Natasha Bertrand writes:

The frenzy over the reportedly imminent release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s final report—a rumor shot down within days by the Justice Department—had barely subsided when House Democrats announced that they’d snagged the witness of the year to testify in public: President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen.

His appearance on Wednesday before the House Oversight Committee was a day-long spectacle that didn’t disappoint—Cohen testified that Trump had foreknowledge of WikiLeaks’ plans to release embarrassing Democratic emails in 2016; that Trump implicitly asked Cohen to mislead Congress about the Trump Tower Moscow negotiations that continued throughout the election; and that Trump, while president, reimbursed the hush-money payments Cohen made to a porn star on Trump’s behalf just days before his election victory in violation of campaign-finance laws.

Republicans attacked Cohen’s credibility, asking why they should believe someone who has already lied to them once. (Cohen was indicted late last year for making false statements to Congress about the Trump Tower Moscow deal.) Democrats used Cohen as a Rolodex for additional witnesses and corroborating evidence that could help them in their investigations of the president. Most importantly, though, the hearing was a sign of what’s to come: exhaustive congressional probes of Trump’s business dealings that are likely to outlast Mueller. [Continue reading…]