Oversight/Intel Committees - Feb 27 2019: Michael Cohen Testimony

[BrianH]

Cohen is alleging Trump and Giuliani have made ongoing threats against his family members. If you're Trump and Guliani, and you know Cohen is cooperating with the SCO and SDNY attorneys, wouldn't there be a concern that phone calls or other communications to Cohen (and possibly with their consent, his family members) are being monitored?

[RTH10260]

Cohen is alleging Trump and Giuliani have made ongoing threats against his family members. If you're Trump and Guliani, and you know Cohen is cooperating with the SCO and SDNY attorneys, wouldn't there be a concern that phone calls or other communications to Cohen (and possibly with their consent, his family members) are being monitored?

Those threats were on Twitter (by dotus) and on TV (by Giuliani).

[RoadScholar]

Off Topic

paper bags get expensive after a while

Off Topic

(Good thing Stern isn't around to shut us down.)

Hey, she wasn't born that way. That there was a choice, and not a good one.

[Addie]

Associated Press: The Latest: Cohen, Senate panel agree on Feb. 12 interview ...

The development comes one day after Cohen postponed his public testimony to a House committee, citing ongoing cooperation in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation and threats against his family.

[p0rtia]

Thanks, Addie!

[Addie]

Reuters

House to release all Russia probe transcripts : Schiff

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House Intelligence Committee will release all transcripts of interviews in its probe of Russian election interference to the special counsel’s office, its Democratic chairman said on Friday after Roger Stone, a longtime ally of President Donald Trump, was charged with lying to Congress.

“This is now the second witness who has been indicted for or plead guilty to making false statements in testimony before our Committee,” Rep. Adam Schiff said in a statement. “The first order of business for the Committee will be to release all remaining transcripts to the Special Counsel’s Office, and we will continue to follow the facts wherever they lead.”

Schiff and Elijah Cummings, the chairman of the House oversight committee, said on Wednesday they expect Trump’s longtime personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, to testify before both panels, despite his decision to postpone his Feb. 7 appearance, citing threats against his family from Trump.

[NMgirl]

Cohen changes legal team amid push for congressional testimony

President Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen is switching up his criminal defense legal team, his attorney Lanny Davis said Monday.

Davis said in a statement that Cohen will no longer be represented by Guy Petrillo and Amy Lester.

Michael Monico, a former U.S. attorney, and Barry Spevack will now represent Cohen in his work with special counsel Robert Mueller’s office, federal prosecutors and and the congressional committees.

https://thehill.com/policy/national-sec ... -testimony

[neonzx]

ABC News @ABC

JUST IN: Michael Cohen has agreed "to appear voluntarily before the Committee for closed testimony on February 8, 2019," House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff says. https://abcn.ws/2DEvG9g

[Reality Check]

Glad to see he will testify before the House Intelligence Committee first. It sounds like the threat of a subpoena had an effect.

[Kendra]

Retweeted Byron York

I’m going to bet that it leaks during testimony... takers, or is that one way too easy???

[Addie]

Does anyone know for sure if either hearing will be public?

-------------------------

Adding:

Business Insider: Michael Cohen gears up to testify to 3 congressional committees before reporting to prison

Michael Cohen will voluntarily testify before the House Intelligence Committee in a closed-door session on February 8.

He will also tentatively move forward with previously-scheduled public testimony before the House Oversight Committee on February 7.

Last week, Cohen was subpoenaed to appear before the Senate Intelligence Committee on February 12.

[Addie]

The Atlantic - Natasha Bertrand

Michael Cohen Is Ready to Talk Russia to Congress

He once felt he owed Trump his loyalty. Now he owes Congress an explanation.


President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen lied to Congress about issues central to the Russia investigation out of “blind loyalty” to his longtime boss. But now the man who once said he would take a bullet for Trump plans to correct the record before the House and Senate Intelligence Committees—perhaps giving lawmakers more insight than they’ve ever had into the president’s dealings with Russia before and during the election.

