Bias
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This article has minimal left bias with a bias score of -22.2 from our political bias detecting A.I.
Janet Ybarra
Democrat
Former Washington Journalist
Contributor on The Bipartisan Press
If the testimony that Donald Trump’s former attorney and “fixer” delivered to a congressional committee this week is the truth, then the president lied under oath, according to Andrew Napolitano, senior judicial analyst at Fox News.
Early in his all-day public appearance Wednesday before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Michael Cohen revealed that during the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump associate Roger Stone informed Trump that the WikiLeaks group would be publicly dumping Democratic National Committee emails. Trump, Cohen said, told Stone that he approved of such a dump to politically damage opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Napolitano acknowledged that Cohen has a history of telling previous lies, and now asks to be believed.
“But if he’s that kind of a monster, Mr. President, why did you keep him around for 10 years?” Napolitano asked.
The bottom line, however, is that Cohen’s testimony “paints a potentially grave picture for the president,” Napolitano said.
Napolitano’s analysis is particularly stinging for Trump, as he is not a usual critic of the president.
If Cohen is accurate, Trump now is in jeopardy related to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into potential collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign to tilt
“If the conversation he says he overheard with Roger Stone is true, then the president lied under oath because the president swore to the accuracy of his answers to the written questions from Bob Mueller, one of which was: ‘Did you speak to Roger Stone about [WikiLeaks leader] Julian Assange?’ Answer — no.
“If what Michael Cohen says is true, that the president knew about the meeting with the Russians in Trump Tower in June 2016, then he lied under oath, because he told Bob Mueller he didn’t know about it,” Napolitano concluded.
COMMENTS (2)
The president is under oath from inauguration till end of term, 24/7, 365 days a year.
So any lies Trump had told to either reporters or to the public, should be grounds for indictment if those lies are related to a legal issue.
No question that a sitting president can be indicted. That’s why there is a vice president, to replace the president while he defends himself.
Well, he’s under the presidential oath, which says he needs to protect our nation to the best of his ability.