivation only to lie.
3
So Trump denies some pardon requests and tells others “we’ll have to see”. Sounds like an inducement to behave.
2
Divorce, Washington, DC Style. Breaking News! Donald Trump and Michael Cohen have fallen out of love.
The divorce is messy, splayed out on the media and in front of Congressional committees.
I am SO worn down by Trump seizing the news feed day in and day out and I so long to return to normalcy, where we have a president who does not need to feed his/her fragile and frail ego, who doesn't lie each and every day, who actually has a grasp of how government is supposed to work.
I'll know we are on the right track when Trump loses his Twitter Feed, is indicted, tried and convicted for any number of illegal acts he has committed both before and after becoming president, and is never allowed press coverage for any event ever.
Then and only then can the nation say that "no one is above the law" and actually have that be a factual statement.
And having Mitch McConnell voted out of office would be great too.
3
It warms my heart how our president's sole focus is on the injured people in Alabama, the homeless in Paradise and the starving children in Yemen. Brings a tear to my eye.
2
The real story here is why is Donald Trump not in prison yet? Why haven't the IRS, FBI, state or federal prosecutors, etc, --after decades of not only Donald but Fred, swindling, lying, cheating, money laundering--been able to bring this guy to justice? Weird.
4
Cohen brought documents to support his word.
Trump is bringing... his word?
1
And I would believe what the president says because...?
1
It’s a case of “He said versus he said” except that both are liars.
Enough. Let’s solve some problems.
Has anyone crafted a legislative fix to the immigration and asylum laws of the United States in an effort to curb the profiteering of the cartels and coyotes smuggling indigent illegal aliens? If not, why not?
Discuss.
Trump has zero credibility.
3
Believe 45 at your own risk.
1
If Trump said it happened.......it didn't.
3
This is a tough call. Which of the two liars would you rather believe?
"It's a collusion hoax. It's a collusion witch hoax".
That js not only nonsense. That is contradictory nonsense. Out of all of the bunk that Very Stable dished out ---- that is today's good news:
collusion witch hoax
It's very shakey. It's very witch shakey.
1
Individual-1 "asserts that Michael Cohen asked him directly for a pardon and was told no."
Oh sure.
1
Cohen probably did ask for a pardon. But Trump is a compulsive fabler with no honor that no one believes. This story is moot.
If you want to know if Trump is lying or telling the truth, look at his lips.
If the lips are moving, he’s lying!
3
Donald lies every time his mouth opens. He has lied to America over and over and over!
I BELIEVE the man, who is sincere in his testimony, who decided to stand up for truth, Justice and his country over the Liar-nChief!
I believe Michael Cohen!
2
So here we have a contest of credibility. I choose to believe the guy (now cooperating with Mr. Mueller) who used to work for the guy who has spent his life stiffing business partners, and who now lies 10 times per day on average to the press and public at large from the confines of the Oval Office, the White House Lawn, and Air Force One.
3
Oy, vey iz mir. If Mr. Trump’s lawyers are talking to other people’s lawyers and suggesting that pardons may come, how is that interpreted as other people asking for pardons?
Mr. Trump is the consummate liar. The world class liar. The Universe’s Greatest Liar. And he definitely hoped to shut people up by dangling pardons in their faces, which is why it’s so important to know that some of these people are in jeopardy in places where Trump’s pardons can’t reach. And they know it. And Trump knows it.
I do hope this is keeping the man up at night.
4
There's only one way to find out who's lying. First one to refuse to take s lie detector test is lying.
2
If congress is going to try to press additional charges against Mr Cohen then his accuser (POTUS) would need to be summoned to testify. If Mr Trump is ever sworn it would be his end, sadly our president is a pathological liar.
3
Michael Cohen is a real piece of work. He's going to jail for bank fraud, tax fraud and lying to Congress. (The campaign finance guilty plea was just a prosecutor's trick.) And he tries to paint Donald Trump as the bad guy?
Michael Cohen called Donald Trump a liar, con man, and cheat. At least Trump has never been convicted of anything like that. And Cohen's evidence to back up those accusations is flimsy at best.
Then Michael Cohen has the nerve to paint Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal as injured parties. They are the ones who asked for hush money, which they got, and then blabbed anyway! What does Donald Trump have to apologize to them for?
Finally, it does seem clear that Michael Cohen lied in his public testimony to Congress about asking for a pardon and about wanting to work in the White House. Why lie? Must be pathological.
1
Good to see Trump is on message.
Honest Don has convinced me that there is no collusion.
I too believe Mr Putin, Mr Kim, and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia are bastions of veracity and more trustworthy than US intelligence.
"Intelligence agencies are more dumber than me, bad deal, worst deal ever … let the North Koreans pay for our spies."
Consistent with the views of the President it is time to send the entire CIA, the DOJ, the FBI staff and buildings and all FALSE allegations to the avuncular custodians of truth for analysis to the care of Moscow for perusal by Mr Trump's most trusted buddies.
Muellar and Comey should be tried in Russia for US treason.
Mr Trump asserts that the Deep State is a threat to him.
Why not transfer all military hardware and troops to Russia as an economy measure..."too expensive" for the US to maintain, bad deal, worst deal ever.
"Mr Putin will pay our staff to spy on him... best deal ever!"
"China will pay the US to rebuild its wall stopping gangs of drugged terrorist rapists sneaking in via China from Mexico to the US."
The really greatest best deal ever!!!
Slow clap...
1
And this is the great man they had sign their bibles in Alabama yesterday? We are truly living in strange times.
5
I’m more interested in discussion between Trump and Manafort.
Actually there’s an Honest way to read trump.
The truth is the reverse of anything he spews .
1
How exactly are we supposed to distinguish between the convicted paid liar--Cohen--and the pathological liar Trump?
Trump is in the position of the Boy Who Cried Wolf. He has lied so easily and so frequently, sometimes about things that would be just as easy to answer with the truth, that no one with half a brain would believe him about anything.
Sorry, Donny, you are all out of credibility! Zero, nada, zilch, de rein, or something you should surely understand, nyet.
1
The truth is - Both are liars.
Ok, a ‘real lie’.
Tell us, please, Mr T, what a ‘false lie’ is.
Truthfully.
Want this settled? POTUS claims "and I told him no." We know from experience that he NEVER says no. He says "we'll see." POTUS is lying. Q.E.D.
2
Like 2 children. You lied. No, you lied. Personally I am more concerned that the president lied. We know he lies frequently. Cohen, really, if he wants to lie that is his issue. Trump lying —- that is something much more problematic. He is the president and he is, or should be, held to a higher standard. He really needs to go. He is a thorough embarrassment.
127
And for the first time, the President actually and vividly recalls a conversation. He can't recall meeting hundreds of other people, or talking with this person or that person. But of this, he remembers every word. Imagine that.
190
@Seth Saltzman Wow that is 100% true
6
In the grand scheme of things, I have no idea why it matters if Trump lied or Cohen lied. Both are liars, both are criminals - one convicted. The saddest part of this whole saga is the continued degradation of the American presidency and our country by Trump.
113
@John, I agree, and it would help if the Times and other media would cease covering everything the Trump beast says.
3
Cohen's Tweet suggests he asked Trump for a pardon, meaning, forgiveness for having chosen to obey the law rather than remain loyal to him. His words, "You may want use today to apologize," indicate the forgiveness meaning of pardon. Trump seems not to have understood that meaning (Trump seems to lack the capacity for forgiveness and for restraining himself from quick judgment). Trump may have heard the word pardon as a power thing he gets as president, not a human thing he gets by having a conscience.
32
If the statement comes from djt it is undoubtedly false.
11
Rule #1. Trump lies like a rug.
Rule #2. When Trump says, "People say..." or "People tell me...", have recourse to rule #1.
Rule #3. Everyone around Trump (including family members) lies like a rug either to avoid his ire or because each of them is an habitual liar.
Rule #4. When in doubt, see rules #1,2, and 3.
11
I wouldn't believe Trump if he told me the sky is blue.
11
Let’s be real. If this was the case, Trump would have blurted it out as soon as Cohen turned on him.
19
Wow! Trump admits what Cohen claims that a pardon was discussed!! Two liars, but has motive to lie while the other does not. Do I hear obstruction?
7
Trump has lied thousands of times while in office. Why would anyone believe this?
10
Is this pot calling the kettle black, or simply choosing to drink coffee or sip tea?
Time will tell...
When was the last time Trump told the truth?
9
Trump lies about everything whether he needs to or not, just for self-aggrandizement.
If I had to choose to decide who was lying and who to believe: Trump or Satan, I'd believe Satan first!
We've seen Trump lie about things we absolutely KNOW to be false, claiming he didn't say things there's taped evidence he said. Cohen's lies were far more directed and purposeful and that is obvious.
Trump never had that conversation with Cohen. That's obvious.
7
And we believe anything Trump says in a tweet because?
7
I would have been more inclined to believe Mr. Cohen had he not blatantly lied about his desire to work at the WH... If he's capable of lying about something as trivial as that under oath, then he's capable of lying about anything.
2
Someone remind me again why we're supposed to believe anything Trump says?
