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In a New York Times op-ed dubbed “How Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Won the Cohen Hearing,” Caroline Frederickson argued that while others failed to ask hard-hitting questions of Cohen, who was disbarred in New York a day before the hearing.
Frederickson praised Ocasio-Cortez’s line of questioning, in which she demanded specific answers about how the president handled his finances, taxes, insurance and other curiosities, followed by poignant follow-up questions.
“These questions were not random, but, rather, well thought out. Like a good prosecutor, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez was establishing the factual basis for further committee investigation,” Frederickson wrote. “She asked one question at a time, avoided long-winded speeches on why she was asking the question, and listened carefully to his answer, which gave her the basis for a follow-up inquiry.
“As a result, Mr. Cohen gave specific answers about Mr. Trump’s shady practices, along with a road map for how to find out more. Mr. Cohen began his testimony calling Mr. Trump a “con man and a cheat”; In just five minutes, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez actually helped him lay out the facts to substantiate those charges.”
Frederickson said that colleagues of the freshman Congresswoman, a 2007 Yorktown High School graduate, came right at Cohen while many of her more experienced colleagues “failed to follow suit.”
“In his testimony, Mr. Cohen claimed numerous ethical breaches and criminal acts on the part of the president, many for which Mr. Cohen himself apparently served as the main actor. He spoke of illegal campaign payoffs, rigging of electoral polls, threatening people who had crossed the president, possible witness tampering, and even falsifying financial records. He spoke of conduct in and out of office that would cross even the most generous reading of ethical and legal boundaries.”
“All of these areas offered fruitful avenues for exploration. But instead of asking probing questions and eliciting damning evidence from Mr. Cohen, too many committee members chose to make a speech.”
Frederickson quoted a tweet from a New Yorker writer, who stated, “Bipartisan incompetence in the questioning at #cohen hearing. All they do is make speeches, and fail to listen to answers or follow up.”
“But it is shocking how few members actually understand the basic function of a hearing — or chose to ignore collective goals in favor of showboating,” Frederickson added. “What we face now as a nation is so consequential, as the president faces multiple inquiries about possible collusion with a foreign power, that we need more from members of Congress. Ms. Ocasio-Cortez has many followers on social media. I hope her colleagues will start to follow her example in the hearing room.”
The complete op-ed in the New York Times can be read here.
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