Graham 'hell bent' on filling next Supreme Court vacancy with conservative justice, amid Ginsburg health woes

South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham told "Fox News Sunday" that he is "hell-bent" on ensuring that the next Supreme Court vacancy -- whether it is ailing Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's seat or otherwise -- is filled by a conservative, regardless of what outrage follows from the left.
Graham, the new chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, emphasized that former Democratic Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid eliminated the Senate filibuster for federal appellate judicial nominees in 2013. Republicans later retaliated by eliminating the filibuster for Supreme Court appointments, meaning that a simple majority -- rather than a 60-vote supermajority -- is sufficient to confirm new Supreme Court nominees.
"My Democratic colleagues felt when they were in charge we should confirm judges by a majority vote," Graham told Fox News' Chris Wallace. "They changed the rules to accommodate President Obama. They tried to stack the court. They never thought [Hillary] Clinton would lose. So what you’re gonna have is Harry Reid’s and Chuck Schumer’s desire to stack the court on their Democratic watch has come back to haunt them."
Ginsburg will miss next week’s Supreme sessions and work from home, but her recovery from early-stage lung cancer surgery remains "on track" and no further treatment is needed, the court announced Friday. The 85-year-old’s absence this past week from oral arguments -- her first since joining the bench -- after her surgery in December sparked speculation about a possible departure and led to low-key planning by the White House for that scenario.
Following the contentious confirmation hearings of now-Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh, which were marked by a series of lurid, uncorroborated sexual misconduct allegations, Graham asserted that there would be "pushback from the left" regardless of whom Trump nominates.
"If there is an opening, whether it’s Ginsburg or anybody else, I will urge the president to nominate a qualified conservative and hopefully those people will get through – that person will get through," Graham continued. "And I expect it to be along party lines, and this is what happens when you change the rules. This has come back to bite ' em. I predicted it would. And we’ll see. I hope Justice Ginsburg serves for a long time. But if there’s an opening on this court, I’m going to be hell-bent to put a conservative to replace whoever steps down for whatever reason."
Pressed by Wallace as to whether it was appropriate to nominate a conservative to replace a liberal icon like Ginsburg, Graham again said liberals have only Reid to blame -- and he suggested Kavanaugh's treatment meant that all bets are off.
"They should’ve thought of that before they changed the rules," Graham responded. "They tried to destroy conservative judges. I voted for [Sonia] Sotomayor and [Elena] Kagan, understanding what I was getting, so this decision by Reid and Schumer may come back to haunt them, but I am dead set on making sure it is a conservative nominee. And elections have consequences. The rules of the Senate were changed not by me, by them, and we had to do it on the Supreme Court because they would not give us any votes to nominate anybody. And Kavanaugh was a fine man, they tried to destroy him. All this is going to come back to haunt them one day."
He added: "We don't need one Democrat to replace a liberal justice. And the reason that that's the case is because of what Harry Reid did. What he set in motion."
Separately, Graham asserted that President Trump is still ready and willing to make a deal with congressional Democrats to end the ongoing partial federal government shutdown, although the window is rapidly closing.
Graham suggested that the White House would likely approve a compromise that extended protections afforded to Temporary Protected Status (TPS) recipients who fled natural disasters, in exchange for funding for Trump's proposed border wall.

On the 20th day of a partial government shutdown, federal employees rally at the Capitol to protest the impasse between Congress and President Donald Trump over his demand to fund a U.S.-Mexico border wall, in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 10, 2019. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

"I just talked to him about thirty minutes ago -- he says, 'Let's make a deal,'" Graham told host Chris Wallace. "The plan is to do a deal. He is willing, in my view, to do wall-plus. Funding for the wall that we desperately need, that's been done in the past  -- see if we can do a deal around the TPS recipients. There's about 400,000. They're going to lose their legal status soon. He's willing to extend that."
Graham added that Trump would be willing to offer work permits to recipients of the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program for those brought to the U.S. illegally as children -- a compromise the White House had backed last summer. However, Graham noted, Trump's planned rescission of the DACA program is working its way through the appellate court process, as several federal judges have ruled that the White House violated federal administrative law by ending DACA without offering legally sufficient notice or justification. (The Trump administration has primarily argued that DACA was unconstitutionally enacted by Obama's unilateral order.)
"The DACA recipients, they’re all tied up in court, but I think he would give them work permits for three years, one-time renewable, if he could get wall funding." Graham said. "I don’t want to speak for the president. I don’t want to lock him in. But I’m confident what I just described with a few other things would be a deal acceptable to the White House and a lot of Democrats, and I’m just so frustrated we can’t get in a room and hammer it out."
Graham on Friday urged Trump to invoke his presidential emergency powers to immediately begin construction of the wall without congressional approval.   The White House last week directed the Army Corps of Engineers to look at possible ways of funding border security, including potentially through the reallocation of unspent disaster relief funds, in a possible sign the administration is moving in that direction.