7
We can prove without a doubt that it is Trump who is lying. Ask him to testify under oath like Cohen did. As was the case with Comey, Donnie Boy will emphatically lie that he will testify under oath "100%!!!", but of course, claim two seconds later on live video, in front of a crowd of reporters, that he did not say, "under oath".
6
Let’s just get this straight. The best Defense Trump can muster is that Cohen, while acting as his personal lawyer, did a bunch of crimes for Trump ....and asked for a presidential pardon? Can we get back to focusing on the crimes and sleazy behavior he did for Trump? While I don’t think Cohen is a “great guy”, nobody was stupid enough to elect him to be president either.
10
Cohen being the shady lawyer he is tried to ask for pardon and of course. there was a secret code of speech between them he would not testify against Trump.
Trump goes OK you have nothing on my so no pardon.
Of course now the real issue is that the testimony in both the Manafort and Cohen trials comes up with NO COLLUSION.
None of the crimes these two have been charged with have anything to do with what Trump has done in his past these crimes belong to Manafort and Cohen and were committed before they even worked for Trump.
2
At the start of Watergate John Dean told President Richard Nixon that there was a cancer growing on his presidency.
Today you could say there is a cancer on the American justice system.
Different treatment for white collar crimes, inequities in justice between rich and poor, biased judges, and grossly different prison sentences.
Its not just with Manafort’s sentence, although the judge should be brought up before a judicial review committee.
Both the House Oversight Committee and the House Judiciary Committee have full plates because for the last two years the GOP Congress failed to fulfill its Constitutional oversight responsibility.
But Judge T. S. Ellis’ shockingly light sentence in the first of Paul Manafort’s two criminal cases should be a final straw.
Americans see a rot in its federal court system. Manafort is just the latest of a long list of egregious injustices.
8
...And yet at some point we need to ask why he is still president; appointing and seating judges; and setting up as the Republican front runner for the 2020 election. A lotta people love this guy and the America he represents.
3
The GOP impeached Clinton for lying under oath to the special prosecutor, setting the bar for impeachment very, very low. President Trump may feel free to lie on Twitter, on Fox News and to reporters but he is undoubtedly aware of the low bar and thus will refuse to testify under oath under any circumstances.
Dems would do well to forget impeachment and concentrate on nominating someone who has chance to beat Trump in 2020. Note to the DNC: that candidate ain't called Bernie, Elizabeth, Kamala or Corey.
3
@Gp Capt Mandrake...or Biden.
2
I hope that candidate name is Amy or Joe, I believe either could easily defeat trump
Trump is lying. This is his victimization role - he gets to relate to his base, who he has cast as victims, and they've bought it.
5
It is far more likely that Trump told Cohen he would pardon him for lying under oath, if he promised to lie under oath.
5
Did you notice how Trump morphed his answer? First, it was Trumps lawyers that were approached about a pardon by Cohen's lawyers, then it was that Cohen asked Trump directly for a pardon. Sound like a familiar pattern from the liar in chief? I mean, who between these two is more believable?
9
Sounds a little like a WWF pre-fight publicity feud aimed at drumming up interest in the big match. Are these two heavyweight clowns and lightweight intellects putting on a rehearsed act? Cohen may have skirted legal jeopardy for perjury, but he also undermined his value as a witness for the prosecution. He also provided an alternative motivation for the paramour payoffs- keep the sordid news from a Melania. And Trump never expected to win, anyway.
Cohen may not get a pardon, but if he takes the fall, as a WWF goon is supposed to do, The Trump Organization may just settle that lawsuit Cohen filed. All nice and legal.
1
Judge Ellis delivered a sharp repudiation of the fairness of the American Justice System. How can anyone refute the reality of a corrupt legal system abetted by judges of Ellis’s ilk.
5
It appears to me, that Trump and Guilani became aware after Cohen's testimony that SDNY was actively investigating the dangling of a pardon by Rudy or Trump to keep Cohen quiet. The action of Trump and Rudy was to get ahead of the story, to shape the story in such a way to make it look like the Witnesses were asking for pardons instead of what I suspect is the truth that Trump and Guliani were dangling the prospect of a pardon to tamper with witnesses and obstruct the investigation. Rudy has done this at other critical points where devastating information was about to leak, he has tried to preempt it, and shape the story to benefit Trump. It will not surprise me if Rudy gets indicted, he should.
5
I don't believe Trump. It's so unlikely he would say no if he really was asked about a pardon by Cohen. Trump did say, "Why would I take it off the table?" when he was asked by reporters if he would considering pardoning Manafort! There would be zero motive for Trump to deny Cohen a pardon, especially when Cohen knows so much personal information about Trump and his businesses.
3
As we saw from his swearing in (on the Bible, no less) Trump had no intention of protecting the laws and Constitution of the United States from his own greedy interests. Since oaths mean nothing to this crook, expect the lies to keep coming with every breath he takes--"so help [him] God."
1
@Perle Besserman Especially since he has clearly never read the constitution, much less understood it.
What, exactly, would Trump apologize to Karen McDougal and Stephanie Clifford for? Their extortion? Remember, both these women were willing participants. They are not victims.
Karen McDougal and Stephanie Clifford... So? What?
3
Trump sat on this information for more than a week after Cohen's public testimony? Sorry, but I believe the other liar.
5
This is the President of the United States of America talking? What happened to this country?
3
Did tRump really say “And he’s lied about a lot of things, but when he lied about the pardon, that was really a lie.”? Don’t that say all?
2
Trump clearly sees no connection between the number of lies he tells every day and his complete lack of all credibility.
2
Give Trump a lie-detector test and see if he passes.
The man has clocked close to 9,000 documented lies since taking office. Everything he does is an attempt to save himself. I find any statement he makes about Michael Cohen to be totally self-serving and probably false.
3
Why would Trump say no? I could understand if he said "we'll see" which would have given Cohen a reason to be careful with what he told people.
8
While both fellows have told their fair share of fibs, it’s hard to side with the president, given his breathtaking stamina and consistency in this department.
16
When Trump makes these wild claims, the media must do adequate follow up:
What date did this happen?
What time?
Was this in person?
Where did it happen?
If it was by telephone, what phone?
Who were witnesses?
If there was no witness, what notes did you direct to memorialize this important event?
Did he report this request to law enforcement? If so, whom?
If he failed to report the request, why would he fail to do so?
Of course, Trump is probably lying and could not answer the questions without creating more lies, but he should be forced to answer, forced to tell the truth.
16
@Ben Do you think he can be "forced to tell the truth?" All he can be forced to do is show us over and over again how thoroughly he lies. Another abuse by this President.
3
or forced into more lies..
A clear indication of an abuse of the pardon power is the fact that Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal “lawyer”, has been involved in discussions with Cohen and others about the possibility of pardons. Pardons can be justified only when they advance the national inerest; they cannot be be used as bargaining chips to advance Trump’s personal legal interests.
20
@Carl Vaccaro, is this written in to the law, or is this just what has been the norm in the past?
Sure they can.
It would seem that Mr. Trump is building his own case for testimony under oath in front of members of Congress. He is promising, via Twitter, that the truth will come out; so, he should do his part.
4
An open question for me: exactly whose opinions did Trump and Friends worry might be swayed by revelations of Trump's paying hush money to hide his adultery? It seems liberals have proven more scandalized by these sordid facts than conservative evangelical Christians (who now stick with him through everything) have been.
Trump has been playing two games at once: 1. actually hoping to cover embarrassing scandals, and 2. allowing failed coverups to emerge in ways that actively *please* those members of his base that perversely relish his misbehavior and his ability to "get away" with everything.
11
Maggie Haberman, You rock. And I thank you for your persistence.
12
When the question is who is lying--Trump or the other person --Trump will always get my vote. His pattern s to lie and then lie more. It is a disease that I am afraid is spreading among politicians. Regrettably when they see the President of the US can lie without consequence then they might as well do it too. Only the press can keep the lying exposed and hope people begin to demand better.
12
@TNT - I admit I haven't read it but did I hear right that he even recommends this strategy in his ghost written book. Something on the lines of 'Lie big and keep repeating it?' Is it also a myth the Ivanka repeats this in her book?(this is apparently similar to some KGB instructions for agents to get themselves out of trouble).
Even under oath I don’t think Trump will, let’s say can, tell the truth. He’s way too far gone over the diagnostic charts. As for Cohen, he’s not going to ask for a dime from the man who ruined his life. I don’t believe for a nano second that Cohen asked Trump for anything.
8
@Hortencia If you listen to his testimony under oath in other cases he either dances around the answer, misspeaks, or sometimes gets around to saying he had not been telling the truth all along.
@Hortencia
I agree. I find it very difficult to understand how anyone would actually believe that Trump would tell the truth under oath or at any other time. I am sitting here trying to recall when Trump has consistently told the truth about anything. Nothing comes to mind. His disregard for... well... everything, should not encourage anyone to believe giving testimony under oath would inspire him to change his behaviour.
1
In NY legal circles Michael Cohen's reputation as louse preceded his actual fall.I support many of Trump's policies but how he surrounded himself with so many shady characters makes me wonder about his judgement.
4
@GDK, I don't see why you even have to wonder. This person, and those who support him, show Olympic class poor judgement.
4
Because he is a shady character!
