President Donald Trump’s former lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, will testify publicly today on Capitol Hill at 10 am ET, 7 am PT. And judging by his written statement, which was released last night, it’s going to be one for the history books.
But how can you watch this important testimony in the middle of the day when you’re supposed to be working? Gizmodo has got you covered. We’ve got links below for livestreams on YouTube, Facebook, CNN, and Reuters.
According to Michael Cohen’s written testimony, President Trump is a “cheat,” a “conman,” and a “liar.” But perhaps the most important part of his testimony will be about WikiLeaks. Cohen claims that Trump “knew that Roger Stone was talking with Julian Assange about a WikiLeaks drop of Democratic National Committee emails.”
As the kids these days say, whoa if true.
Stone, who was an advisor to President Trump during the 2016 campaign, has most recently denied being in contact with Assange, despite previously bragging about his extensive communications with Assange. And those contacts get to the heart of whether President Trump colluded with a foreign adversary to get elected.
How will Republicans and other Trump allies spin all of these revelations? Last night, Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz openly threatened Cohen with a tweet that would be considered witness intimidation during normal times.
“Hey @MichaelCohen212 – Do your wife & father-in-law know about your girlfriends? Maybe tonight would be a good time for that chat. I wonder if she’ll remain faithful when you’re in prison. She’s about to learn a lot…,” Gaetz said in a tweet directed at Cohen.
This isn’t going to be your typical congressional testimony, to say the least.
YouTube
There are plenty of media outlets that will be streaming Michael Cohen’s testimony on YouTube for free:
C-SPAN has a livestream on YouTube.
NBC News has a livestream on YouTube.
PBS Newshour has a livestream on YouTube.
ABC News has a livestream on YouTube.
And CBS News also has a livestream on YouTube.
https://www.facebook.com/0/videos/409857473151750/
You can also watch Cohen’s testimony today on Facebook:
NBC News has a livestream on Facebook.
CBS News has a livestream on Facebook.
And ABC News has a livestream on Facebook.
House Oversight and Reform Committee
You also have the option of bypassing media outlets altogether and watching at the House Oversight and Reform Committee’s website.
CNN
CNN also has options for watching the testimony if you’re near a TV and have a cable subscription:
You can watch CNN Go on your iPhone or iPad, and Android.
You can fire up the CNN mobile apps for Kindle Fire.
And you can watch using the CNN app for Apple TV, Fire TV, and Roku.
Reuters
Reuters TV has options for watching the testimony on devices like your iPad, Apple TV, Fire TV, and Roku.
You can watch Reuters TV on iOS and Android apps.
And you can also watch Reuters TV on Roku and Fire TV.
Reuters also has a web address, Reuters.tv/live.
It should be pointed out that President Trump is already an unindicted co-conspirator. Michael Cohen is going to prison in May for three years for things that the president instructed him to do. But with everything currently upside down politically, that’s somehow not enough to unseat the president.
There are plenty of other topics that Cohen is expected to cover, including the Trump Tower Moscow project, which was reportedly still in progress until the presidential election in November of 2016. Cohen will also bring financial documents that purportedly show Trump approved the illegal hush money payments to women with whom Trump had engaged in extramarital affairs.
We can expect to hear about President Trump’s former “charity,” the Trump Foundation as well. According to Cohen’s written testimony, Trump instructed Cohen to get a fake bidder to buy a portrait of Trump and drive up the price as much as possible. The fake bidder was allegedly repaid $60,000 through Trump’s charity, “despite keeping the art for himself.” The Trump Foundation was shut down in December of 2018 after a New York judge claimed it had engaged in a “shocking pattern of illegality.”
Update: Here’s Trump’s tweet from July 16, 2013 pretending that he didn’t know who had bid on the painting of him:
Just found out that at a charity auction of celebrity portraits in E. Hampton, my portrait by artist William Quigley topped list at $60K
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 16, 2013
Cohen also gave hints in his written testimony about what he’ll say regarding the president’s well documented racism.
“While we were once driving through a struggling neighborhood in Chicago, he commented that only black people could live that way,” Cohen wrote. “And he told me that black people would never vote for him because they were too stupid.”
And President Trump is already tweeting about Michael Cohen this morning from Hanoi, Vietnam where he’s meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un:
Michael Cohen was one of many lawyers who represented me (unfortunately). He had other clients also. He was just disbarred by the State Supreme Court for lying & fraud. He did bad things unrelated to Trump. He is lying in order to reduce his prison time. Using Crooked’s lawyer!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 27, 2019
Yeah. Things are going to get weird.
Update, 8:02am: CNN just published a copy of the check that Donald Trump signed to make an illegal hush money payment on August 1, 2017, after he was already president.
CNN Exclusive: This is copy of check from Trump to Cohen, which he says was reimbursement for $35k hush money. Date is Aug 1 2017, while Trump was president. Obtained by @GloriaBorger pic.twitter.com/tpk52cJwLF
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) February 27, 2019