"What's [Trump] supposed to do, just give in? He's not gonna give in."
— South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham

The South Carolina senator told Wallace he's not worried about Democrats similarly invoking a state of emergency to bypass Congress, both because they would have a weaker legislative argument and because Republicans would likely be more willing to compromise to achieve a compromise solution.
Challenged by Wallace for his criticism of President Obama's use of executive authority to enact DACA as "presidential overreach," Graham responded that no emergency was declared to enact DACA. Should the White House move forward with an emergency declaration, it has a handful of legal routes to take. The National Emergencies Act grants the president broad authority to declare emergencies, and several federal laws then could clear a path for the White House to move ahead with building a wall.

One statute, 33 U.S. Code § 2293 - "Reprogramming during national emergencies," permits the president to "apply the resources of the Department of the Army’s civil works program, including funds, personnel, and equipment, to construct or assist in the construction, operation, maintenance, and repair of authorized civil works, military construction, and civil defense projects that are essential to the national defense."
Another law, 10 U.S. Code § 2808 - "Construction authority in the event of a declaration of war or national emergency," permits the secretary of defense, in a presidentially declared emergency, to use "funds that have been appropriated for military construction" for the purpose of undertaking "military construction projects."
Graham said reasonable Democrats -- including Delaware Democratic Sen. Chris Coons, who spoke to Wallace later on "Fox News Sunday" and suggested he is open to negotiation on the border wall -- would be willing to make a deal without forcing Trump to use those emergency powers. ("I agree with the advice that Lindsey Graham just gave to the President which is that he should reopen the government and we should spend several weeks negotiating over what we can all agree on," Coons said. "I personally don’t think that a border wall is .... immoral.")
But, Graham said, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi -- who has called the wall an "immorality" -- has unreasonably cut off negotiations by saying she would not give more than one dollar to Trump's wall under any circumstances.
"Every Democrat that I've worked with for about 10 years now has agreed to funding for barriers/walls on Obama's watch, on Bush's watch, and all of a sudden it's a bad thing on Trump's watch," Graham told Wallace. "What's [Trump] supposed to do, just give in? He's not gonna give in."
Graham concluded with his own possible last-minute fix to the partial federal government shutdown, which became the longest in the nation's history on Wednesday.
"I would urge him to open up the government for a short period of time, like three weeks, before he pulls the plug," Graham said. "See if we can get a deal. If we can’t at the end of three weeks, all bets are off. See if he can do it by himself through the emergency powers. That’s my recommendation. But I think the legislative path is just about shut off because Nancy Pelosi, the leader of the House, said ‘Even if you open up the government, I’ll give you one dollar for the wall.’ As long as that’s the case, we’re never gonna get a legislative package, no matter what the Senate does."

Broadway Show Hamilton Cartoons

U.S. airports fear rising turmoil as personnel work without pay (But the Democrats are in Puerto Rico vacationing)

A Transportation Security Administration officer works at the entrance to Concourse G at Miami International Airport, Friday, Jan. 11, 2019, in Miami. The airport is closing Terminal G this weekend as the federal government shutdown stretches toward a fourth week because security screeners have been calling in sick at twice the airport’s normal rate. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 3:20 PM PT Sat. Jan. 12, 2018