@GDK If you don't notice that he is at the center of all the shady characters and you don't notice his cavalcade of lies, it makes me wonder about your judgment.
All this President does is sow confusion and chaos. The he looks around...where's the opening? Who compromised themselves?Where's the opportunity for aggrandizement? Where's the opportunity to make Trump more relevant and to promote Trump?
That's what he does. It's what he did on the apprentice, it's what he did years ago when he took on the "Palm Beach elites".
7
Calls into the WH are definitely time stamped and logged. There are phone records for Cohen’s outgoing calls too. So ,ask each when such a call might have occurred Then check the carrier records. We know they have not met face-to-face since this fallout began and we are darn sure it is not in an email because Trump does do email. And , if he did, again, there would be a digital record.
5
Was it John Dean that said there was a cancer growing on the presidency?
In today’s world, Donald Trump is the cancer of the presidency and that cancer is growing throughout the country.
We are all being slowly smothered by the tendrils of the Trump presidency and it feels like there is no way to survive this disease short of excising the cancer from our collective bodies.
After Trump is finally gone it will be important to remember that we, as survivors, have recovered from the disease and that the cancer is really gone, is in the past, and can’t hurt us anymore!
5
This is obviously yet another Trump lie because as everyone who does dirty business with him knows, especially Cohen, it’s not the way Trump operates. For reference look at the not so subtle messages he has sent to Manafort in public. Manafort is on the pardon list because he has the most damaging information.
6
@Robert O. Yes. Also I am sure it is unprecedented for a POTUS to call someone 'a rat' and 'weak' for cooperating with the FBI!!. What more does anyone need!
I believe there are still such things as White House tapes. If Cohen's lawyers called the White House, with or without Cohen's knowledge, or Cohen called/spoke directly with Trump, there are probably tapes. Subpoena them. Let's put an end to the White House mess.
4
Anyone who considers working with or for Trumps should know that you will be left holding the bag, by yourself; and if incarceration is involved you will be all alone with your attorney bills.
6
Quite a dilemma. Who to believe between the President of the United States, or his ex lawyer, who is now a convicted felon?
One way to choose the likely one to be telling the truth, is which one has been before a court and Congress, and given evidence under oath, while the other one has difficulty giving a heavily redacted 100 word statement, and refuses to be interviewed under oath.
8
I think the key word in this article is "corroborate." Officials used info from Cohen that they corroborated. Can the same be said about the Chief Executive? Hmmm...
7
Trump seems to make things up, and no longer has credibility. He is turning the United States into a Banana Republic. When the President of the United States can not be trusted it raises doubt on the entire system.
5
House Democrats are relying on Cohen's credibility after special counsel Mueller destroyed it. They're hoping and praying that Cohen will divulge something, anything that Mueller didn't already squeeze out of him. Impeachment is a political process, not legal so the bar is lower. They should just get on with it
Trump has almost no shred left, and he'll grasp at anything to distract.
Everyone notices how he squats in chairs in his cavernous suits, legs splayed, and thumb and fingers pressed against each other to form a diamond-shaped mirror image resembling the children's game of "eensy weensy spider climbed up the garden WALL".
Yes, WALL. And he's now a Humpty Dumpty on top of the wall and ready to fall.
6
I am surprised that so many in the media are taking Trump's claim at face value.
My guess he is trying to undermine Cohen's credibility.
If Cohen "lied" about this, then clearly he has lied about other things under oath. Trump at his best (worst).
2
@avrds Donald lies were at 9014 on the 4th. That was after only 773 days in office. Basically, to get there, nearly every sentence that comes out of his mouth is a lie.
OK. Can Mr. Trump share the names of those who have asked for pardons and were not told "no".
5
Maybe true. Maybe not. Statements from Trump are like statements from a character in Alice in Wonderland.
7
I find it intriguing that the last conversation between Trump and Cohen are part of an ongoing investigation by the SDNY office. Moreover, Cohen is cooperating with SDNY on this ongoing investigation.
According to Cohen, this conversation happened about 2 months after the raid of Cohen's home and offices. So that puts the conversation in about early June. This was during the time investigators were pouring over Cohen's documents/tapes and the court was assessing what if anything in these records was attorney-client privileged.
So I wonder a few things: what were Trump and Cohen discussing on that last call that is still so important to investigators (likely not related to the matters/crimes that Cohen already pleaded to)? Does Cohen have a tape of this conversation with Trump, possibly coordinated at the time with the SDNY office? And to whom and when did Cohen describe the details of this conversation that could serve to corroborate Cohen's account of the conversation? Answers to these questions may have a significant impact on what other potential crimes that president may be accused of.
52
@D Young
Excellent analysis
2
It is rather amusing that so many commenters seem to think that "under oath" will make any difference if or when the chief executive is called to testify.
120
@GD. Testifying under oath wouldn’t make his testimony more believable or truthful, but it would improve the odds of convicting him of perjury.
18
GD,
Trump will be impeached for perjury if he has to testify under oath. The man is a pathological liar.
Then he will be impeached. There's precedent for that.
3
@GD Sure. Under oath also means "under penalty of perjury."
I understands courts don't like perjury.
1
I have such a hard time keeping track of The Donald's assertions.
39
@Andrew
Actually, it's easy: if Individual-1 is talking, he's lying.
There may not be many people in this world who have less credibility than Michael Cohen,
but there are NO people in this world - or the recorded history of this world - who have less credibility than Donald Trump.
373
@Been There I'm with you 100%, but if Cohen's lying this time, he can kiss the sun goodbye because the SDNY will put him under the jail. Elijah Cummings and Adam Schiff also told him he'd regret it. Cummings said he'd "nail him to the cross."
4
@Been There With the 8 plus thousands lies of President Trump is a record that no other president will be able to match, ever.
9
I saw in an interview with Eric Swalwell that Cohen gave more info in the private sessions. He said we should wait before rushing to judgement about Cohen's public statement
42
It's a tough call; do we believe the word of a convicted liar, or the word of an unconvicted liar.
The convicted liar told his story under the penalty of perjury. He knows what the penalty for perjury is because he is facing three years in prison for it. It's unlikely he wanted more time added to that sentence.
The unconvicted liar has not lied under oath (not counting his failure to live up to his oath of office) as far as we know.
His written answers to the Special Prosecutor's questions are not publicly known.
As a result, the unconvicted liar feels free to lie with impunity. With over 9,000 lies so far in his Presidency, I doubt the man's honesty when he says his name is Donald Trump.
Between the two of them, I believe the convict, not the President.
124
I know for a fact that Cohen asked Trump directly for a pardon. Thatsa how Cohen works. He talks at the fringes, but everyone in the room knows what he really means.
4
@DAB And what about Trump? How does he work? When does he speak the truth? That would be easier to count than when he lies!
1
He learned his skills from serving as an interpretor for the master of intentional misstatement...
Good for you! And do you know Trump’s school grades, SAT scores, and tax returns? Please share!
Cohen is suing Trump for 1.9 million, and he asks in earnest for a pardon as well? I sincerely don't believe it.
10
I sincerely doubt this "president" would say no to a pardon if it was asked of him in order to continue to lie for him and protect him.
41
Times didn't report that Cohen rehearsed 10 hours before the hearing o make sure his testimony reflected the democrats. So his lies are no Democratic lies. No way anything is creditable any more with the house oversight committees, who have been caught red-handed with contacting and coaching witnesses.
4
@Tony J Mann, that is because there is no evidence it happened. That is an assertion from the Republicans that while arranging the hearings, Democrats also coached Cohen's testimony. A leap with no evidence.
1
@Tony J Mann I don't understand why you think meeting with someone who is going to testify to eliminate dead ends and confirm potential lines of questioning is inappropriate. Did Jordan and company not have ample opportunity to question Cohen both in public and private hearings?
1
@Tony J Mann Gosh. Witnesses aren't coached. Prosecutors everywhere might not agree.
Maybe in the long run then Donald should have said “yes” and swallowed his pride. Looks like Cohen basically gave him a choice - pardon or get ready for the ramifications. Trump isn’t the brightest light bulb.
45
"Trump Asserts That Michael Cohen Asked Him Directly for a Pardon and Was Told No", was this under oath?
11
This appears to be another situation that bolsters the case that Mr. Trump should never under any circumstances be allowed to be alone with a representative of a foreign power...because said representative would be more credible in offering the contents of any conversation.
Trump supporters know this but simply don't care. SAD.
29
There is an important reason why Trump has no credibility separate and apart from his constant lying, which is his practice of not confirming anything in any way. No emails; no texts; no memos; no letters - nothing. That makes him not so much a habitual liar as a professional liar.
Of course, this technique is used so that Trump can make up whatever he wants about an interaction and them claim it was whatever he wanted it to be. However, as in the case of the claim that Cohen asked him directly for a pardon, the down side is that it just boils down to his word against Cohen's, which makes it a push at best for Trump.
16
So...how did that conversation go exactly?
4
Regardless of who asked whom, the president has confirmed that while he was president he discussed a pardon with someone who had or was going to lie to congress under oath.
Ipso facto the president was aware of the crime.
Well, of course! He was he of the perpetrators.
What’s he doing now? Holding a gun to his own head and threatening to pull the trigger?
