July 27, 2018: In Trumpistan, a "Fine Person" Suddenly Morphs into a "Pathological Liar."

 

7/27/18: After weeks of bobbing and weaving, the president’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, appears poised to turn on his old boss. First, a tape was leaked (see: 7/25/18), showing that in the months leading up to the 2016 election, Candidate Trump knew all about a secret payoff to keep a Playboy Bunny’s story about his and her affair out of the press. 

 

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“A fine person with a wonderful family…who I have always liked & respected.” 

President Trump, describing Cohen in April

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Now multiple sources confirm that Cohen is prepared to state that Trump knew about the infamous secret meeting at Trump Tower in June 2016. 

Naturally, the president’s response to this threat comes Friday morning in three tweets (6:26, 6:38 and 6:56 a.m.). 

Again, we will summarize, because if we combined all Trump’s tweets into one book, it would be a massive and very stupid book. So: “highly conflicted Robert Mueller and his gang of 13 Angry Democrats,” “rigged Witch Hunt,” “stupid and unfair to our Country” and one that bears repeating: 

.....I did NOT know of the meeting with my son, Don jr. Sounds to me like someone [Cohen] is trying to make up stories in order to get himself out of an unrelated jam (Taxi cabs maybe?). He even retained Bill and Crooked Hillary’s lawyer. Gee, I wonder if they helped him make the choice!

 

That allusion to taxis relates to possible tax evasion by Cohen, related to business in New York City. 

(Not that Trump would ever dodge taxes, himself.) 

In what will likely shape up as a battle of he said-he said, the American public may be forced to decide which fellow to believe. It’s a tough call. Both Cohen and Trump are truly shady characters.

 

Then again, as recently as April, the president bemoaned an F.B.I. raid on Cohen’s office – called it “disgraceful” – “an attack on our country” – and insisted Cohen was a “good man.” It was terrible what the “Fake News” New York Times was doing to this fellow, the president wailed. Cohen was “a fine person with a wonderful family…who I have always liked & respected.” 

In May, Rudy Giuliani went to bat for Trump’s aggrieved lawyer pal. It was unclear at that point if Cohen would flip. Rudy was all roses and chocolates. Cohen, he said, was an “honest, honorable lawyer [emphasis added, unless otherwise noted].” 

On July 8, Giuliani chimed in again. Would Cohen flip on his boss, a reporter inquired? No sweat, Rudy responded, “I have no concern that Michael Cohen is going to do anything but tell the truth.”  

Now that it appears Cohen is preparing to flip, the tune Trump and his tootling band want to play has changed. From “Star Spangled Banner” to “The Rogue’s March.” 

In an almost laughable interview on CNN, Giuliani sets out to trash Cohen’s reputation. Horndog Rudy, famous for cheating on assorted wives, says the rat has been “lying for years.” Cohen’s a “pathological liar.” He’s “not creditable.” He’ll put out “a string of lies.” Cohen is “an incredible liar.” And this time you can totally believe Rudy G., a man of his word. 

Not of his wedding vows. 

 

Okay, we’ve all been lying. 

If you love Trump – and you’d like to believe Cohen is the biggest liar in the club – you must ignore the fact that Don Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort “forgot” they had a meeting with the Russians. Then you must pretend Don Jr., with help from dad, never drafted and signed off on a false letter about the purpose of the meeting. Next, tell yourself that Jay Sekulow, a lawyer for Team Trump, never insisted “The president didn’t sign off on anything. He was coming back from the G-20 [summit in Europe]. The statement that was released on Saturday was released by Donald Trump Jr., I’m sure in consultation with his lawyers. The president wasn’t involved in that.” 

Next, pretend Mr. Sekulow never repeated this claim two more times, to complete a rare liar’s trifecta. 

Finally, pay no attention to the fact that Press Secretary Pinocchio assured reporters her boss could not tell a lie even if he tried. In terms of that misleading letter, “The president weighed in, as any father would, based on the limited information that he had,” Sanders said. “He certainly didn’t dictate, but like I said, he weighed in, offered suggestions like any father would do.” 

That was also a lie. 

How do we know? In January 2018, in a confidential letter to Special Counsel Robert Mueller, Sekulow and John Dowd, another Trump lawyer (since kicked off the team) admitted: Okay, we’ve all been lying. Trump did dictate that misleading letter. Well, what can you do! He’s president. 

He can pardon himself.