Airports across the country begin feeling the effects of the partial shutdown.
On Saturday, Miami’s International Airport closes one of it’s terminals due to security screeners calling in sick at twice the airport’s normal rate.
An airport spokesman said Terminal G would close at 1 p.m. local time, and will reopen for flights Sunday morning, and then close again that afternoon.
Reports said Terminal G is currently closed, and will reopen for flights Sunday morning, before closing again that afternoon.
Reports said Terminal G is the slowest running concourse, making up 3% of the daily flights.
Nationwide, there are about 51,000 airport security agents who have been working without pay since the shutdown started December 22nd.
This week, air traffic controllers protested, calling for an end to the shutdown.
“As this continues to go on the layers of safety are being reduced into our airspace system for no reason whatsoever,” said Paul Rinaldi, The President of National Air Traffic Control Association. “We don’t want to be in this tug of war. We want to run the safest system in the world – end the shutdown, end shutdown.”
On Friday, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association filed a lawsuit against the government, saying the shutdown has devastated the lives of workers, and impacted the safety of passengers.
It also states it is illegal to make people work without pay.
 But the Democrats are in Puerto Rico vacationing

Caravan forming in Honduras, could be larger than previous attempt

Honduran migrants walk toward the United States in Chiquimula, Guatemala, on Wednesday. A migrant caravan set out on Oct. 13 from the impoverished, violence-plagued country and was headed north on the long journey through Guatemala and Mexico to the U.S. border.Orlando Estrada / AFP – Getty Images

OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 8:30 AM Sat. Jan. 12, 2018

Another migrant caravan is reportedly forming in Honduras.
The caravan’s organizers plan to leave for the U.S. sometime next week, and they are using social media as a way to spread the word.
Mexico is already sending hundreds of additional law enforcement agents to its southern border, in anticipation of the caravan.
Mexican officials said migrants who apply for visas will be allowed into the country legally, but that anyone who tries to cross the border unlawfully will be apprehended.
Word of the caravan has reached the U.S. as well, with President Trump saying this is another example of why Democrats need to provide border wall funding.
“A caravan is forming right now in Honduras,” said President Trump. “It’s supposed to be bigger than the other caravans. We will handle that as it comes up. If we had a wall, we wouldn’t have any problems. But we don’t, so we will handle it”.
If the caravan departs as scheduled next week, the migrants could begin arriving as early as mid February.

State Dept. allowed thousands of child brides into U.S. over past decade

OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 8:10 AM Sat. Jan. 12, 2018

A new report claims, the State Department approved thousands of requests made by adult men over the past decade, to bring adolescent brides into the U.S.
The results of a Senate committee investigation published Friday, said the department granted more than 5,500 requests to bring underage spouses to America.

 WASHINGTON, DC – SEPTEMBER 12: A sign stand outside the U.S. State Department September 12, 2012 in Washington, DC. U.S. Ambassador to Libya J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed in an attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

 

OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 8:10 AM Sat. Jan. 12, 2018

A new report claims, the State Department approved thousands of requests made by adult men over the past decade, to bring adolescent brides into the U.S.
The results of a Senate committee investigation published Friday, said the department granted more than 5,500 requests to bring underage spouses to America.
The discovery has prompted lawmakers to consider new restrictions, because the grants were approved legally under the Immigration and Nationality Act, which does not set minimum age requirements.
“It’s really U.S. government policy to try to prevent child marriages and forced marriages — it’s easier said than done though,” said Senator Ron Johnson.
President Trump has made it a top priority for his administration to address what he calls the ‘nation’s broken immigration system’.

Dems fly to Puerto Rico on chartered jet, meet with lobbyists, see 'Hamilton' as shutdown drags on

U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., left, was spotted on the beach Saturday in Puerto Rico, where some 30 Democrats gathered amid the partial government shutdown to meet with lobbyists and see the play "Hamilton," starring Lin-Manuel Miranda, right. The woman with Menendez was not identified. (David McAlpine, Fox News/Associated Press)