26
@Steve Ell
In "Blazing Saddles," that was funny. Today, it's wishful thinking.
1
I am tired of Twitter. I am sick of Trump's fatuous self-congratulations and false accusations. I am tired of twitter tirades, twitter wars, and anything that causes twitter to "explode." If we didn't have twitter, no one would have to invent it.
65
Neither Michael Cohen nor Donald Trump have ever met nor recognized the truth. They both confuse their beliefs and opinions with facts. Neither man is terribly bright nor honest nor moral.
8
Really? Trump said that?
Who will believe him? Integrity is the most precious quality a man can own. Trump's believability is buried in a county dump somewhere, and even the wharf rats won't go near it.
24
Trump has 8,000+ lies/fabrications/misrepresentations to his name in 2 years, and God only knows how many before that. Trump has never admitted to a lie. Cohen has. I'm with Cohen.
49
You mean the person who lies, on average, 22 times a day, has contradicted a person whom he trained to lie on his behalf? Shocking!
20
Maybe Trump would agree to testify under oath to this in fromt of the house.
13
Gee, and Trump never lies! The answer is to put Trump under oath, and the media should NOT report what he tweets. I guess that means the media must be saved by deep pockets like Bezos saved WashPost, or using the Guardian crowdfunding approach.
Because without reporting all those sensationalist lies that the President says while not under oath, the media will lose titillating stories and therefore there will be fewer eyeballs. Basic conflict of interest by the media. NYT, do not report on Trump's twitters. Ever. You are wasting our time and diluting good journalism.
13
@Will Hogan
Actually, NYT rarely reports Trump's tweets, but they write way to many article about him.
Each, both, all of them need to remember that it is illegal to lie to the Justice Department during an official investigation. My guess is that Trump could not spot a liar setting in a rehab or jailhouse gab circle.
5
President Trump lies multiple ties a day even about things that do not matter. If he is not under oath and subject to penalties for perjury, his word is worthless.
10
Trump: "And he’s lied about a lot of things, but when he lied about the pardon, that was really a lie."
So... if the pardon was "really" a lie... then the other lies were *not* really lies? They were fake lies? And calling them (those fake lies, that is) "lies" is itself a lie?
I get it. When Cohen says he was lying, he was lying about that. So what he says were lies was actually the truth. Even though we know it's not. And he's telling the truth about lying.
Joseph Heller, call your office.
17
Hard to know who to believe when you have two serial liars competing for a narrative in a high stakes ‘he said/he said’. Such dysfunction emanating from and all around Trump. Feels like it’s a bad soap opera, a bad dream, one that goes round and round with no resolution. I am pleading with America to get out and vote in 2020. All this Trump drama that is infecting the world is really getting to be a bit much!
10
How could anyone take what President Trump says as truth after he has been caught lying nonstop. He is unabashedly bold with his lies and no one has told him the world now looks at him as if he is not wearing clothes.
11
I am with most commenters on here, unless trump is willing to go on the record under oath either with Mueller, or with a Congressional Committee, he is just telling us another lie. I hear the Republicans and others say Cohen's testimony is "subject" because he already lied under oath. True, but a liar is a liar whether there under oath or not. trump has told so many lies/falsehoods; when he calls someone out like his former Attorney who told lies for him (trump) for the 10 years he worked for him, its just laughable. trump didn't have Cohen around because he was the best/smartest lawyer he could have hired, Cohen was willing to do the behind the scenes dirty work, which until now trump was okay with. under oath trump??
7
And we should believe our President*,with an asterisk, because he’s never lied to us?
9
Isn't Trump just incriminating himself by calling attention to Cohen lying?
He lied for Trump. He didn't lie for his own benefit, clearly.
Am I missing something here?
22
Better still, Trump declared that it's all "a witch hoax"! If that's what he says, I love it!!
6
two liars involved in a conversation. The only difference is that one did it under oath, the other continues to lie 9025? 9026? 9027?
4
Don’t you love the way Trump differentiates lies “Now that REALLY was a lie” vs. just an ordinary lie. He probably categorizes lies, small vs tiny, large vs. huge (one of his favorite words, huge), mediocre lie vs. totally unbelievable lie, and maybe even normal lie vs. whopper lie. Oh, our Donald. What to do!
14
Unless this alleged request for a pardon was addressed in Trump's responses to Mueller's written questions, this justifies another request that he testify or provide written responses to questions directed to today's statement.
5
Unless Trump is prepared to testify about that before Mueller or a Grand Jury, there is no reason to believe the Inveterate Liar. Even then, he’d likely perjure himself.
Likely Mueller has other ways of verifying this.
As the Law grows closer to Trump, the lies will likely increase.
I feel like we’re all walking on hot coals - when we never agreed to do anything so uncomfortable and never-ending.
24
@TheraP and over half the country didn't agree to him being president.
6
@TheraP
As I recall Trump lawyers didn't want him to sit down with Mueller to answer questions precisely because he is incapable of telling the truth.
Hey, they said it and they are surely in a position to judge for themselves.
1
@TheraP
Or, put somewhat more coarsely, the 2+ years of the Trump Reign seem like a 6-hour pelvic exam.
NOT my president
1
Can we not just report on any assertion by Trump? It is almost certainly false or a severe distortion of the truth. There is no source less credible.
35
We can easily end all of these investigations by having the Liar-in-Chief testify under oath
Trump is incapable of telling the truth. He has no credibility.
Trump should have to answer questions under oath. As Richard Nixon said, "People have got to know whether or not their President is a crook."
56
@L
Trump testifying under oath would be amazing. Can you imagine how he would wax and wane and ramble.
9
@L Unfortunately I have absolutely no confidence testifying under oath would reveal anything, I don’t even believe the President realizes he is lying any more. I think his reality has become such a manifested lie that he believes his own lies, and possibly can no longer even decipher any truth.
27
@L I think I read somewhere that President Trump's lawyers do not want him to be interviewed by anybody related to Russia's dealings.
2
Is Trump willing to say this under oath?
32
@David
Do you think the oath means anything to him?
12
@David
If Trump says anything at all under oath,
with a day, Trump's own contradictory statement will prove Trump to be a perjurer.
Yet, almost every modern Republican will swear that Trump was telling The Truth both times.
11
@David
Why do you think that "under oath" would make any difference to trump?
7
So if this is true (the “Cohen asking Trump” for a pardon bit), that would suggest that straight after his office was raided, and before he had been charged, Cohen thought “I’m going down here”, so before the Feds start asking questions about what they’ve found, I’ll go and ask the guy who I’ve been working for for a decade, who presumably might also be at peril depending on how I respond to questions, whether he’ll give me a pardon if I have his back during the Fed’s investigation.
Nope, nothing to see here ...
Innocent people ask for pardons all the time ...
4
Can both sides lose, with neither of them even enjoying the benefits of a tie? Maybe Cohen can save a place in his cell for the Donald.
5
I'm totally looking forward to Trump saying these exact same words under oath. He has zero credibility until that happens.
15
@Elinoras far as I'm concerned, he has zero credibility even under oath.
12
Why would anyone believe a word Trump espouses since everything that comes out of his mouth is a lie. Trump told more than 8,000 lies in two years.
13
I do believe Cohen was untruthful when he said he had not sought a pardon, if it wasn't him directly then his lawyers on his behalf. The way he said it at the hearing as something of an absolute just didn't ring right to me even then. It was too strenuous a statement. Up to the lawyers to argue if it was technically not a lie and not just an untruth if it was done through his lawyers. I don't think though his whole testimony was lie on that account. Count me in on the 50% that believe Cohen over Trump.
As for Manafort I do believe Trump will pardon him and he knows it already.
10
@Karena
Actually, I just saw on CNN in an interview with a House Committee member that we should hold off on saying one way or the other if Cohen lied about the pardon. Something about potential corroborating evidence on the matter. Though Cohen's current lawyer did say there was some discussion from his previous lawyers. It's starting to get confusing, so I will hold out to see what the House Committee releases before I make up mind definitively. I still think his statement was a bit too strenuous and did not ring right for whatever reason.
1
@Karena What's strange about this statement is Cohen read it from his opening statement to Congress. It wasn't something he blurted out in a response to a question. And although it doesn't make much sense, it just might be the truth.
4
Perhaps there was more emphasis on that particular statement because Cohen has evidence that Trump personally dangled a pardon? And that’s what was talked about in the closed door meeting.
2
To paraphrase Mary McCarthy, every word Trump speaks is a lie, including "and" and "the".
36
Since both of them are liars, lingering over that issue is a wast of time.
5
More distractions from Trump. One of the things Cohen will be going to prison for is lying to protect Trump. He wasn't lying in his own interest! Let's not lose sight of this simple fact. Trump himself is, of course, a liar extraordinaire, which means there is no reason to believe anything he says without corroboration. Also, it appears that Cohen himself was closely interrogated about the issue of pardons by the House Intelligence Committee. If the members of that Committee, including any of those in the Republican minority, want to being a charge of perjury against Cohen, presumably they will. We'll see! In any case, this topic appears to be one of the issues Cohen couldn't discuss openly before the Oversight Committee because the SDNY has it under investigation. The SDNY, which has already convicted Cohen for lying, is highly unlikely to tolerate any further lying from him, as he must know. If he lied to them about what happened, he'll pay heavily for it. We'll find out soon enough whether he did. On the other hand Trump can lie as much as he likes and even if he does so under oath the Justice Dept. won't indict him. But perhaps the State of New York will for all the crimes he and his company have committed under NY State law. It'll be interesting to see how that goes. Could Trump be extradited our of the White House to answer for the financial crimes he may have committed before he became President?
