'Where's My Roy Cohn?' Film On McCarthy Era Corrupt Lawyer, Trump Assoc.

Last edited Tue Jan 29, 2019, 07:46 PM - Edit history (1)

In a formulaic yet fascinating film, the corrupt hate figure and his association with Donald Trump is brought to light. Review, 1/27/19. "Where’s my Roy Cohn?” is a quote attributed to Donald Trump, who asked this of his aides in a moment of exasperation when he was unable to make the Russia investigation disappear. Nowhere is this explained or mentioned in Matt Tyrnauer’s documentary, giving its title a weirdly philosophical air. ~ Showing at Sundance Film Festival.

Roy Cohn was a corrupt lawyer, political dirty trickster, mafia associate and scumbag. He was a self-hating Jew who powered the engine of one of the worst antisemitic moments in American history, the demonization and execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. He was a closeted man who refused to publicly identify as gay even as he was dying of Aids. He was so famous for being a mean bastard that there were not one but two jokes at his expense on the Simpsons. There are not too many lawyers that can make such a claim.



- Cohn (R), aide to Sen. Joseph McCarthy (L) in the 1950s Red Scare. Cohn also mentored Trump and Roger Stone.

He graduated from Columbia Law School at the age of 20 and quickly found himself as one of the leading “red-baiters”, allegedly rooting out communists in government positions and the US army for the good of democracy. He was the Gríma Wormtongue to Senator Joseph McCarthy, whose last name is a now a synonym for political witch-hunting.

McCarthy and Cohn’s harassment of presumed communists and sympathizers has overshadowed a subsequent “lavender scare” in which the pair harassed and exposed homosexuals. (It is rumored that McCarthy, like Cohn, was also secretly gay, and the same is often said of the FBI head J Edgar Hoover, who encouraged these practices.). A series of hearings in 1954 suggested that much of McCarthy’s pressure on the US army was led by Cohn’s desire to secure a better position for a man named G David Schine, who was either Cohn’s boyfriend or someone he was infatuated with.

One would think that such a blatant lack of ethics would put a cinch on Cohn’s career, but that is not, alas, the world we live in. He fueled himself off accusations and fighting. His strategy was always to deny then lie even louder. As a personal attorney he would win high-profile cases by deflection, misdirection and fear-mongering. It made for great tabloid copy, earned him powerful friends and attracted wealthy clients in New York, most notably the heads of organized crime families and the flashy, young real estate mogul Donald J Trump. - More..

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/jan/27/wheres-my-roy-cohn-review-damning-documentary-on-villainous-lawyer

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Cohn

34 mins. Democracy Now! Program, Jan. 28. Where’s My Roy Cohn?”: Film Explores How Joseph McCarthy’s Ex-Aide Mentored Trump & Roger Stone. Former Trump campaign adviser Roger Stone, who was arrested on Friday, and Donald Trump share a unique history: Both were heavily influenced by the infamous attorney Roy Cohn, who served as a chief counsel to Senator Joseph McCarthy during the Red Scare in the 1950s and would later become a leading mob attorney.
Cohn represented Trump for years and once claimed he considered Trump to be his best friend. Cohn is the subject of a new documentary at the Sundance Film Festival titled “Where’s My Roy Cohn?” We speak to the director, Matt Tyrnauer.
More & Transcript, https://www.democracynow.org/2019/1/28/wheres_my_roy_cohn_film_explores