Despite a partial government shutdown with no end in sight, about 30 Democratic members of Congress traveled to Puerto Rico this weekend -- with their families and lobbyists -- for a winter retreat where they also planned to see a special performance of the hit Broadway show “Hamilton.”
Those attending the Congressional Hispanic Caucus BOLD PAC gathering in San Juan also planned to meet Saturday with Puerto Rican officials to discuss ongoing cleanup efforts from Hurricane Maria, according to a report.
FLORIDA DEMOCRAT GOT 'HAMILTON' TICKETS FROM UNDERCOVER FBI AGENT, RECORDS SHOW
“This year’s winter retreat promises to be our most widely attended yet with over 220 guests, including 39 Members of Congress and CHC BOLD PAC supporters expected to attend and participate!” a planning memo said.
The junket is taking place at a seaside resort where rooms run around $429 a night. The participants paid for the "Hamilton" tickets with their own funds, the Washington Examiner reported.
"Hamilton" creator Lin-Manuel Miranda began a two-week run of his hit play Friday in Puerto Rico to raise money for artists and cultural groups still struggling in wake of Hurricane Maria. Tickets for opening night ranged from $10 to $5,000, according to the Associated Press.
“I have never felt anything like that,” Miranda said of the crowd’s energy, adding that singing the song “Hurricane” was a challenge. “It was very hard to sing that here in Puerto Rico because you know better than I what it is to survive a hurricane. I feel like I’m going back to Maria a little bit every time I sing it.”
TRUMP TELLS JUDGE JEANINE PIRRO THAT DEMS MUST 'COME TO THEIR SENSES' ON BORDER SECURITY
Around 109 lobbyists and corporate executives are named in a memo welcoming the guests, which include some from prominent Washington firms, R.J. Reynolds, Facebook, Comcast, Amazon, PhRMA, Microsoft, Intel, Verizon, and unions like the National Education Association.
A spokesman for the BOLD PAC -- part of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus -- would not tell the Examiner which members of Congress would be attending. But U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., was spotted on the beach Saturday, according to a FOX News producer.
The Dems' visit comes amid the ongoing partial government shutdown that has left around 800,000 federal workers with no pay since it began Dec. 22, making it the longest government closure in U.S. history.
“As our Bold PAC members make their way to Puerto Rico for this important weekend — the largest contingency of House Democrats to visit Puerto Rico where they'll be hearing from Commonwealth and local elected officials about the ongoing recovery efforts — we will be closely monitoring the situation in Washington,” Bold PAC Chair Rep. Tony Cardenas said in a statement. “If there is any progress by Senate Republicans or the White House to reopen the federal government, then we will act accordingly."
The chartered jet that carried the attendees also brought 250 pounds of donated medical supplies. The trip is the largest congressional delegation to the island since it was devastated by the September 2017 hurricane.
Julian Castro, former Housing and Urban Development secretary and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, will attend a summit on the island on Monday, according to the Examiner.

Moralistic Democrat Cartoons

U.S. troops begin withdrawing from Syria

OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 8:01 AM PT — Friday, January 11, 2019

The U.S. is reportedly beginning the process of withdrawing troops from Syria. While he didn’t release details, a U.S. military official recently said equipment is being removed from the region.
This comes just three-weeks after President Trump announced he is bringing troops home. Stalling the process were fears about Turkey invading territory held by Kurdish allies to the U.S., and leaving a power vacuum in the war-torn country. However, the Kurds reached out to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for help.

FILE – In this Wednesday, April 4, 2018 file photo, a U.S. soldier, left, sits on an armored vehicle behind a sand barrier at a newly installed position near the front line between the U.S-backed Syrian Manbij Military Council and the Turkish-backed fighters, in Manbij, north Syria. An American military official said Friday, Jan. 11, 2019 that the U.S.-led military coalition has begun the process of withdrawing troops from Syria. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File)

International players in the conflict have been in talks about the future of former U.S. territory in Syria. Russia is mediating talks between the Syrian government and the Kurds to ensure a smooth transition when U.S. troops leave the region.
While speaking to reporters Friday, a spokesperson for Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said establishing dialogue is vital to maintaining peace.The spokesperson also urged the U.S. to hand over its territory to Assad amid threats from Turkey of a possible attack on Kurds in the region.
However, Moscow has not officially picked a side in the brewing conflict as Russian President Vladimir Putin prepares to meet with his Turkish counterpart later this month.
National Security Advisor John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have both visited countries in the region to explain the shift in U.S. policy.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, other Dems want you to embrace a socialist agenda – Here are 4 glaring examples