6
@Skeptic What I'd add to what I've said above is that whether or not Cohen asked for a pardon or lied about it, won't answer the questions raised by those $35,000 checks with Trump's signature on them. Nor will it answer the question whether Trump's personally speaking with Cohen about a pardon, if he actually did so, represents a high crime or misdemeanor. Trump and his allies can smear Cohen all they like, but that won't make things he says go away if they can be corroborated. And, of course, it has to be remembered that Trump hired Cohen as his lawyer and an official of his company. Only the "best people"?
3
“And he’s lied about a lot of things, but when he lied about the pardon, that was really a lie.”
As opposed to the lies Cohen told that weren't really lies...
11
When Trump accuses someone of lying, I take it as an endorsement of that person's honesty.
35
Lying seems very popular.
5
Trump would like you t believe that a meeting with Cohen shortly after the FBI raid went something like this: "Mr. President, I think you should know that the FBI's raid of my offices will uncover a number of questionable , if not criminal actions on your part. If I lie to protect you Mr. President, can I expect a full pardon? And According to Trump his response went something like this: "You know me Mr. Cohen. I expect you to be completely honest with Mr. Mueller and his team, because we have nothing to hide, or fear. I would never ever even think about offering you a pardon. While I am president total honesty will be my guiding light."
20
Trump needs to speak under oath about these matters, and quit tweet-lying.
Trump lies and lies and lies and lies - this latest claim is no more believable than the many other lies he will tell today.
6
The battle of the titans. Hooray for our side.
A crook and crooked lawyer go into bar.
The crook becomes President thanks in part to the crooked lawyer’s co-crookedness.
Best case, both the crook and his crooked lawyer get their just deserts.
The crooked lawyer gets disbarred and sent to prison for lying. Which is hilarious, actually, because the crook is the bigger liar and holds public office—but so be it. Only in America. Corruption rules.
7
In the hit song, Meghan Trainor crooned:
"I know you lie
'Cause your lips are moving
Tell me do you think I'm dumb?"
I'd like to adapt those lyrics thus:
"I know you lie
'Cause your fingers are typing
Tell me do you think I'm dumb?"
4
I think we need something more sophisticated than simply counting Trump's lies which apparently are over 1,000 at this point. How about an app called "What's the Probability this is the Truth?"
In this particular case, our Roy Cohn trained president would probably score a 10%.
1
Trump also says that Michael Flynn lied to VP Pence. It could very well be, Flynn told Pence and Trump what he had done. Then when it was uncovered beyond them, they all three agreed to the following story ( lie ): ‘Flynn had lied to Pence and Trump’ so Flynn could take the fall alone rather than the three of them implicated. Think about that scenario.
3
Trump is rapidly losing the faith .
Problem is the Democrats haven’t convince me their any better.
Time for a real viable independent party,
I really believe that the black folks in this country are the ones who could get it started, the Democrats could careless about them other than Election Day.
They could pull a lot , a lot of disenfranchised white voters , Asians, Hispanic into their party .
They have a large voting block that is going to waste ,
wasting their votes on Democrats
1
@Independent voter It si obvious that so far Trump is the worst American President. If you are not convinced of that then you really have no hope and should not vote, because as most of his supporters you will be voting for him and that will be a pity for all Americans...we need to rid ourselves of the scourge of Trump.
Was Trump under oath? Is he willing to be under oath?
6
For trump, I hope orange is the new gold.
4
Why is The NY Times not all over the recent story ran in the Miami Herald about Trump and the Chinese “entrepreneur “ who founded the spas in which Robert Kraft was a customer. There are photos with this woman and the Don and also with Don Jr. So while Trump rants about a wall, to stop coyotes from bringing women across the border, that are duct taped and stuffed in trunks, he supports a woman who trafficks women into the sex trade in the USA. Trump literally does the opposite of everything that he says.
16
Well if Trump said that, it must be a lie. Unfortunately, that's what I have to assume about everything he says, because he lies so constantly.
On the other hand, since Trump also constantly tries to obstruct justice, can't we prosecute him on that charge yet? If we wait until he's out of office, he can be indicted, and I don't mind waiting a couple more years to see him go to jail.
4
Trump’s entire Whitehouse workforce will require pardons.
4
Trump's offense against Cohen has been totally ludicrous. Trump and the Republicans seem to think they can discredit Cohen by saying Cohen is a known liar. "You're the liar." No, you're the liar" "You are lying about not lying."
Since we have the lying-est president ever, whose ratio of lies to truth is sky high, why we are supposed to believe what Trump claims about Cohen--or anything else, for that matter? In fact, the safest thing with what Trump maintains is to assume it is a lie and the very opposite of what is true.
I still can't figure out why anyone would vote for such a dishonest, untrustworthy, corrupt con man to be, of all things, President of the United States, once upon a time, the most powerful country in the world.
1
How much a bigger liar is the one who pays someone to lie and how less of a liar is the one who gets paid to lie . . .
4
The entire world knows Tump is a pathological liar. Cohen lied to Congress and is paying a high price. Although Coehn should not have lied, lying is the modus operandi of the Trump orgaization. Cohen should never have gone to work for Trumo if he wanted to prserve his integrity, but he was more interested in working for Trump. I would belive anybody, including Putin, over Trump.
1
Trump self pleasures inflicting misery on other people. Dangling the pardon, raising the hope, snatching it back, enjoying the pain. All in a day’s work. Narcissistic bullies delight in these little episodes.
4
If you lie about someone lying... does that mean that they cancel each other out and you are both right?
6
Donald Trump is such an easy, glib liar, an incorrigible liar. He has always been. He lies about just about anything and everything. I hope he is soon called to account for all his lies, and I hope that the American people stop believing him when he tweets.
3
I believe Trump!!!! Cohen is just another attention seeker trying to save his skin....just like the 23 different women who have accused him of sexual improprieties. Every one is a liar and we should believe the man of 5,000 lies (and growing) in office.
4
People don't change, they just become more of who they are.
I will never believe Trump. He's a pathological liar and con man. And to have something like him in our WH is a disgrace to this country.
7
In his testimony before the House Oversight Committee, Cohen did an effective job of explaining why he wouldn’t vote for Trump in 2020, if convicts could vote. But he did not present evidence Trump has committed indictable or impeachable offenses.
He testified that he knew of no unlawful collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.
He testified that Trump did not instruct him to lie to Congress about the Trump Tower Moscow project.
He testified that Trump continued negotiations on the Trump Tower Moscow project while campaigning for president. but that was not illegal.
He testified that Trump directed him to pay hush money to Stormy Daniels, but paying hush money is no illegal as long as campaign contributions are no use to make the payments. Cohen presented a check endorsed by Trump that proves the money to pay Stormy did not come from campaign contributions.
Cohen testified that Trump knew about the Trump Tower Meeting in advance, but knowing about the meeting on advance was not a crime because the Trump Tower meeting was not unlawful.
Cohen also testified that Roger Stone told Trump that Julian Assange told him that WikiLeaks planned to dump emails damaging to Hillary Clinton. Stone was probably lying, but being told WikiLeaks planned to release stolen documents was not a crime.
3
@William Case
You're in error regarding the potential illegality of the hush money payments.
If one takes the checks paid to Cohen as reimbursements for hush payments that constituted in-kind campaign contribution, then Trump would be indictable for campaign violations.
Paying hush money - regardless of whether it comes from campaign funds or personal funds - for the purpose of influencing a campaign makes the payments campaign contributions. Those contributions are required to met the limits on contribution size and be reported.
39
@William Case
You are bad and wrong here, extremely bad and very wrong. "He testified that he knew of no unlawful collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia." <- this is false and makes you look like a Russian GRU operative yourself. Go read the transcript.
Defrauding the American people is very very impeachable. Conspiracy to defraud the USA is very very impeachable. Trump's campaign, and therefore Trump himself, has been implicated by the state of NY in a felony. That's impeachable. You are a coward and a bad person, and most likely a Russian operative.
6
@William Case
So Cohen is not a liar?
He's telling the truth, then. Trump lied about his worth to get tax breaks and loans. Which is a crime.
5
Trump has no credibility left, thus nothing he says has any value unless it's sworn testimony.
45
Even then, nothing that comes out of the liar-in-chief’s mouth is anything resembling the truth.
5
@Eric
"...unless it's sworn testimony." Even then it would be worthless.
5
Unfortunately, not even if it's sworn testimony. I have no doubt Trump would easily commit perjury, and his only higher power he could swear to is himself.
7
There's a believe-ability toss-up if there ever was one!
7
Will someone ask President Trump when Michael Cohen asked him for a pardon? Before or after the raid on Cohen's apartment, etc.? Do we know whether Trump and Cohen ever saw one another or spoke to one another after that raid?
