The testimony Wednesday by former Trump attorney and convicted perjurer Michael Cohen before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform did not produce the smoking guns that Democrats were hoping for, but it did produce a prodigious amount of fake news.
Several members of the committee noted beforehand and during the hearing the oddity of Cohen testifying before a congressional committee as he’s headed to prison for lying to Congress:
As Michael Cohen speaks, think about how remarkable it is: a man convicted of LYING to Congress is now appearing before Congress again… just weeks later. Invited by the Democrats as their star 'witness.'
And all the while, the left hails his every word as gospel.
— Mark Meadows (@RepMarkMeadows) February 27, 2019
"This may be the first time someone convicted of lying to Congress has appeared again so quickly in front of Congress. Certainly it's the first time a convicted perjurer has been brought back to be a star witness in a hearing."
– Rep. @Jim_Jordan on Michael Cohen pic.twitter.com/CEExzAI9D4
— BlazeTV (@BlazeTV) February 27, 2019
But it seems that Cohen wasn’t the only liar.
NBC News Capitol Hill correspondent Kasie Hunt was at the hearing and reported on-air about the proceedings. After Cohen’s testimony, she made a flatly false assertion about a phone conversation between Trump confidant Roger Stone and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in response to a WikiLeaks tweet about Cohen’s claims that Trump had foreknowledge of Wikileaks’ DNC email drop.
In this hearing, Michael Cohen isn't alleging that Roger Stone had a "telephone call" with Julian Assange. He said Roger Stone called Donald Trump saying that he had communicated with Assange. https://t.co/Neao4w1xWS
— Kasie Hunt (@kasie) February 27, 2019
Hunt attempted to refute WikiLeaks by claiming that Cohen did not testify that Stone and Assange had a phone call — even though that is specifically what Cohen claimed in his written testimony submitted to the committee last night.
On page 10 of Cohen’s written testimony, he unmistakably claims that there had been a phone call between the two:
“Mr. Stone told Mr. Trump that he had just gotten off the phone with Julian Assange and that Mr. Assange told Mr. Stone that, within a couple of days, there would be a massive dump of emails that would damage Hillary Clinton’s campaign,” Cohen wrote.
And as WikiLeaks noted in response to Hunt’s tweet, Cohen clearly claimed it was a phone call between Stone and Assange during his testimony before the committee:
That's literally exactly what he stated in both his written and oral testimony as the following video clip makes clear. @NBCNews/@MSNBC are ridiculous. Their Capital Hill correspondent is tweeting blatant falsehoods to hundreds of thousands of people. pic.twitter.com/hzEnjIiO4a
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) February 28, 2019
Hours later, Hunt had still not corrected her verifiably false claim.
When Cohen’s testimony was released last night, many news outlets were quick to hype his claim about Trump’s foreknowledge of WikiLeaks’ DNC email release:
Donald Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen is prepared to testify to Congress that Trump lied repeatedly about a number of matters, made a host of racist statements & knew about Roger Stone's efforts to reach out to WikiLeaks ahead of its DNC email dump https://t.co/FhwqBEwhu1 pic.twitter.com/lClxnt0D01
— CNN (@CNN) February 27, 2019
JUST IN: Cohen to deliver scathing testimony alleging Trump knew Stone coordinated with WikiLeaks on DNC emails https://t.co/1g1ex71f6K pic.twitter.com/tsqcoMRkKu
— The Hill (@thehill) February 27, 2019
Congressman Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) even told CNN it would lead to Trump’s indictment:
"It looks now… that there may be an indictment waiting for the President… when he leaves office," Democrat @RepSwalwell tells @donlemon, as Michael Cohen prepares to testify that Trump knew Roger Stone talked with WikiLeaks about the DNC email dump. https://t.co/SSeDLCdoe5 pic.twitter.com/m9PcNQNdx9
— CNN Tonight (@CNNTonight) February 27, 2019
WikiLeaks quickly issued a denial:
(note that WikiLeaks had already publicly announced its pending publications and has always denied speaking to Roger Stone)
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) February 27, 2019
Before Democrats start dropping impeachment resolutions, it bears reminding that Michael Cohen has already been convicted of lying to Congress and the FBI. He has yet to “produce the receipts” or any other supporting evidence for his claim that this phone call between Trump and Stone took place.
Roger Stone (who has legal troubles of his own) publicly denied that any such call with WikiLeaks took place, telling NBC News last night, “Mr. Cohen’s statement is not true.”
WikiLeaks expressly denies that any phone call between Stone and Assange occurred:
STATEMENT on Michael Cohen testimony to Congress: WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange has never had a telephone call with Roger Stone. WikiLeaks publicly teased its pending publications on Hillary Clinton and published > 30k of her emails on 16 March 2016. https://t.co/XcH75u3kbu
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) February 27, 2019
Further damaging the hopes of those predicting Trump’s indictment or impeachment as a result of Cohen’s claim is the fact that WikiLeaks had publicly announced the impending email release weeks before the alleged phone call between Trump and Stone that Cohen claims he overheard.
During Wednesday’s hearing, it was pointed out by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) that the WikiLeaks release appeared in the media on June 12, 2016 — weeks before the alleged phone call (beginning ~3:40):
Mr. Assange reported to the media on June 12 that those emails would be leaked. I’m not saying you have fake news, I’m saying you have old news.
Today, I had the opportunity to question #MichaelCohen, the least credible witness we’ve ever had in front of the Oversight Committee. @GOPoversight pic.twitter.com/OsV6mehCYq
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) February 27, 2019
The article displayed by Rep. Massie was by The Guardian based on a television interview that Assange had given to a UK news channel:
Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, has said his organisation is preparing to publish more emails Hillary Clinton sent and received while US secretary of state.
Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, is under FBI investigation to determine whether she broke federal law by using her private email in sending classified information. A new WikiLeaks release of Clinton emails is likely to fan a controversy that has bedevilled her campaign and provide further ammunition for Donald Trump, her Republican presidential rival, who has used the issue to attack her.
Assange’s comments came in an interview on ITV’s Peston on Sunday. “We have upcoming leaks in relation to Hillary Clinton … We have emails pending publication, that is correct,” Assange said.He did not specify when or how many emails would be published.
WikiLeaks to publish more Hillary Clinton emails – Julian Assange https://t.co/fDPTGJbObh
— The Guardian (@guardian) June 12, 2016
WikiLeaks also noted that they repeatedly advertised the coming DNC email leaks weeks in advance:
WikiLeaks' DNC publication (July 22, 2016) was also publicly promoted for over a month before hand, from June 12 onwards. pic.twitter.com/4vpQ67GB29
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) February 28, 2019
So why are media outlets trying to overhype — and in Kasie Hunt’s case, flatly misrepresent — this specific claim?
Because the Russian collusion case is quickly collapsing and there is very little evidence to try to continue to make that case.
Cohen’s testimony today eviscerated a number of established media Russian collusion talking points, so misrepresentations and outright lies are about all they have left.
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