Press lies about Cohen testimony

The Press coverage of the public testimony by Cohen in front of the House Intelligence Committee has been at least incompetent and more probably deceptive and biased. The Press complains that the Republicans spent their time calling Cohen a liar and never directly refuted anything Cohen presented.
The earliest questions put forward by the Republicans were indeed directed at Cohen’s credibility. However, in relating this, the Press has conveniently ignored the very first complaint that the Democrats failed to provide any advance information about Cohen’s testimony or opening statement to the Republican’s as required by the Committees own rules. Thus, the Republicans had no knowledge of what accusations would be made.
In spite of this, the Republicans challenged a number of Cohen’s accusations and identified several discrepancies in his testimony.
Cohen claimed that payments he made to “Stormy Daniels” were uniquely a payment driven by the fact that Trump was running for President. Cohen went on to testify that the Trump organization had practiced “catch and kill” to pay off would be detractors over the entire period of Cohen’s relationship dating back to 2007. Democrats tried to establish that the payments were a campaign paymrnt, even though a personal payment from Trump would not make it so. Cohen testified that he received twelve payments for legal services greatly exceeding the value of the payment he made and declared these payments as income on his taxes totaling contradicting the earlier testimony and the Democrat’s assertions.
Cohen claimed that a phone call from Oliver Stone reporting that Julian Assange intended to release a volume of emails damaging to Hillary Clinton constituted a confidential agreement and advanced knowledge of the event by President Trump. The Republicans established as every reporter should know that the anticipated release had been publicly announced and was well known for over a month.
Cohen testified that he had a change of heart about Trump as a result of the events in Helsinki and Charlotte. The Republicans demonstrated that Cohen had submitted a manuscript for a book praising Trump a year after those events.
Cohen testified that he had never sought a position in the White House. The Republicans presented evidence including court documents from the Southern District of New York saying the opposite.
Perhaps the most ludicrous example of the deception is the testimony about the supposed collusion based upon the Moscow Hotel deal. Cohen has plead guilty to lying to Congress about the length of this process and the Democrats and media have accused Trump of lying because he said he had no business in Moscow. Based upon Cohen’s testimony the only activity on this effort was that the Trump Organization had submitted a proposal. The submission of a proposal does not constitute the establishment of a business relationship. Cohen testified that in response to queries by Trump, the only thing Cohen could tell him was that there had been no advancement of the proposal. Cohen testified that he was not even able to establish the real owners of the property they were interested in. What makes this so ludicrous is that it conflicts with the entire idea that Russia was interested in influencing or helping Trump. If the Russians were interested in compromising or influencing Trump, why would they simply ignore this entire area of Trump’s business interest?
The fact that the Press continues to lie about these issues is disturbing, but not nearly as upsetting as recognizing the lies being put forward by the Democrats. It is time to hold everyone in the Government who lies accountable for their deception without consideration of their Party affiliation.