Cohen’s much-hyped public testimony before a separate panel, the House Oversight Committee, was expected to be highly restricted to avoid interfering with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe, with which Cohen has been cooperating for several months. (Cohen postponed that hearing following attacks from the president and the president’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani on his wife and father-in-law.) But the intelligence-committee hearings will be conducted behind closed doors, giving Cohen the opportunity to have a freer exchange with the members.

Cohen is willing to answer questions about what he’s told Mueller and other issues related to the ongoing investigation, according to two people familiar with his plans, but his legal team is also in talks with Mueller’s office to determine whether there are any parameters for his testimony. The House Intelligence Committee is also “in consultation with the Special Counsel’s Office to ascertain any concerns that they might have and to deconflict,” according to a committee aide.

“The reason that he agreed to testify privately for the intelligence committees is, first and foremost, because he owes them,” one of the people familiar with Cohen’s plans said. “He pleaded guilty to lying to them and owes them an apology.” Cohen admitted in court late last year that he lied to Congress when he told them that negotiations to build a Trump Tower Moscow ended in January 2016, and that he hadn’t discussed it much with Trump. In fact, Cohen testified, he agreed to travel to Russia in connection with the Moscow project and took steps to prepare for Trump’s possible travel there after he clinched the Republican nomination.

[Volkonski]

Secret Files Show How Trump Moscow Talks Unfolded While Trump Heaped Praise On Putin

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/az ... ater-putin

BuzzFeed News is today publishing a cache of internal Trump Organization documents that lay bare the secret negotiations that continued long after Cohen claimed the deal had been abandoned. The documents, many of which have been exclusively obtained by BuzzFeed News, reveal that — despite Trump’s claim that the development was never more than a passing notion — the effort to get the tower built was long-running, detail-oriented and directly entwined with the ups and downs of his campaign.

As Trump went from rally to rally, vociferously denying any dealings in Russia, his representatives, Michael Cohen and his associate Felix Sater, worked with Trump Organization lawyers and even Ivanka Trump to push forward negotiations to build a 100-story edifice just miles from the Kremlin. The fixers believed they needed Putin’s support to pull off the lucrative deal, and they planned to use Trump’s public praise for him to help secure it. At the same time, they plotted to persuade Putin to openly declare his support for Trump’s candidacy. “If he says it we own this election,” Sater wrote to Cohen.

The White House did not respond to a detailed request for comment on this story. The special counsel’s office declined to comment.

This large trove of nonbinding business agreements, architectural renderings, texts, emails, and plans for Trump to travel to Russia to meet Putin offer an unprecedented glimpse inside the negotiations to build the tallest tower in Europe — a deal Trump’s fixers hoped would "help world peace and make a lot of money."

[NMgirl]

That Buzzfeednews article...

[Addie]

NBC News

Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen's testimony delayed

Cohen's testimony was originally going to take place on Friday.


Testimony from Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer and fixer, has been postponed to later this month, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff said Wednesday.

The testimony was supposed to take place on Friday, but Schiff said "in the interests of the investigation" it will now take place on Feb.28, days before Cohen is scheduled to report to federal prison.

Trump announced Tuesday night during his State of The Union that he will be meeting for a second time with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un on Feb. 27 and 28.

This is a developing story, check back for updates.

[kate520]

I’m puzzled about this quote from the article V posted.

“If he says it we own this election,” Sater wrote to Cohen

Why would Putin saying he liked trump better make trump’s election a lock? Because then Putin would help them? Russia has never been our friend so why would knowing Putin prefers trump help him here? Did Sater already know about the other pols taking Russian money under kompromat? What did I miss?

[Slim Cognito]

NBC News

Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen's testimony delayed

dafuq.jpg

[NMgirl]

@emptywheel

This would seem to suggest that HPSCI wants Cohen's inauguration related docs before he testifies (as well as all the stuff not turned over in the first go-around).

