Michael Cohen to GOP congressmen: 'I did the same thing you are doing now'
Michael Cohen has not shied away from his past transgressions during his testimony before the House Oversight Committee, and he also took the opportunity to go after Republican members of the committee for their continued support of President Trump.
After particularly feisty lines of questioning from the likes of Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.) asked Cohen what the breaking point was that caused him to turn on Trump. He cited the president's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki in 2018 and his comments on the Charlottesville protests in 2017, as well as the "silliness" of Republican lawmakers "blindly" following Trump. Cohen even took responsibility for their actions, telling them he was at fault because he did "the same thing" they're doing now. "I protected Donald Trump for 10 years," he said.
But the comments were not meant just as a reprimand — they were also a warning. "The more people that follow Mr. Trump as I did blindly are going to suffer the same consequences that I'm suffering," Cohen said. Tim O'Donnell
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.
-
Political cartoons for November 8Cartoons Saturday’s political cartoons include narco boats, and the new Lincoln monument
-
Why Trump pardoned crypto criminal Changpeng ZhaoIn the Spotlight Binance founder’s tactical pardon shows recklessness is rewarded by the Trump White House
-
Codeword: November 8, 2025The Week's daily codeword puzzle
-
Has Zohran Mamdani shown the Democrats how to win again?Today’s Big Question New York City mayoral election touted as victory for left-wing populists but moderate centrist wins elsewhere present more complex path for Democratic Party
-
Senate votes to kill Trump’s Brazil tariffSpeed Read Five Senate Republicans joined the Democrats in rebuking Trump’s import tax
-
Border Patrol gets scrutiny in court, gains power in ICESpeed Read Half of the new ICE directors are reportedly from DHS’s more aggressive Customs and Border Protection branch
-
Shutdown stalemate nears key pain pointsSpeed Read A federal employee union called for the Democrats to to stand down four weeks into the government standoff
-
Trump vows new tariffs on Canada over Reagan adspeed read The ad that offended the president has Ronald Reagan explaining why import taxes hurt the economy
-
NY attorney general asks public for ICE raid footageSpeed Read Rep. Dan Goldman claims ICE wrongly detained four US citizens in the Canal Street raid and held them for a whole day without charges
-
Trump’s huge ballroom to replace razed East WingSpeed Read The White House’s east wing is being torn down amid ballroom construction
-
Trump expands boat strikes to Pacific, killing 5 moreSpeed Read The US military destroyed two more alleged drug smuggling boats in international waters
