One of the least surprising but still bizarre aspects of Wednesday’s Michael Cohen hearing was the Republican Party’s insistence that Cohen—having lied to Congress and having been convicted of crimes—could not testify with any degree of honesty. Considering that so many lawmakers were and are lawyers themselves, you would suspect they would understand that most (if not all) prosecutions of criminal conspiracies at any level include bad people cutting plea deals in return for information and testimony against others. Arguing that Cohen’s guilt and complicity in the Trump administration’s wrongdoings invalidated his testimony sets a precedent that could literally be used to free just about every criminal in a penitentiary.
Republicans went so far as to pretend that Cohen’s appearance before the committee was unprecedented, with Rep. Jody Hice even exclaiming that “for the first time in the history of Congress we have somebody who has already been convicted of lying to Congress. So congratulations for being the first in Congress to do that.” This was a strange thing to say, considering that just a couple of weeks ago, a convicted war criminal who had committed perjury before a congressional committee testified poorly, in front of a congressional committee. Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar didn’t forget that.
Rep. Omar literally asked these same questions of Elliott Abrams less than two weeks ago! Republicans at that hearing acted as if not only was Abrams believable, but he should be massaged through the process with gloves made out of foam.