Day 729: Make it happen.

Friday, January 18, 2019

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1/ Trump personally directed Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about his plans to build a Trump Tower in Moscow in order to obscure his involvement in the deal. Cohen and Trump had at least 10 face-to-face meetings about the deal during the campaig...

Visit WTF Just Happened Today? for more news and headlines, brought to you by Matt Kiser. The WTFJHT Podcast is narrated and produced by Joe Amditis.

Friday, January 18, 2019

Subscribe: Get the Daily Update in your inbox for free

1/ Trump personally directed Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about his plans to build a Trump Tower in Moscow in order to obscure his involvement in the deal. Cohen and Trump had at least 10 face-to-face meetings about the deal during the campaign. Cohen acknowledged to Robert Mueller's team that he had given false testimony to the Senate and House intelligence committees that the Moscow tower negotiations ended in January 2016 were an attempt to "minimize links between the Moscow Project" and Trump "in hopes of limiting the ongoing Russia investigations." Trump also approved a plan by Cohen to visit Russia during the presidential campaign and meet with Putin in order to kick off the negotiations for the Moscow project. "Make it happen," Trump told Cohen. Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr. both regularly received "very detailed updates" about the project from Cohen. The revelation marks the first time Trump is known to have directly – and explicitly – ordered one of his subordinates to lie about his dealings with Russia. (BuzzFeed News)

Court records, sentencing memos, hearings, and charging documents line up with BuzzFeed's reporting. Here are the relevant sections of court filings and how they match the BuzzFeed report. (CNN)

2/ Democrats in Congress vowed to investigate the report that Trump personally directed Cohen to lie to Congress, which could leave the president open to accusations of suborning perjury and obstruction of justice. House Intelligence Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff said "we will do what's necessary to find out if it's true" and that allegations that Trump "may have suborned perjury before our committee in an effort to curtail the investigation and cover up his business dealings with Russia is among the most serious to date." Rep. Jerry Nadler, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, tweeted that the panel's "job is to get to the bottom of it, and we will do that work," adding: "We know that the President has engaged in a long pattern of obstruction." (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / CNN / The Guardian / NBC News)

[Opinion] This charge is different. An explosive report that Trump directed Michael Cohen to lie to Congress provides a straightforwardly impeachable offense. (The Atlantic)

[Opinion] This may be the smoking gun in the Russia investigation. Why, if there was nothing worrisome or untoward about Trump's dealings with Russia, would he instruct Cohen to lie to about the depth and breadth of the conversations between the Trumps and the Russians regarding a potential construction project in Moscow? (CNN)

[Opinion] Impeach Donald Trump. Starting the process will rein in...

Visit WTF Just Happened Today? for more news and headlines, brought to you by Matt Kiser. The WTFJHT Podcast is narrated and produced by Joe Amditis.