Well, for one, I think Cohen has incentive not to lie. If he were caught lying to congress again, he'd be locked up for life.
One thing that kept creeping up on me as I listened is, Cohen was hired to protect trump, being his personal legal council. He even said that all of the people trump employs are there to protect him. Isnt it possible that Cohen actually did take it upon himself to make the payment to Daniel's in an attempt to protect trump, and trump didnt actually know about it?
It certainly is possible that he thought, as a way to protect trump, this could have been the case.
Oh, for pity's sake...
Have you watched the Republicans on the Committee today? If they were able to detect even the shadow of a lie, they'd be screaming from the hilltops.
And no, while lawyers do protect clients, that doesn't involve them paying off other parties. Moreover, Weisselberg planned the whole thing, and Mueller has Weisselberg's statements - so, there is no chance Cohen would contradict that. Because, prison.