9
@Judd Kahn Yes, they were in contact after the raid.
@tRUMP re Cohen asking for Pardon: “And he’s lied about a lot of things, but when he lied about the pardon, that was really a lie.”
Ah; so some lies are just lies but others are "really lies?"
Until I read the above, I didn't know that tRUMP actually knows the word "lie;" but now I see that he has parsed a delicate, infintesimal distinction between the two. Very impressed at his erudition and sophistry (two more words he has yet to discover).
31
Would the president accuse Cohen of lying if the president were testifying under oath? So far he has refused to make any sworn statements about anything or anybody.
22
The fact that Trump waited to speak up until it was reported indicates how bogus he is. He could have spoken up immediately if his contradiction were true.
32
Rule of thumb: If Trump says something, the opposite is true.
You will be right about 75% of the time.
64
@Grandpa Bob
“If Trump says something, the opposite is true. You will be right about 75 % of the time.”
True - Also, there is a 99% chance Trump did himself whatever it is he is accusing others of. And 100% if he is accusing them of lying.
15
@Grandpa Bob
I would say 99% of the time.
The only time I would believe Trump is telling the truth is if someone asks him whether he would fancy a cheeseburger and he says 'yes'.
8
Hang in there Michael!!! The sane ones are rooting for you!
15
Bottom line...Trump has no credibility so don't pay any attention to anything he says. Period.
21
I believe President Trump because, as we know, President Trump never lies.
13
The words of President Donald Trump, are not equated with quaint, old fashioned values like honesty, integrity, trust, sincerity.....to name but a few.
8
Everything that comes out of Trumps mouth and twitter feed is a self-serving lie. He doesn’t have a milligram of credibility.
36
The default assumption is and must be that Mr. Trump is lying. After all, he has told more than 8,000 lies since January 2017. The onus is on Trump to provide substantiation for each and every assertion. Otherwise, we should with good reason assume he is not telling the truth. In the public hearing, Mr. Cohen was a credible witness. Moreover, he had every reason to want to tell the truth.
24
"Trump Asserts That Michael Cohen Asked Him Directly for a Pardon and Was Told No"
With this President I don't think it is overly cynical to believe that Trump would assert that whether true or not. He says whatever makes himself look good and his enemies look bad (and there are a LOT of perceived enemies). This has been so well documented already that I have no inclination at all to believe this latest assertion is true.
13
since Cohen has denied this under oath, I'm sure the House Committee should invite tRump to testify to this under oath.
14
Am I actually going to believe that Trump is telling the truth over Michael Cohen? NOPE.
26
What did one liar say to the other liar when they bumped into each other?
"Pardon me"
28
“It was a stone-cold lie,” Mr. Trump said about Mr. Cohen’s claims that he had never sought a pardon. “And he’s lied about a lot of things, but when he lied about the pardon, that was really a lie.”
Trump hears and tells so many lies he has to put labels on them according to which come nearest to verging on the truth - and these he calls 'really a lie'.
13
Trump has passed a well documented 9,000 public lies including new categories of dissembling and gaslighting. Yet media, like the Times (my favorite paper) treat a he-said, he-said with Michael Cohen as a real tossup. I don’t get it. How many lies will it take for our Paper of Record to start with the (slam dunk) assumption that it must be Trump who is lying ...again? Why? Because he has earned it!
7
In the lying game, Trump ostensibly wrote the book. He taught Cohen well, but the latter liar still has some integrity and seems legitimately contrite. Trump, on the other hand, would sell his mother for a good price, throw anyone under the bus (including his family), and will only deepen his mendacious ways as the walls close in. Between the two, Trump is infinitely creepier and has no qualms about lying — about anything. Just ask Melania.
9
@H. Clark Jail time is a reality for Cohen. Lies now could only make that sentence longer. Trump may never spend jail time, which in my opinion would be a uuuge injustice.
This president needs to be indicted, since he swore to protect this country and the constitution when he took the oath of office. Seems like a lie to me.
1
Hmmmm. Which liar to believe?
1
HA...are we to believe the pathological liar trump ?
His personal layer for many years Michael Cohen was going to take a bullet for trump is now is going to serve years in jail because literally he took bullets from trump.
And what trump does, goes into twitter storms in his misspelled words created more trouble for Cohen.
5
One liar calls another liar a lair and they shout the same thing back. There are some things best not even thought about.
1
"I only hire the best people"
How many of the "best" are under investigation, convicted, or in the case of Cohen now considered rats and scoundrels? POTUS is a pathological liar with no moral compass. For him to find the best people he needs binoculars, the best people stay as far away from him as possible.
To wit;
If you were to ask Rump during a cabinet meeting "Who is the smartest person in the room?" In a NY minute would say "Me!"
Logically this means you were incapable of finding experts in various fields of government to give you the best advise they could.
President Washington was his antithesis. His cabinet included Hamilton, Jefferson, Knox and Jay, all smarter and with differing, (in some cases polar) opinions.
Rump has surrounded himself with rubber stamps and they only serve to tell him "you are the best and brightest" they are doing this to placate his ego and his insecurities.
Now he is fabricating more lies, gee what a surprise
7
Sure is novel one liar calling another liar a Liar.Someone needs to check whose nose is longer. Where is Geppetto when you need him? Pinocchio can attest to Geppetto prowess with detecting liars.
6
I believe Cohen.
10
The headline contains enough info to write it off. "Trump Claims xxx." Whenever he claims, it's a lie.
2
People should be focused on what the current President has done and not the semantics of Michael Cohen mentioning a pardon. Trump probably wished he had pardoned Mr Cohen but what Trump has allegedly done should not be ignored because Mr Cohen may have mentioned the word pardon.
19
I would love Trump to answer the follow-up questions: If Cohen directly asked Trump for a pardon, what acts were discussed in the "ask"? Was it only for lying to congress (or did the ask happen before he was found guilty of that act?) When did the conversation take place?
15
The mere fact that Trump's version of this conversation ends with "no" and not "we are never discussing this topic, get out," tells you a lot.
He had negotiations with Cohen about a pardon. Failed negotiations, but negotiations. Trump just admitted to it.
That's not just impeachable. It's criminal.
58
@Jeff Bowles. He will never admit that admitted anything .
If you believe this claim (or any other claim made by Trump), I have a bridge to sell you...
9
Wow, another whopper from Mr. Stable Genius.
You know how little kids sometimes get "Opposite Day," where they eat dessert first, etc? Having Mr. Trump in the White House is like having an "Opposite President," wherein he espouses everything that is opposite to reality, truth and human dignity.
42
@John It's Bizarro World, everyday.
9
@John Exactly, kind of like in that Star Trek episode where everyone had pointy beards and did bad stuff or bizarro Jerry on Seinfeld.
3
@John. And I wouldn’t be a bit surpif he DOES eat dessert first too.
2
If Cohen had something he could offer Trump that would have damaged the Mueller investigation Trump would have offered a pardon in a heartbeat. He's been handing pardons out like Halloween candy...
5
Hard to distinguish who has less credibility. I'll go with Trump since he's the one who keeps hiring evidently terrible people.
8
Has journalism sunk to such all time lows as not to be able to get a grasp on the what, when, and where. Did they ever ask when this happened. Where it happened. Did they ask for any details in followup?
This is a problem, when people can simply say anything they want and the Times will report it.
21
Trump is like the boy who cried wolf. No one believes anything he says anymore. Cohen brought the evidence; Trump brought more lies and threats.
11
It is a sad comment on our times when you genuinely don't know who is more believable - a felon convicted of perjury or the president of the United States.
46
@Tom McAllister
It's a sadder comment on our times that we actually know EXACTLY who is more believable: the convicted felon.
It is a conundrum... Who to believe? The liar? Or the liar that the liar hired to lie for him?
112
Why should anyone ever believe a word out of Bone spur's mouth. I seriously doubt he has ever uttered a word of truth in his disgusting life of lying, cheating, stealing and doing nothing for humanity.
28
@Bruce Northwood
That’s Cadet Bone Spurs, sir.
3
"He tells far more lies, and far more cruel ones, than ordinary people do."
The above quote comes from this December 2017 Washington Post article: http://tinyurl.com/y3asy4y2
Unfortunately the president has increased the quantity of his lies. Along with analyzing the atrocious number of lies this man tells is very revealing. I would like to see a similar analysis of how Trump uses lawsuits to his advantage.
5
I believe, without hesitation, the word of a corrupt lawyer over that of the thug occupying our White House. Explain to me how that makes America great. THAT is a sad situation.
25
Two skunks fighting in a pit toilet. Here's a thought, they're both lying. Since birth.
2
@Lou Good
What have you got against skunks? Unlike these two i doubt you'd find one in a pit toilet.
1
Trump makes no sense as usual. Cohen lied about a lot of things....but the pardon really was a lie. Is he saying the rest was not?
7
Jeeze Donnie, he was your fixer for years, said he'd take a bullet for you, paid off your affairs and lied to your wife about them. Serving you got him raided, charged & convicted. Your collusion with Russia and a hundred other things are why FBI went after him so much. It didn't work out for you because you've done so much wrong that nobody could fix it, but at least you should remember all he did for you, and maybe have the common sense once in a while to just keep your mouth shut.
