Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wasted no time when she took her turn questioning President Donald Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen, and his answers put Trump in a whole new world of deep sh*t.
Cohen testified all day on Wednesday to the House Oversight Committee on topics ranging from campaign finance crimes, to Russian collusion, to racism and more. But when Ocasio-Cortez finally had her chance to ask questions, she went for Trump’s jugular.
First, she asked Cohen who knows the whereabouts of a “treasure trove of documents” outlining the “catch and kill” instances used to squash Trump’s scandals so they don’t go public.
He named names, including Trump Organization chief financial officer Alan Weisselberg, thus putting him in the crosshairs of the Southern District of New York federal prosecutors.
When asked if Congress needs to look at Trump’s federal and state tax returns to confirm that he provided inflated assets to an insurance company, which is fraud, Cohen said “yes” and told her that his records can be found at the Trump Organization.
Ocasio-Cortez continued by grilling Cohen about Trump’s scheme to evade paying his taxes by using his golf courses as an example.
“Mr. Cohen, I want to ask you about your assertion the president may have improperly devalued his assets to avoid paying taxes,” she said. “According to an August 21, 2016 report by The Washington Post, while the president claimed in financial disclosure forms that Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter, Florida, was worth more than $50 million, he had reported otherwise to local tax authorities that the course was worth, quote, no more than $5 million.”
“Mr. Cohen, do you know whether this specific report is accurate?” she asked.
“It’s identical to what he did at Trump National Golf Club at Briarcliff Manor,” he responded.
“To your knowledge, was the president interested in reducing his local real estate bills, tax bills?” Ocasio-Cortez asked.
“Yes,” Cohen confirmed.
“How do you do that?” she followed up.
“What you do is deflate the value of the asset and put in a request to the tax department for a deduction,” Cohen explained.
Ocasio-Cortez would conclude her time by asking Cohen if it would be helpful for Congress to look at Trump’s tax returns to confirm his fraudulent activities. Cohen again answered in the affirmative.
Here’s the video via YouTube.
Ocasio-Cortez’s questions and Cohen’s answers are particularly newsworthy because she has just given Congress several reasons to subpoena Trump’s tax records, which opens him up to a truckload of federal and state crimes and would shine more light on his financial connections to Russia. This is not something Republicans can save him from. Trump can stall and delay for a short time maybe, but Congress will ultimately get his records and that will spell doom for his presidency, his business, and even his freedom. It also gives Congress more witnesses to call in for testimony.
This is the kind of stuff Republicans refused to look at because they were so desperate to protect Trump instead of doing their jobs to provide oversight.
The House Oversight Committee should give Ocasio-Cortez more time to ask even more questions because she’s doing one hell of a job.
Featured Image: YouTube screenshot
