What have we learned from the latest flood of news regarding Michael Cohen, the president’s personal lawyer whose consulting firm accepted payments from Russian oligarchs and major corporations?
For one, the Washington swamp hasn’t been drained so much as replaced by influence peddlers of a Trumpian variety. Another: that companies will throw ridiculous amounts of money at just the possibility of having proximity to power. Novartis, for instance, paid out to Cohen a $1.2 million contract that resulted in just one meeting before the pharmaceutical giant determined Cohen couldn’t deliver.
But the most important revelation is that the special counsel’s office is and has been investigating the post-election payments Cohen received from Viktor Vekselberg, a Russian oligarch who has since been sanctioned by the U.S. government. It’s not clear the claims from Stormy Daniels’s attorney that those payments by Vekselberg helped fund a “slush fund” for Cohen to pay off women to help Trump are anything more than conjecture. And just because Robert Mueller’s team has been looking into those payments doesn’t mean they are necessarily the smoking gun that proves Trump’s team colluded with the Russians.
The public, however, has only just learned about Cohen’s “consulting” businesses in the last few days. Mueller has been investigating them for months. It’s worth keeping in mind that we know far less than Mueller does—and that a full airing of the facts after the investigation is complete will be more useful in determining whether there was any wrongdoing on the part of the president or his campaign. Despite a steady drumbeat from Trump allies to end the special counsel, the newest information about Cohen suggests there may be more we just don’t know.
Trump Tweet of the Day
Gina Haspel did a spectacular job today. There is nobody even close to run the CIA!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 10, 2018
The White House appeared pleased with the performance of its CIA director nominee, Gina Haspel, during Wednesday’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Intelligence committee. Republicans both at the White House and on Capitol Hill expressed confidence after the hearing, in which Democrats grilled Haspel about the 33-year veteran’s views on the long-defunct enhanced interrogation of suspected terrorists.
Only one Democrat seemed satisfied after the hearing: Joe Manchin of West Virginia, one of the red-state Democrats on the White House’s target list for defectors, who voiced his support for Haspel. Maine independent Angus King, another target vote, announced shortly after the hearing he would not support Haspel. The White House is holding out hope to peel off Joe Donnelly of Indiana, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, and possibly Bill Nelson of Florida.
Meanwhile, besides Kentucky senator Rand Paul, only one other Republican has so far said he would oppose Haspel’s confirmation: John McCain, who while undergoing cancer treatment in Arizona is not expected to be in Washington for the vote. Maine Republican Susan Collins, after sounding skeptical during the hearing, said she would support her, while Jeff Flake of Arizona remains on the fence.
Must-Read of the Day—Jenna Lifhits writes at the website how Gina Haspel “helped tear down an old-boys culture” at the CIA.
The three U.S. citizens who were until this week wrongfully detained in North Korea are home. They arrived on American soil in the company of secretary of State Mike Pompeo early Thursday morning, where they were greeted by a celebratory welcome party led by President Trump.
News of the release was first reported last week by a South Korean activist who claimed the three men had been removed from the labor camp where they had been serving and accommodated at a hotel in Pyongyang. On Tuesday, President Trump announced that Pompeo was traveling to North Korea to assume custody of the hostages.
Discussing the situation in a cabinet meeting Thursday, Trump spoke with guarded optimism, thanking Kim for releasing the hostages and saying their upcoming meeting will be “a very important event.” When a reporter asked whether he thinks he deserves a Nobel Peace Prize, Trump laughed, saying “everyone thinks so, but I would never say it.”
“You know what I want to do? I want to get it finished. The prize I want is victory for the world, not even here,” Trump added. “So that’s the only prize I want.”
Mark It Down—“I don’t know that there will be one by the end of this year.” —Sarah Huckabee Sanders, White House press secretary, on the future of a Trump-backed infrastructure bill passing Congress, May 9, 2018
2018 Watch—Perhaps the Democrats won’t be able to waltz to a majority in the House of Representatives this November. A new CNN poll of the generic ballot shows Republicans just three points behind Democrats, 47 percent to 44 percent. But the important indicator is the trend and the GOP has been slowly gaining ground in recent months.
Song of the Day—“Move On Up” by Curtis Mayfield
