Why are the Democrats the only adults in the room at the Michael Cohen testimony?

Americans don't really need to know the reasoning behind why there was a Twitter account set up that made Cohen appear to be some kind of sex symbol — but that's what Republican representatives want to concentrate on

27 February 2019 will go down in the chronicles of history as a turning point for what has become the fiasco of the Trump presidency. As Michael Cohen appeared before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, most Americans expected to hear about the intricate inner workings of Donald J Trump’s businesses and personal life over the last decade. What most Americans got was exactly that —if they listened to the portion of the hearing when Democrats were in control of the floor.

Cohen’s opening statement could best be described as a slow yet deadly injection of polonium into the White House’s main artery. Every second of the 30-minute-long opening dialogue seemed to raise the temperature within the hearing room by another tenth of a degree, and I’m sure the same could be said about the president’s Hanoi hotel room in Vietnam.

After having called the president “a racist,” “a conman” and “a cheat”, and slowly delving into multiple crimes and horrendous behaviours allegedly executed by his former boss, Cohen turned the reigns of the hearing over to the Democrats and the Chairman of the committee, Elijah Cummings.

Cummings’ statements were clear, even-keeled and seemingly unbiased. He pointed out that Cohen’s lies to past congressional committees rightfully should make his colleagues on the committee a bit sceptical, but also urged them all to digest the evidence that the former Trump ‘fixer’ brought with him to the hearing.

Republican Rep Jim Jordan was the first from his party to question Cohen. Jordan, who has been one of the president’s fiercest defendants on the Hill over the past 23 months, could apparently only hold out for 35 seconds before bringing “the Clintons” into his conspiracy-heavy rant, which attacked Cohen’s attorney, Lanny Davis, for setting the hearing up in the first place.

“This is the Michael Cohen hearing presented by Lanny Davis,” shouted Jordan. “That’s right, Lanny Davis choreographed the whole darn thing. The Clintons’ best friend, loyalist, operative Lanny Davis put this all together. You know how we know? He told our staff.”

While Davis did serve as a special counsel to President Bill Clinton over 20 years ago, and was a spokesperson for Clinton and his White House on a variety of legal issues, there is no evidence that Davis has any current ties to either member of the Clinton family.

As the hearing progressed, Democrat after Democrat appeared to seek information related to evidence and facts that Cohen could provide as the eyes and ears of Donald Trump for over a decade. They asked key questions in order to better understand the dynamic between the two men, possible crimes committed on the part of Trump, and racist or immoral behavior carried out by the current president.

Republicans, on the other hand, appeared to focus on anything but Cohen’s story as it relates to the president. Instead they concentrated on Cohen’s personal tax and bank crimes, the creation of a “Women For Cohen” Twitter account, and any other way to try and embarrass or intimidate him as a witness.

Do Americans really need to know the reasoning behind why there was a Twitter account set up that made Cohen appear to be some kind of sex symbol? Perhaps Congress should have spent this much time in 2016 looking into the hundreds of Twitter accounts allegedly set up by Russia’s military intelligence service, the GRU, which appear to have had a potential impact on the outcome of the election that year.

It’s to be expected that these hearings will have a partisan bias to them. With this said, when that bias completely ignores a very likely threat sitting within the Oval office, a threat that may be detrimental to the safety and security of every American citizen, both parties have an equally important obligation to act like adults and stop trying to hide from their constitutional responsibilities.

Democratic Rep Brenda Lawrence said it best today during the hearing: “It is not about discrediting the president. It’s about the oath of office that we take as members of Congress to have checks and balances and to meet the laws and the policies of this country to serve.”

The Republican party has failed miserably today, and there appears to be no sign that this failure will be corrected as the United States likely heads to an eventual impeachment showdown.

Brian Krassenstein is co-founder of HillReporter.com and the KrassenCast.com Podcast