"Sir, I'm sorry," said Cohen. "Are you referring to me or the president?"

Loyalty to Trump cost Michael Cohen everything. Republicans pay heed
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/feb/27/loyalty-trump-cost-michael-cohen-republicans?utm_term=RWRpdG9yaWFsX0d1YXJkaWFuVG9kYXlVS19XZWVrZGF5cy0xOTAyMjg%3D&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=GuardianTodayUK&CMP=GTUK_email

<<snip>>

Like so many things in Trumpworld, this line of questioning is several diopters worse than shortsighted. It is the kind of brilliant argument dreamed up after several beers: a bar-room brawl masquerading as political strategy.

The hapless Paul Gosar, an Arizona Republican, took a swing at Cohen but ended up falling off his stool. “Let’s go back at this credibility,” he bumbled after questioning Cohen’s legal credentials. “You want us to make sure that we think of you as a real philanthropic icon, that you’re about justice, that you’re the person that someone would call at three in the morning. No, they wouldn’t. Not at all … You’re a pathological liar. You don’t know truth from falsehood.”

“Sir, I’m sorry,” said Cohen. “Are you referring to me or the president?”

<<snip>>

So there he was, bragging about the “several thousand men” he had arrested, wondering out loud if Cohen’s remorse wasn’t just another empty act before he returned to his old crooked ways. Because Higgins reckoned he would. Sniffing out the truth like the bloodhound of the law that he is, Higgins asked Cohen where he found that fateful check signed by Donald Trump to repay him for all that porn star hush money.

Cohen said he’d found it in a box in his old law office – a box that the FBI hadn’t seized. Bingo! Higgins solved the case. He urged the authorities to immediately seize the box and any other evidence in there.

This quite brilliant suggestion marked the high point, or possibly the low point, of Republican cluelessness. Higgins was literally asking the FBI to gather more evidence about Trump’s part in what is technically a five-year felony. Illegal campaign contributions are not small crimes for a candidate for high office. You might even call them a high crime, worthy of impeachment articles.

<<snip>>