Donald Trump returns from Hanoi summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, March 1, 2019
Donald Trump has returned to political and legal problems, following his failed summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un in Vietnam.
As the North Koreans were walking out on Trump, his long-time lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen was giving detailed open-session testimony to the House Oversight Committee, claiming “conman” and “racist” Trump’s criminal activity in a series of areas linking the Trump Organization and the Trump campaign.
The claims included Trump’s direction of Cohen to pay off porn star Stormy Daniels, just before the 2016 Presidential vote, over a 2006 sexual encounter with Trump; the then-candidate’s knowledge of a Trump Tower meeting between his top advisors and three Kremlin-linked envoys; his implied direction to Cohen to lie to Congress about pursuit of a Trump Tower Moscow; and Trump’s connection with WikiLeaks’ dumping of e-mails — obtaining by Russian military intelligence — to damage Democrat nominee Hillary Clinton.
EA on Chris Evans Show and BBC: Michael Cohen’s Challenge to Trump
EA on talkRADIO: Trump’s Failed Summit; Michael Cohen; Israel, Anti-Semitism, and Chris Williamson
Cohen, who also spoke in closed-door meetings with the Senate and House Intelligence Committees, indicated his testimony was only the tip of the iceberg of possible crimes. He said he could not talk about State and Federal investigations of Trump’s finances, the Trump Organization, and the Trump Foundation; however, in response to Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, he pointed to possible tax and insurance fraud.
Trump Complains
Stopping over at a military base in Alaska, Trump opened Friday morning with a series of complaints about Cohen, beginning with a reference to an unpublished book that his former employee supposedly wrote:
Wow, just revealed that Michael Cohen wrote a “love letter to Trump” manuscript for a new book that he was pushing. Written and submitted long after Charlottesville and Helsinki, his phony reasons for going rogue. Book is exact opposite of his fake testimony, which now is a lie!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 1, 2019
Trump demanded that, rather than hold hearings into his activity, Congress should focus on obtaining Cohen’s manuscript. He repeated his standard line, “It’s time to stop this corrupt and illegally brought Witch Hunt”, while insisting it is “time to start looking at the other side where real crimes were committed”.
Criticism Over Warmbier Remarks
Trump also scrambled to defend himself over a remark at the summit absolving Kim Jong-un of involvement in the torture which crippled American detainee Otto Warmbier and led to his death, days after he was released back to the US in June 2017.
In his hastily-arranged press conference after the North Korean walkout, Trump said:
I did speak about [Warmbier], but I don’t believe [Kim] would have allowed that to happen. It just wasn’t to his advantage to allow that to happen. Those prisons are rough, they’re rough places and bad things happened. But I really don’t believe that he was — I don’t believe he knew about it….
[Kim] felt badly about it. He knew the case very well, but he knew it later.
Unsettled by criticism, Trump walked back the comments — but without mentioning Kim:
I never like being misinterpreted, but especially when it comes to Otto Warmbier and his great family. Remember, I got Otto out along with three others. The previous Administration did nothing, and he was taken on their watch. Of course I hold North Korea responsible….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 1, 2019
Warmbier’s parents Fred and Cindy responded in a statement:
We have been respectful during this summit process. Now we must speak out. Kim and his evil regime are responsible for the death of our son Otto. Kim and his evil regime are responsible for unimaginable cruelty and inhumanity. No excuses or lavish praise can change that. Thank you.