For decades, the Democratic Party has been steadily moving away from its roots as America’s self-proclaimed champion of the middle class, instead choosing to embrace radical identity politics and a socialist agenda. Democrats are quickly becoming the party of Karl Marx and Che Guevara, not John Kennedy.
The rise of the far left in the Democratic Party has perhaps never been more evident than since Democrats recaptured the House of Representatives in the November 2018 midterm elections. The following are just some of the most socialistic and radical plans now garnering significant support among Democrats in Congress.
Government-run, single-payer health care.
Rep. John Yarmouth, D-Ky., the chairman of the powerful House Budget Committee, recently issued a request to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to conduct an analysis of the costs of transforming the United States’ current health insurance system into a government-run, single-payer model – the plan embraced by Senators Cory Booker, D-N.J., Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and self-described socialist Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. Yarmouth’s request is a signal that Democrats are in the early stages of preparing for a future vote on single-payer legislation.
AMERICA'S PROGRESSIVES ARE SO BUSY EXTOLLING VIRTUES OF SOCIALISM THAT THEY WANT YOU TO IGNORE THIS
A single-payer program in line with Sen. Sanders’ “Medicare for All” proposal would cost $32 trillion in its first 10 years, according to an analysis by the Mercatus Center – an amount so high Mercatus estimates that doubling existing individual and corporate taxes wouldn’t be enough to cover the costs.
Not only would putting the government in charge of health care cost trillions of dollars, but it would also force Americans to endure many of the same problems plaguing government-run health care models around the world, including long wait times for patients and rationing of care. The Fraser Institute reports that patients in Canada, which has a single-payer health care model, who require “medically necessary elective orthopedic surgery” wait on average 41.7 weeks – about 10 months – before receiving treatment. Patients requiring elective neurosurgery, including many patients who have brain tumors, wait 32.9 weeks.
If Democrats have it their way, Americans will be subjected to similar problems, and millions of people will inevitably suffer as a result.
The elimination of all fossil fuels; socialized energy.
One of the Democrats’ most controversial and destructive proposals is newly-elected Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s, D-N.Y., “Green New Deal.” This far-reaching plan would eliminate all fossil fuels by 2030, including from agriculture, manufacturing, transportation, and the entire electric grid.
Ending the fossil-fuel industry would potentially destroy millions of jobs and require an unprecedented investment in expensive and unreliable renewable energy sources like wind and solar power generation. Even worse, because wind and solar cost two to five times more than existing conventional energy sources, requiring huge sectors of the economy to rely on these renewables would increase the cost of all goods and services and drive countless businesses out of the country.
The “Green New Deal” doesn’t stop there, however. It would also socialize much of the newly-created renewable energy industry and require “upgrades” to nearly every building in the country – a provision that would likely cost trillions of dollars and insert the federal government into every American’s home.
Massive tax increases.
Rep. Ocasio-Cortez has called for increasing the top marginal tax rate for some wealthy Americans to as high as 70 percent. If enacted, Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist says it would be the highest tax rate in the industrialized world.
Democrats have also proposed a dramatic increase to America’s corporate tax rate. Rep. Yarmouth has said he favors raising the corporate rate from 21 percent to 28 percent – a 33 percent increase. This would be one of the largest corporate tax hikes in recent history, and it would roll back much of the reduction to the corporate tax rate passed by Republicans and President Donald Trump as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.
Those tax cuts, coupled with the Trump administration’s regulatory rollbacks, have spurred remarkable economic growth in the United States. According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 2.8 million full-time jobs were created from January 2018 to December 2018 – 688,000 more than the number of jobs created during the same period in 2017.
Increasing tax rates on corporations would likely cause a substantial economic slowdown and might even cause corporations that have expanded their operations to lay off newly-hired workers.
Abolishing the electoral college.
Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., introduced legislation to create a constitutional amendment that would eliminate the electoral college system and replace it with a model based entirely on the outcome of the national popular vote. (Democratic presidential candidates Al Gore (2000) and Hillary Clinton (2016) both won the popular vote but lost the presidential election because their challengers won more electoral college votes.)
The electoral college system for electing presidents is an essential part of our federalist system of government and was a key component to the passage of the Constitution in 1787. The electoral college enhances the power of voters in smaller states. Without the electoral college, voters in a handful of highly populated states would have significantly more power to determine the outcome of every presidential election, which is exactly what Democrats want. About three in 10 votes cast in the 2016 election occurred in just seven Democratic-leaning states: California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Virginia and Washington State.
If the electoral college is abolished, voters in much of the Midwest, South and Mountain West regions – especially in rural areas – will be ignored in future presidential elections.
Together, these proposals represent a remarkable shift toward socialism and the centralization of power, and away from the principles that have made the United States the most prosperous, successful nation in human history: individual liberty and free markets.
Americans everywhere must stand against these radical ideas. If we don’t, the United States will, over the next few decades, begin to look increasingly more like the Soviet Union and less like the country created by our Founding Fathers.

