Thread by @kurteichenwald

1. Okay, I'm going to give a partial explanation of why I was skeptical of the "Trump instructed Cohen to commit perjury" story. And why people should stop nitpicking the Mueller statement, which is exactly the kind of denial statement from a prosecutor I have seen many times...

2...prosecutors don't issue statements like that when there is a minor thing here or there that is wrong. If they did, they would be issuing statements about almost every news story. They issue those kind of statements to deny the story - but there was stuff in the story that...

3...true, so they can't just say "the story is wrong." Nor can they clear Trump of it, because that is not done when an investigation is ongoing. Nor can they say "Cohen testified to this" because testimony before a grand jury cannot be revealed. But, before the statement....

4...I was deeply skeptical in part because the allegation would make Cohen's own sentencing memo deceptive in a way that makes no sense. Start with this: In discussing the payment to Stormy Daniels, Cohen did not hesitate in saying that he was acting under Trump's direction....

5...Client-1 is Trump. And he is implicated everywhere in that charge. And Cohen wanted to lay out everything he had done to minimize his sentence. If Trump had told him to perjure himself before Congress, Cohen would have mentioned it. And if Mueller didn't want him to....

6...disclose, the section would have been redacted so the public would not know he was implicating Trump. But absolutely, in trying to get a lower sentence, no lawyer would withhold information on that kind of cooperation. Nor would he open up his client to future questions of...

7...from Trump lawyers, asking when the stakes were so high, why didn't he discuss in his own filing? What Cohen instead argues is that he heard Trump's public lies, knew he needed to back him up, and so did so. At no point does that suggest he received an instruction..l.

8...the portion that follows the last linked paragraph.,...

9...Moreover, Cohen specifically states that he convinced himself that what he was saying was true, even though it was a self-deception......

10...the bottom line: At that time, Cohen wouldn't need Trump to tell him to lie. Trump perjures himself all the time. He runs a criminal racket. Cohen would have lied at that time, even if Trump said nothing.

And I do not believe he would have held out such important info...

11...or suggest the opposite was true - that this was his conclusion - when literally his life was on the line.

But is Trump a criminal? Yup. Witness tampering, perjury, obstruction, fraud. Some in office, some before. But journalism has to be right, not appealing to one side.

12...now there is one thing that is possible as a problem in this scenario for Trump: If he knew after the fact what Cohen said and made no attempt to correct the record. His oath is to faithfully uphold the laws. If he doesnt - by staying silent - that is violation of oath.