Obvious point #2; Nobody believes you any more Donnie, not even your fans or Breitbart, nobody. If you said the Pope is Catholic, we'd all check it out for ourselves rather than take your word for it.
And a little clue for everyone who is still working with the Pres; your time is coming. Just put your name where Cohens is "Bad __ and fraudster (_____)..." - It'll be your turn soon enough. Sarah Huckster - paying attention? Bill Shine? Mick Mulvaney? Rudy Giuliani?
31
Now, was this "whopper" #8,889 or #8,890? Sigh, so little time, so many more lies to tell! MAGA.
8
@John Grillo
9018 just a few days ago.
1
Who knows what really happened? Trump is such an accomplished pathological liar that nobody with tuppence worth of brains would assume that anything he says is even vaguely truthful.
11
When two liars meet, the truth is the major victim!
7
Trump lies and lies--9014 lies as of today. This was his attorney who knows all his secrets. No wonder Trump is so afraid.
8
He said, he said, breakups are rarely nice. One or both sides feels slighted and betrayed. Snarky remarks turn nasty. Each side accuses the other of lying. Then the lawyers get involved and when hell freezes over is the stance.
In this case one goes to jail and one - for now - remains free. This bar fight is now a feud. One has nothing left to lose and the other has everything to lose. It's not over.
6
How does Trump distinguish between all the bad professionals and fraudsters under his hire?
33
Is it any wonder that for the last few years I feel as if I’ve been transported back to the elementary school playground. Some day in the very near future, historians will document this black time in our political structure as the “Bully Years”. It is truly embarrassing to be a part of this never-ending fiasco.
78
@Miguel Miguel,
It's worse than "embarrassing" to be part of this never-ending fiasco. It's frightening.
We know that some US presidents have lied for various reasons. We've had a free press to help us (and the world) see through some of those lies. Many people have mostly believed the press. Now we have a president who lies so much -- while simultaneously accusing (some of) the press of lying about his lies -- that people need to question whether their news sources are impartial and really trying to tell both sides of the story. (Sad as I am to say it, the Times is one source whose impartiality I'm starting to doubt in some cases.)
That's a lot (though definitely not all) of why I'm frightened.
2
Donald Trump is a confirmed pathological liar. That being the case, why does the Times headline his statements?
In the current example, why not have something like this instead?-- "Trump and Cohen Give Conflicting Accounts of a Possible Pardon"
189
@Tom H. Just have tRump appear before the House Committee and repeat the claim under oath. Shouldn't pose a problem for tRump, honest fellow that he is.
15
@Tom H.
Really? You want more mealy-mouthed understatements from the press? Some of us prefer to call a spade a spade and not a metal and wood implement for digging.
5
@Tom H.
Because headlines like that don't sell papers.
3
What's fascinating is that Trump and Cohen can both be correct. If Trump were to have reminded Cohen that "there's no collusion, there's hush-money, and no discussion of Trump Tower Moscow" and then mused out loud "a lot of fine individuals have received presidential pardons...," well, that doesn't sound like any sort of promise to me. But maybe Cohen inferred something from it.
8
>>> ". . . well, that doesn't sound like any sort of promise to me. But maybe Cohen inferred something from it."
I rather think it would "sound like" a sort of promise to many people, which suggests a maxim:
"Inference does not preclude implication."
3
@Aaron G
That's one take, I guess. But fascinating, not so much.
I prefer to think that they're both lying.
1
The Boy Who Cried Wolf comes to mind.
Given Trump's history of lies, even if he's telling the truth, nobody but his punters will believe him.
32
Line 1: "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time".
Line II: Speaker: "I'm delighted to see such a dense crowd!"
Responder: Don't be too delighted. We ain't all dense.
Comprende, citizen 1.?
3
The President of the United States, Donald J. trump, is a proven (though not yet convicted) liar.
85
A flat no? But when asked if he would pardon multiple felon and co-conspirator Campaign Manager Manafort, Commander Chaos responded that he hadn’t decided yet. #StableGenius
17
Keep talking Donald. You’ll get to the magic 10,000 more quickly. Be best.
271
@John David James
Maybe we could have a national holiday when he hits 10,000.
21
@JKile, maybe it will coincide with Election Day.
6
@Witness
by election day, if he made it that far, it would have been at 20,000
3
And why should we believe the Potus on this one? He's a proven liar and an opportunist when it comes to playing loose with the facts. Lying is what Trump does. His entire career has been built on fabrications - real or imagined. Nobody in their right mind would trust this man.
78
@Paul Longhouse
Prevaricating
On
Those
Ubiquitous
Subjects
1
Well, I am sure Jim Jordan, Mark Meadows, Devin Nunes, and Matt Gaetz can write to the DoJ demanding that Michael Cohen be investigated for perjury on this strong compelling evidence as provided by that paragon of integrity, Donald wait, what, oops. Can someone remind me what number lie we are up to with Donald? I know it is over 9000 but it’s a blur. I’d really like to send those people keeping track for America a big bouquet. That is the most demanding and thankless job in the world. If Donald is breathing, he’s lying.
In conclusion, I hope Michael Cohen taped the phone call.
75
Were supposed to believe that Cohen lied without Trump paying him to do it?
9
I don't believe Trump's version for a New York second.
22
When Trump speaks under oath I’ll listen, in the meantime I’m deaf.
8
Wow, such a tough choice: is Trump lying or is Cohen?
4
I don't believe Trump.
15
“It was a stone-cold lie,” ... Ummm ... Oh, the irony of Trump calling anyone a liar.
Pot, meet Kettle.
39
Someone needs to remind Trump exactly why Cohen would have asked for a pardon.
He was convicted of lying for the PRESIDENT. Isn't Trump incriminating himself --- again?
570
@Martin God, I hope so!
42
@Martin America has the right to get to the bottom of this; open hearings with Cohen; his lawyers; Trump's lawyers and Trump.
17
@Martin
incriminating himself --- again? Ask republicans in Congress.
7
With 9,000+ lies in just over two years in office, it's really hard to imagine how anyone could believe anything Donald Trump says. For all practical purposes, one can pretty much take it to the bank that the opposite of whatever it is that comes out of Trump's mouth is the truth.
450
@JD His lies are pretty easy to decode. He accuses others of his failures. If he says Cohen asked him for a pardon, it actually means he offered Cohen a pardon to keep quiet and Cohen declined.
73
@JD
She asked ME to the prom and I said no. Yeah, that's the ticket.
32
@JD
Hey maybe the committee will have to subpoena the president to find out about Cohen asking for a pardon. Then, under oath, let's hear with the donald has to say. Could be interesting.
17
Trying to get a straight answer from Trump and Cohen is like trying to throw a boomerang in a straight line.
11
Do I believe him this time or the time he boasted he hires only the best?
96
@RNS. Or the times he promised to release his tax returns? Or.....
19
@Susan Wladaver-Morgan Or his biggest whopper... I promise to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the Unites States.
10
OK...who do you believe...Cohen, who will suffer more jail time if he lies...or Trump who lies on a daily basis and has come to believe that there is no consequences for his lies. Cohen who was a liar for hire during his time working for Trump or Trump who is pathological.
I believe that Cohen knew throughout the years that he was lying but rationalized it as part of his job/responsibility but Trump who has lost all connection to reality.
104
A good thing for Cohen is, despite his credibility issues, many Americans find him more believable than his former partner in crime, Donald Trump, who lies with impunity.....all the time.
149
This one's pretty easy. Put them both on the stand, under oath, and ask the question again. Anyone actually think Mafia Don will go under oath anytime in the near future...until he is actually indicted that is. Coming soon to a courtroom in full view!
18
I love that Cohen gets right in the mud with Trump and throws it right back at him. I wasn’t crazy about Cohen when he was on Trump’s side but not that he’s turned, I find him quite compelling. Keep up the good work Michael Cohen!
170
@DB
But, that's why you don't wrestle with a pig; you both get muddy, and the pig likes it.
7
“And he’s lied about a lot of things, but when he lied about the pardon, that was really a lie.” But, Mr. President, did Michael Stone lie about the hush payments? -- Did he lie about trying to do a "deal" in Russia through the Republican primaries?
6
So now Trump is calling Cohen a "bad lawyer and fraudster?"
If that is true, why did Trump have him working for him in close proximity (office close by in Trump Tower) for at least 10 years?
Oh, that's right, because Trump didn't need a good and honest lawyer. He needed someone just like Cohen to do his business.
232
@Expat Annie
Despite his assertion he hires “only the best people.”
8
Our president is an ass.
I do believe Trump will pardon Manafort and Stone eventually and unfortunately.
59
@Dolly Patterson
I agree, but even so, judgement was passed and these men will live pathetically diminished lives. Pardon them! And then let them roam the world in a cloud of shame and condemnation.
1
@Dolly Patterson I think that in states cases he can not pardon, only in Federal cases. So we have to wait and see.
2
Two professional lairs going at it. Why is this news?
2
@RM: the tragedy is, it is news.
1
No one can deny Cohen has been show to be a serial liar.
But this guy...