Michael Cohen, seeking vindication, can’t use most ammunition against Trump

Some journalists are already touting Michael Cohen as the next John Dean, casting his upcoming congressional testimony as nothing short of historic.
But they are probably jacking up expectations too high.
While President Trump’s former personal lawyer turning on him before a House committee will be a television spectacle, Cohen’s allies say he will testify under great constraints.
The larger story, they say, is how this man who tied himself so closely to Trump has been utterly devastated—and is, in a sense, seeking redemption.
Cohen is flat broke. His wife and family are under enormous emotional strain. He is getting surgery a week before his testimony for a bone spur in his shoulder that has left him unable to lift his arm. The family is living in a hotel room with insurance payments following a flood at their home.
And a month after his Feb. 7 Hill appearance, Cohen reports to prison for three years.
In short, these sources say, Cohen will offer compelling testimony, but those who expect him to be able to fire a silver bullet that would bring down the president are going to be sorely disappointed. Cohen may have important new information that he has disclosed to Robert Mueller in 70 hours of interviews with prosecutors, but if so, he won’t be able to reveal it.
The major limitation, as Cohen has said, is that he can’t discuss anything still under investigation by the special counsel. That means Cohen, who is still hoping for a reduction in his sentence, can’t answer questions about Russian collusion or the proposed real estate project in Moscow. It also means he can’t address the 2016 Trump Tower meeting between Paul Manafort, Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner and a Russian lawyer (who was recently indicted on money-laundering charges).
“I expect Michael’s testimony will be personal, not partisan, and compelling,” Lanny Davis, again acting as Cohen’s attorney, told me. “He will describe what he did for Mr. Trump for 10 years that he now looks back on, as stated in court, with shame and regret. And he will explain what caused him, on July 2, 2018, to turn and put his family and country first; recognizing the dangers to the country in Mr. Trump’s misconduct and reckless behavior.”
In the interview, Davis implied a further reason for Cohen’s desire to testify.
Given the fraud and lying charges in the two Cohen guilty pleas, Davis said he “and many others believe the length of incarceration time, compared to others who committed far worse offenses, is disproportionately excessive and unjust. I hope someone in the Justice Department focuses on the word ‘justice’ when assessing the fairness of Michael’s three-year prison term. What they need to ask themselves is, would he have received this time if he had been someone who didn’t work for Donald Trump?”
The contours of the testimony are likely to frustrate Republican members of the oversight committee, now chaired by Democrat Elijah Cummings. Some may ask why Cohen is there if he is unable to answer questions on such vital topics.
What’s more, they will point out that Cohen is an acknowledged liar and ask why he should still be viewed as credible.
The New York lawyer wants to explain why he went to work for Trump, why he is ashamed of having worked for Trump, and how he made the decision last July to turn on his longtime benefactor, who has called him a “weak person” and a “rat.”
Part of that explanation will focus on Cohen’s view that while certain behavior might be tolerable in a private businessman, the standards are very different when that person becomes president.
Cohen will offer personal anecdotes about his service to Trump and what he has termed his complicity in “dirty deeds,” the sources say. These would likely be unflattering blasts from the past but could have little to do with his record as president.
The one area in which Cohen may shed some light, since it’s part of the public record, is on the hush money payments to former porn star Stormy Daniels and ex-Playboy model Karen McDougal. Cohen has already said he was doing Trump’s bidding in both cases—the lawyer paid Daniels $130,000 and was reimbursed by the boss—but could fill in key details under questioning.
Dean, who was Richard Nixon’s White House counsel, broke open the Watergate coverup with his Senate testimony and wound up spending four months in jail. But he knew that conspiracy from the inside because he was a willing participant before turning against Nixon.
Cohen, having never gotten the White House job he wanted, is not in a similar position, no matter how much media hype surrounds his testimony. But like John Dean, he appears to view the appearance as a final chance to vindicate his reputation before heading off to prison.
“My heart goes out to Michael and his family,” Davis told me. “They are under great duress and strain.”