ABC, CBS, NBC are interrupting regularly-scheduled daytime programming to broadcast the testimony.covering the long-ancticipated testimony of President Trump’s personal attorney and “fixer” Michael Cohen before the House Oversight Committee today.
Here are coverage plans.
NBC News:
- Today show co-anchor and NBC News chief legal analyst Savannah Guthrie and Meet the Press moderator and NBC News political director Chuck Todd will anchor live coverage of Michael Cohen’s testimony before Congress Wednesday on the NBC broadcast network beginning at 9:45 a.m. ET from 30 Rock.
- NBC News Capitol Hill correspondent Kasie Hunt will lead coverage from the Hill, along with a number of NBC News correspondents, contributors, and legal analysts contributing throughout the day.
CBS News:
- CBS News’ special coverage begins at 10 a.m. ET, on the CBS TV. Norah O’Donnell will anchor the coverage with Nancy Cordes and Paula Reid contributing.
- CBSN will livestream the hearing in its entirety, beginning at 10 a.m. ET, anchored by Vladimir Duthiers and Anne-Marie Green.
O’Donnell took a moment to briefly break down “what might be the most damaging testimony for a president since former White House counsel John Dean testified against President Nixon during the Watergate hearings.”
ABC News:
- George Stephanopoulos will lead ABC’s coverage. He was joined by ABC News White House correspondent Cecilia Vega, chief political analyst Dan Abrams, and ABC News political contributor Chris Christie, someone who’s quite familiar with Cohen, also joined the conversation.
Here’s part of what Christie had to say.
“This is what I’ve said a long time about the personnel choices the president’s made over time. Unfortunately for him it’s coming back to roost again. Michael Cohen is a guy who never should have been close to anybody, who was in a responsible position, certainly not in a certainly position to ultimately become president of the United States. Whatever michael cohen says today about Donald Trump, Michael Cohen is a bad guy. He’s a guy who did a lot of bad things and he had conscious decisions to make as a lawyer and he made them. It also reflects on the president because the president allowed this guy to be close to him, gave him responsibility and access…George, listen, I know that’s what Michael is going to say and he’s going to present evidence to corroborate that, but also, George, you have to make the conscious decision as a lawyer to do this. I think Dan [Abrams] knows this too. We’re trained from the time we get into law school that our first responsibility to the law.It’s clear that michael cohen is going to admit today that he failed in that regard. that doesn’t exonerate the president but it puts Michael Cohen in the right context.
Fox Broadcasting:
- Fox News Channel will offer its coverage of Cohen’s testimony to Fox TV stations.
Chris Wallace made the following remarks during Fox’s coverage, which he prefaced by saying “It may not get the most attention…” It surely got the attention of us:
“It may not get the most attention, but I thought the most explosive piece of information was the fact that there is an ongoing criminal investigation by the Southern District of New York — those are the local prosecutors in Manhattan, not the special counsel — about possible crimes involving President Trump,” Wallace said. “And that Michael Cohen is participating under that investigation, and in fact, has been told by prosecutors there are certain things he can’t discuss. So that raises the real possibility of criminal exposure — not to say that he’s been indicted or charged with anything — but the potential of criminal exposure for President Trump in the Southern District of New York. The real news here today is what was learned about Donald Trump. And while lot of it doesn’t have proof or corroboration, there was definitely some smoke here.”