11
Donald Trump is truly a world leader in one thing: lying. Those that grew up in the region where he gambled away his daddy's fortune leading to several bankruptcies [even while apparently using dishonest numbers to keep things going] know this all too well.
169
Now let's think about this for a moment. Is Donald Trump really a person that can be believed about, well, anything? Is it likely that he would be lying about this, too?
90
so which liar do we believe? Given that Cohen was under oath, and could risk adding to his jail sentence if he lies.....and Trump lies whenever he opens his mouth, always in a way to make himself look good and others look bad, who is the likely winner in this lie off?
310
@gk
There are only losers in this Great American Lie Off, towing the Great Global Heating Bake Off in its wake, and digging the Great Unprecedented, Now Presidented Inequality Abyss deeper, steeper, and creepier.
Be Best in the Liars and Pretenders Quest!
3
Trump has denigrated the office of the President beyond belief. Unbelievable times we are living in....
316
@Lane
...and although the vast majority of Republican reps and senators have cravenly and cowardly violated their respective oaths of office by allowing this travesty to continue, day by day, where in the world is someone like Mitt Romney? We all know about Romney's "tendency" to flip-flop on the issues, but he "famously" authored an op-ed putting Trump "on notice" before he took office two months ago. Yet, Romney is just as complicit by his failure to stand up and do the right thing and call for an end to Trump's disgraceful/disgusting behavior in office. What does Romney have to lose? He was just elected. Show some courage and do the right thing before it is way too late.
18
@Lane Yes! And this is why it is puzzling that a sitting President cannot be indicted for criminal activity.
An elected president gets to do four full years of damage, even if he may have obtained his position by criminal activity, and he continues to commit new crimes as long as he remains in office. A political remedy (impeachment or Art 25) doesn't seem sufficient protection for the country.
7
Trump lies all of the time. Yeah, I believe Trump. (Please note sarcasm).
10
By now the whole world knows that, if DJ Trump says it happened, it didn't happen.
155
@mja And if he said it didn't happen (as in Russian collusion) then it most certainly did!
27
Cohen was such a terrible lawyer, Trump paid him to tell his lies and kept him in his inner circle for a decade.
19
The behavior of this president wouldn’t be tolerated as a Jr. level employee of any organization.
287
@Harris Silver
...or as an Apprentice!
29
When will this nightmare end?
The President of the United States announced via tweet that the man whom he hired as his personal lawyer for over a decade is a bad lawyer and a fraudster.
Trump had Cohen on his payroll working as his lawyer for over a decade. What kind of businessman does that make Trump?
280
@AnnWater seeks its own level.
8
@Ann
...a dishonest businessman AND a fraudster!
16
@Ann
Amazing how often Trump shoots himself in the foot with one of his defensive statements and tweets meant to exonerate himself or make himself look good.
So, as you said, Trump basically admitted in his tweet that he had hired and used a bad lawyer for years as his personal attorney.
But if we consider his cabinet hires, just about all of them also fit the description of fraudster and unscrupulous businessmen and women, which says volumes about Trump's staffing and management style.
10
Of course, we believe Trump because he never lies and is a model of presidential character and dignity. And he's a very stable genius, too.
8
I'm sorry, but the bigger liar is Trump. Trump comes up with some real whoppers and lies every day. Mr. Cohen, stand tough against your former employer.
27
The truth is that both Trump and Cohen are bad characters and opportunists, but the distinction is that only one of them is in our highest office.
2
About 99% of what Trump says is a lie. So if Trump says this, we can be almost certain that Cohen did not ask!
18
Liars, cheats, and thieves all. But which is the worst? No matter, they both are.
2
Why does absolutely everything Trump says sound like a lie? Everything!
8
@Lisa - Pathological narcissism, perhaps ?
3
@Lisa - Because it most likely is.
My only problem with Trump's lying is that he is so bad at it. A good lie at least has some entertainment value.
4
One of Trump's problems is that he's lied so much, no one believes him anymore. It's almost pointless to report what he says because it's either an exaggeration or a complete lie.
97
When faced with the validity of both these (far) less than perfect men, my bet is that Cohen is telling the truth. That is not to say I fully trust his spoken words, but it is all relative. To date Trump has uttered more lies than any past president and certainly more than many, many Americans. The fact is Trump's words are who he is. There is no separation between fact and fiction. His untruths are no longer deliberate, if ever they were. He is the whole package, he is a lie.
18
The lying Donald J. Trump is calling Michael Cohen a liar? Which one should be believed? If Trump is not lying, let him prove it. Does he have a recording? Maybe Trump could say somethings under oath.
7
@John - I suspect that searing an oath at his inauguration unsettled him enough that he's not going to do that anymore.
1
Okay, so who are you going to believe, a self-confessed, repentant liar or Trump with 8,000 lies since taking office, and counting, with not one admission of guilt? Need I say more?
15
I am extremely disheartened my Mr. Cohen's lack of veracity in testifying that he never sought a pardon, only to have his claim contradicted by his attorney mr. Davis. yes, you can split hairs to defend whether inquiring is distinct from "asking" but the intent is identical. That notwithstanding, whether Mr. Cohen is credible or not, the fact remains that there is concrete proof of signed checks from Mr. Trump likely used aas hush money. Whether you believe Mr. Cohen or not, the checks do not lie.
1
@Jeb
I've inquired about Tesla cars, in great detail. I even went to a dealer to see what they're like. Doesn't mean I'm going to buy one. There is quite a difference between inquiring about something versus actually asking for it.
4
What an unimaginable scene. Right out of a horror movie. The President of the United States in a brawl with his former personal lawyer and fixer as to which of them is the bigger liar. Who would have thunk it?
132
Dueling liars. I would tend to believe Mr. Cohen on this one, only because I don't believe a word that spews out of the mouth of Donald Trump.
10
Given that Trump now has no end of disparaging remarks about Michael Cohen as a liar and fraudster, it raises an obvious question as to why he hired him for so long...
13
Cohen is a liar. He admitted to perjury for lying to Congress but he lied to cover for Trump's lies. It looks like Cohen might have lied again about a pardon but does it rise to the level of perjury? I don't know.
Trump says Cohen asked for a pardon directly while Cohen's lawyer's say that his former lawyers asked the question. Since both men are liars it is hard to know the truth but when it comes to lying Trump has no peer.
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I don’t believe a word this president says.
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The story doesn't mention that Cohen spend more than 10 hours in secret with democrats prior to his hearings. You would think that would have been important information for readers.
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In the world we once lived in, I would have said that in matters of fact the word of the President of the United States is an iron-clad guaranty of truth.
It was only two years ago, but it seems like a very distant time, before Trump corrupted our nation so profoundly.
Last week, when Trump and the North Koreans offered conflicting reports on what happened at the failed summit meeting, I didn’t have any idea whom to believe. That’s a tragedy.
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@Charlie B you’d maybe have to look back to Eisenhower. Presidents have been lying for years. Carter, Obama, but then they’re Dems.
They both have a history of significant lying. But at this point I believe Cohen over Trump. And frankly I'm not sure I care if he sought pardon. I appreciate his recent testimony.
And Cohen is light years ahead of Manafort; I can't believe their sentences aren't that different when Cohen cooperated and Manafort continued to lie, lie, lie.
And, finally, the fact that Trump calls Cohen a bad lawyer and fraudster is laughable. They worked together for years. so Cohen was obviously effective at what he did from Trump's perspective. Not to mention Trump, of course, is the biggest 'fraudster' ever.
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@Anne "And Cohen is light years ahead of Manafort; I can't believe their sentences aren't that different when Cohen cooperated and Manafort continued to lie, lie, lie."
Don't forget this is only the first sentence for Manafort. The other one, coming from Judge Amy Berman Jackson, may be quite different. Remember, she is the one who sent him to actual jail for witness tampering and also determined that he had breached his plea deal by lying to prosecutors. (And don't forget his tweet of a picture of her with a crosshair next to her head!)
I hope she will give him a good long sentence, to be served after--not consecutively--with the mild sentence he received from Judge Ellis.
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@Expat Annie
I agree with you.
Just for the record, I’m sure you meant:
“...be served after( i.e., consecutively) not CONCURRENTLY --with the mild sentence he received from Judge Ellis.”
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@Expat Annie
Dear Expat Annie,
Actually the tweet of the Judge with the crosshairs was from Roger Stone, not Paul Manafort.
The elephant in the room: that Mr Trump would associate with such a person, and for so long, casts Mr Trump in a dim light, if what the President says is true.
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The problem is Trump lies all the time. How can a reasonable person tell the difference between fact and fiction. And then there is the Fox News folks. That’s it’s own set of problems.
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At this point, People trust Cohen more than Trump. If anyone wants to prove themselves innocent, all they have to do is get accused by Trump.
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@Kodali People believe Fox News is actual news.
@JR
Sad.
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The problem is, you can't believe Trump. In fact, the odds are very high, that if he says anything, chances are, what he says is a lie.
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When two professional liars accuse each other of lying...I tend to believe them.
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Interesting for Donald Trump to admit that he has been directly discussing pardons with witnesses involved in the Mueller investigation. To paraphrase a memorable line the movie Dodgeball, that's a bold strategy Mr. Trump - let's see how that works out for you.
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