Trump’s plan to silence Michael Cohen just went up in smoke

Trump’s former attorney and longtime fixer Michael Cohen has quickly evolved into one of the president’s most dangerous enemies, something that Trump himself is clearly aware of since he has stooped to making vague threats against Cohen’s wife and his father-in-law, presumably to frighten him into silence.

It’s exactly the kind of tawdry, intimidating behavior we’ve come to expect from a president so blatantly corrupt and criminal. One can only imagine what kind of dirt Cohen has on Trump after over a decade of working with him to build a real estate empire riddled with likely money laundering schemes and possible Russian mafia entanglements.

Unfortunately for the president, his mobster tactics seem to have failed. According to CNN, Cohen has agreed to give a closed-door testimony in front of the House Intelligence Committee next month. House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) made the announcement today.

Cohen is slated to testify February 8th. He was originally set to give public testimony on February 7th but announced that he would be postponing last week, citing security concerns over “ongoing threats against his family” from President Trump and his lackey attorney Rudy Giuliani.

“Due to ongoing threats against his family from President Trump and Mr. Giuliani, as recently as this weekend, as well as Mr. Cohen’s continued cooperation with ongoing investigations, by advice of counsel, Mr. Cohen’s appearance will be postponed to a later date. Mr. Cohen wishes to thank Chairman Cummings for allowing him to appear before the House Oversight Committee and looks forward to testifying at the appropriate time. This is a time where Mr. Cohen had to put his family and their safety first,” Cohen’s attorney Lanny Davis said in a statement at the time.

While a closed-door testimony is less than the American people deserve, it will still represent a major step towards exposing the full truth about the president. Presumably, some of the testimony will leak, inflicting more disastrous damage on an administration teetering on the brink of collapse. Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation is accelerating, and there’s nothing Trump can do beyond tweeting vainly about witch hunts.

Natalie Dickinson

Natalie is a staff writer for the Washington Press. She graduated from Oberlin College in 2010 and has been freelance blogging and writing for progressive outlets ever since.