Critic’s Notebook: Michael Cohen Depicts a Life More Like ‘The Sopranos’ Than ‘The Apprentice’

Indeed, though Mr. Cohen was only brought to testify because Democrats had taken control of the house, some of the most striking exchanges were with the Republicans. It was Mr. Trump’s old attack dog against his new pack.

And oh, was the barking loud. Mostly ignoring Mr. Cohen’s specific charges, the Republicans instead painted him as disgruntled, untrustworthy and out for himself (the phrase “book deal” was uttered more times than in a literary agent’s office), while signaling to the voters at home that they’d be zealous in defending the president.

Representative Jim Jordan, quarterbacking the Republican case in shirt sleeves, taunted Mr. Cohen for being jealous of not being “brought to the dance” with a White House job. Representative Mark Green channeled Mr. Trump by calling Mr. Cohen a “fake witness.” Representative Paul Gosar scolded, “Liar, liar, pants on fire,” bringing a poster in case his oratory was too subtle.

Mr. Cohen, who began his remarks wrung-out and drained, showed the combativeness that had kept him on the Trump payroll. When Representative Mark Meadows rebutted Mr. Cohen’s charges of racism by having a lone African-American Trump official, Lynne Patton, stand silently behind him, Mr. Cohen said to ask her how many black executives the Trump Organization employed.

Toward the end of the hearing, that scene came up again, when Representative Rashida Tlaib denounced the spectacle as “racist.” Mr. Meadows, who is white, took offense, citing his friendship with the committee chairman, Representative Elijah Cummings, who is black, and who stepped in to calm the situation. It all seemed like a mini improv drama on the messy personal-racial dynamics of “Green Book” America.

Other times, Mr. Cohen copped to his flaws in a way that seemed to frustrate his questioners. “You called Donald Trump a cheat in your opening testimony. What would you call yourself?” Representative James Comer asked him. “A fool,” Mr. Cohen said.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/27/arts/television/president-trump-cohen.html?partner=rss&emc=rss