The schoolyard taunt, "Liar, liar...pants are on fire" was used today by Rep. Paul A. Gosar (R-AZ) to belittle Michael Cohen, President Trump's former personal attorney, as he testified before the House Oversight Committee and accused the president of being a liar, racist, conman and cheat.
How ironic that a member of the U.S. House of Representatives would use such a taunt against someone who for a decade was the right-hand man and "fixer" for Trump, who has been caught in more than 8,000 lies and exaggerations since taking office just over two years ago.
Cohen, who faces a jail sentence for lying to Congress, which he claims to have done to protect Trump, told the committee that Trump manipulated financial records, paid to cover up extramarital affairs and reacted happily when told in advance that the WikiLeaks anti-secrecy organization would release hacked emails damaging to Democratic candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton.
At times clearly emotional and tearful, Cohen said he regretted many of his actions on behalf of the real estate mogul who later became president and that he now faces humiliation, loss of his license to practice law, hardship for his family and a stint in federal prison.
Republicans on the committee attacked Cohen unmercifully, with Gosar's childish taunt perhaps the low point. However, significantly, they did not pointedly defend the president or challenge specific charges made by Cohen, including his statement that he paid hush money to keep Stormy Daniels quiet and was reimbursed in installments by Trump.
Those installment payments, sort of like when ordinary people buy a car, were proven by the images of two checks, one signed by Trump and the other by Donald Trump, Jr., each for $35,000 as part of the president's time payment plan. Both were paid in 2017 after Trump was in the White House. Made me wonder what Trump might have done on the "lay away" plan.
Rather, the Republicans spent their time during the nearly eight hours of testimony trying to discredit Cohen, pointing out repeatedly that he was a convicted criminal for lying to Congress and that he was headed to the hoosegow. So why should anyone believe him now, they asked.
Of course, Trump's GOP apologists neglected to mention why Cohen lied and thus would be going to jail. The reason, of course, is that he lied to Congress because he was sure that's what his boss, Trump, wanted him to do.
As Cohen testified, Trump was on his way to his second "summit" with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, whom he's described as a good friend. Like Putin.
In fact, I think the three of them would make a great team -- sort of like Larry, Curly and Moe, except that they are a lot more dangerous.