Billionaire philanthropist Tom Steyer said in an interview that aired Wednesday on Hill.TV’s “Rising” that he doesn’t think there is any doubt that Michael Cohen’s testimony before Congress will change the minds of some of the president’s supporters.
He said that the real focus of the hearing should be whether there is a “smoking gun” that shows President Trump “does not belong in office.”
“I don’t think there is any question that it can shift the dynamic,” Steyer, who has poured money into a campaign to impeach Trump, told host Krystal Ball on Tuesday.
“I think the question will be, does it make it clear, which I believe it will, that Mr. Trump has committed crimes while in office,” he continued.
“If that’s true, and if it’s documentable and obvious, that that is a smoking gun that says he really does not belong in office,” he said.
Cohen arrived on Capitol Hill on Wednesday for his public testimony before the House Oversight and Reform Committee, in which he is expected to allege that Trump knew ahead of time that Roger Stone worked with WikiLeaks to release a trove of Democratic National Committee emails during the 2016 election.
The testimony will be the only open hearing in Cohen’s three days before lawmakers.
Steyer called for public, televised hearings involving the president’s associates “so that the American people can see for themselves what’s already on the public record, which is that this president has committed crimes, corruption, and cover-ups.”
“What we want to have happen is public, open hearings on TV, where the American people across the country and across party lines, and every other division of Americans get to see this gang of thugs that have been working with Mr. Trump, and get to hear from their mouths,” he said.
— Julia Manchester
Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.