Opinions
The Michael Cohen hearing felt like a Fox News rant

By Erik Wemple
February 28 at 8:25 AM

As the Michael Cohen hearing rumbled along on Wednesday — with Republican lawmakers blasting the president’s former attorney and Democrats, with a few exceptions, asking lame questions — some commentators began to notice an omission from the proceedings:

I’ve been shocked to see that no one — not one member of this committee — has defended the president. not a single one.

they are all tarnishing Michael Cohen, who, in turn is saying, yes, i have lied a lot.

Link to tweet

Fair summation: Republicans on the House Oversight Committee sounded as if they were reading from the same set of instructions: Hammer the credibility of Cohen, who’d already pleaded guilty to lying to Congress, among other offenses. As the Republicans recited his sins, Cohen quite willfully acknowledged them. In fact, he even apologized in a Senate appearance for lying to Congress.

Even so! Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) ripped away at Cohen: “You’re a pathological liar. You don’t know truth from falsehood.” He also called the former Trump counsel a “disgraced lawyer.” More telling than the words was Gosar’s unmerciful tone. For his part, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) labored to establish that Cohen’s various deceptions didn’t all accrue to the benefit of President Trump; some of them helped Cohen’s own selfish interests. Clearly he and other Republicans weren’t considering ancient PR warnings against turning an avowed bad guy into a sympathetic, sad sack.

That’s how Cohen finished the day.
....

With Democrat Elijah Cummings running the hearing, however, Republican members could do only so much to suppress discussion of the president’s deeds. So they ended up doing this:

The Republicans are yelling, the Dems and Cohen are calm. This isn't about the substance of things, but the dramatic overall impression is that the Republicans are defensive, furious and also their hair is on fire.

Link to tweet

The Republicans had lost the power to do what Fox News does every night.

Erik Wemple, The Washington Post's media critic, focuses on the cable-news industry. Before joining The Post, he ran a short-lived and much publicized local online news operation, and for eight years served as editor of Washington City Paper. Follow https://twitter.com/ErikWemple