Cohen Says He Isn't Talking to Get TV, Book, Movie Deals

Republicans on the House Oversight Committee pressed former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen during testimony Wednesday (Feb. 27) with questions about possible TV appearances or book and movie deals that his high-profile appearance could engender, looking to impugn his motives for testifying against the President.

Cohen would not rule out any of the above, but said that was not why he was providing the information to Congress. He said, instead that it was to "correct the record," that record being that the President is a "conman, a racist, and a cheat."

Democrats countered that the other side was using any tactic possible to undercut the substance of Cohen's testimony. Cohen admitted to having lied to Congress previously to allegedly cover for his former boss, but said that was not the case this time around in coming clean, as it were.

Certainly Cohen's sometimes incendiary testimony was a made for TV moment, with CNN, Fox, NBC, CBS, ABC, C-SPAN and others covering the committee hearing live.

Doing some real-time fact-checking, CNN pointed out that when Cohen testified Wednesday that he had not wanted a job in the White House — that being the President's personal attorney was fine with him — did not square with their reporting.

Asked what he wanted his family to know, Cohen, tearing up, said he was sorry for the pain he had caused his family and wished he could go back in time.

Sen. Carol Miller (R-W. Va.) said she had not been sent to Congress for this hearing, which she said was unnecessary and called it an attempt by Democrats to further discredit the President.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.