NBC's Katy Tur tells Jimmy Fallon that Michael Cohen was authentically Michael Cohen. Fallon brought jokes.
"Today in Congress, Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen testified about the president and all his scandals," Jimmy Fallon said on Wednesday's Tonight Show. "He called Trump a conman, a cheat and a racist. Trump heard that was like, 'Great, now I need a new 2020 campaign slogan. And a new Tinder bio.'" Cohen also said "he was responsible for making sure Trump's SAT scores never leaked," he added. "It's safe to say the only time Trump's seen a 1600 is when he passes the White House mailbox."
"Cohen's testimony was such a big deal that it completely overshadowed between Trump and Kim Jong Un," Fallon noted. "You could tell Trump was upset because at one point he leaned over the Kim and said, 'How much to fire off a nuke right now? Don't hit anything!'"
"It was a seminal day, it was huge," NBC News' Katy Tur told Fallon, comparing Cohen's testimony Wednesday to John Dean's during the Watergate hearings. Tur covered the Trump campaign for NBC, and she frequently interacted with Cohen, who "would always, always defend" Trump, no matter what. So "it's incredible," she said, to now hear him "come out and describe the president of the United States as a cheat, as a conman."
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"Is this going to do anything to President Trump?" Fallon asked. Tur shrugged: "It remains to be seen, I guess." Democrats asked a lot of questions about Trump, but the GOP's decision to ignore Trump and just re-litigate Cohen's confessed crimes shows "they believe that their voters are still on Donald Trump's side." And that may be true, she added, but they should be worried about the "marginal voter, the Trump-trier voter" in Pennsylvania and Michigan.
"How do you think Michael Cohen handled himself?" Fallon asked. "I thought he was really authentic," Tur said. "I mean, as somebody who knows him and knows him well, I think Michael Cohen came off exactly like Michael Cohen is. He didn't seem rehearsed, he didn't seem practiced. ... I think he came off as well as he possibly could have." Watch below for her criteria on whether he was trustworthy. Peter Weber
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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
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