Speed Reads

Cohen in Congress

Rep. Ayanna Pressley and Michael Cohen agree that Trump is a racist, no matter what Rep. Mark Meadows says

Many may have been expecting Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) to present an explosive comment during Michael Cohen's testimony on Wednesday, but the true mic-drop moment came from Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Ill.) when pressing Cohen about his thoughts on President Trump's racist behavior.

"Would you agree that someone could deny rental units to African-Americans, lead the birther movement, refer to the diaspora as 'sh*t-hole countries,' refer to white supremacists as 'fine people,' have a black friend, and still be racist?," asked Pressley. Michael Cohen replied, "Yes."

Earlier in the day, several Republican representatives stated that they had never heard Trump make racist comments in their presence. Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) even pointed to Lynne Patton, who has worked for the Trump Organization and is now an official for the Department of Housing and Urban Development, as proof that Trump could not be racist.

Meadows went on to clash with Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) shortly after Pressley's comments, when she stated that "just because someone has a person of color, a black person working for them, does not mean they aren't racist ... that someone would actually use a prop, a black woman in this chamber, in this committee, is alone racist in itself." Meadows called her condemnation racist. Amari Pollard