What a jerk.

Emphasis on the lazy and ignorant part, with a side of pure lazy stupidity.

a dumb shit as well.

apologize for buckling to bullying, and leaving voters in the dark.

records must be kept confidential. It’s not necessary to “threaten” anyone. Cohen had only to ask for assurance that the law would be complied with, in the case of a political campaign, and he was right to protect his client on this. I’m not sure why this particular incident is a big deal. The public doesn’t have the right to have this info—unlike tax records and other info.

that's just how stupid the orange asshole is.

My thought is that Donnie Two Scoops' biggest fear is not impeachment or jail -- it's the public finding out what a fake he is. He's not as smart or as rich as he keeps bragging. I imagine the committee will call the Deans of Records at his colleges in to testify about their being threatened with criminal action if they don't comply with the Don's demands. They can then produce Trump's entire academic record, which he'll claim are faked.

in this case, to reveal student records without the agreement of the student/former student.

The law is so comprehensive that universities cannot even reveal certain info to the PARENTS of students without the student's consent - even if they are paying for all of the student's expenses.

... never have expected to see trump’s school records become an issue. They are already confidential, and typically mundane and boring. So what if his grades were mediocre, or if he was disciplined for skipping class or putting a live goat in the dean’s office. It’s not like his base would react in horror if he was a C student, or if he flouted authority in school. That’s just being trump.

So why go out of your way to write to these institutions to remind them that they can’t release his records? Is there something there that actually would be interesting to learn? Maybe he had failing grades and he felt that wasn’t consistent with his crafted image of being the smartest and bestest person in any given room - but again, so what? That would probably help his base identify even more with him - “Yep, I failed out of high school but I always knowed I wuz smarter than they thinked I wuz - just like trump!”

Witnesses who go out of their way to hide something that typically is not suspicious to start with ... usually means something is interesting.

I’m probably over thinking it, but sometimes my imagination runs a little wild.

There is a myth widely-believed on the right that Barack Obama went through some sort of extraordinary effort to conceal his academic records.

It ties into the birther thing. One of their idiotic beliefs is that Barack Obama received some sort of benefit from being enrolled as a "foreign student" in college, as if there was some sort of "foreign student benefit".

It's totally nuts, but Trump is a big believer in that bullshit and presumably directed Cohen to do what these morons think Obama did.

There may have also been items in the media suggesting Trump was less than a stellar student, and so they might have done some pre-emptive threatening just in case someone decided to leak something. People do that sort of thing. Look at, for example, the IRS investigator who was arrested and left twisting in the wind for giving Avenatti stuff that law enforcement already had.

as failures always lead to bailouts.

then he would have been ecstatic to make the records public. It's more than likely that Trump knew his grades were somewhat less spectacular than he's boasted, and he had a legitimate concern that some anonymous functionaries at the schools would gleefully forward his less than stellar academic transcripts on to WaPo.

Most people proudly display their degrees and accomplishments on a wall in their house or office.

Not sure if he has a certificate hanging in his office.

even to their parents

The genius is probably upset and embarrassed about that 1900 on his 60s SAT.

(And that was with a stright face!)

HISTORY.....F
MATH.......F
SCIENCE....F
ENGLISH....F

Reading ..... F

Personally, I don't need to see his school grades, I already know he's an idiot.
so the question is, did we uncover anything illegal today that will assist in impeaching this orange bastard?

There are some other things that could be, but Cohen’s word alone isn’t going to matter unless he has hard evidence. All in all, I didn’t hear anything that was a smoking gun, and without a lot more evidence, nothing that would get the votes for impeachment, let alone removal by the senate.

The more, the better.

option, and Cohen had been interviewed by Mueller 7 times, why is this not already a pending charge after a year?

He will present his findings, and it's up to Congress and the Senate to impeach. Once impeached, or out of office charges can be brought.

We don't know if this is something that Mueller has or hasn't looked into. It may well be included in his report.