[Addie]

Law & Crime

Sealed Document ‘Placed in Vault’ on Same Day House Dems Postpone Michael Cohen Hearing

Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump‘s former friend and fixer was scheduled to appear before the House Intelligence Committee during a hush-hush closed door session on Friday. Earlier this morning, that meeting was postponed. One hour later, a sealed document in the ongoing case against Cohen was filed away from public view.

House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chair Adam Schiff made the announcement just before 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday.

“In the interests of the investigation, Michael Cohen’s testimony has been postponed until February 28th,” Schiff’s statement read.

Around 11:00 a.m. notification of the filing–a hallmark of brevity and mystery–in the case of U.S.A. v. Cohen made it’s way into the legal basement of the Southern District of New York (SDNY):

SEALED DOCUMENT placed in vault. (mhe)

[Addie]

Politico

Michael Cohen's Senate testimony delayed

Congress is now 0 for 3 in trying to bring in Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s former lawyer, for testimony before he is scheduled to report to federal prison in early March.

The latest panel to come up short in landing Trump’s longtime fixer is the Senate Intelligence Committee, which had issued a subpoena to get closed-door testimony from Cohen on Tuesday.

In a statement on Monday, Cohen’s lawyer Lanny Davis said the Senate panel investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election had accepted his client’s request for a delay “due to post-surgery medical needs.”

“A future date will be announced by the committee,” Davis added. Cohen had surgery on his shoulder in January as he prepares to report to federal prison March 6 to begin a three-year sentence for tax fraud and lying to Congress.

[NMgirl]

Lanny Davis' statement was carefully worded, but all the same, it is not a good look for Cohen to be out carousing in a fancy restaurant when he was excused from testifying because he supposedly has "post-surgery medical needs." And he was able to "warmly hug" as well. I wonder how this will play with the Senate Intelligence Committee.

[Addie]

ABC News

Michael Cohen plans to give America a peek into Trump Tower, and it's 'chilling,' says lawyer

Lanny Davis shared new details about the topics Cohen plans to cover.


When Michael Cohen appears before Congress in coming weeks, he plans to describe details of life inside the Trump Organization boardroom that he witnessed firsthand for nearly a decade, his lawyer told ABC News.

"He needs to tell his personal story to the American people," Lanny Davis, Cohen's attorney, said in a wide-ranging interview for the second episode of "The Investigation," a new podcast focused on the probe led by special counsel Robert Mueller.

"And when he does," Davis added, "you're going to hear personal, front-line experiences of memories, and incidents, and conduct, and comments that Donald Trump said over that 10-year time period behind closed doors that, to me when I first heard Michael tell me all this, even as much as I knew about Trump that was negative, was chilling."

Cohen has pledged to appear before closed sessions of the House and Senate intelligence committees and in a public session of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee before he reports for a federal prison sentence on March 6.

[Slim Cognito]

Well, he'd better hurry the heck up. That's only two weeks away.

[Addie]

Oversight.house.gov

Committee Announces Rescheduling of Michael Cohen’s Public Testimony
Feb 20, 2019
Press Release

Washington, D.C. (Feb. 20, 2019)—Today, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, the Chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, announced that the Committee has rescheduled its public hearing with President Donald Trump’s longtime personal attorney, Michael Cohen, for 10 a.m. on Wednesday, February 27, 2019, in room 2154 of the Rayburn House Office Building:

“I am pleased to announce that Michael Cohen’s public testimony before the Oversight Committee is back on, despite efforts by some to intimidate his family members and prevent him from appearing. Congress has an obligation under the Constitution to conduct independent and robust oversight of the Executive Branch, and this hearing is one step in that process.”

In making today’s announcement, Cummings also released an official briefing memo outlining the scope of the hearing. The memo explains that after consulting with the Department of Justice and with Chairman Adam Schiff of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Cummings set the scope for the hearing to address the President’s payoffs, financial disclosures, compliance with campaign finance laws, business practices, and other matters.

The next day, on February 28, Cohen will appear in closed session before the Intelligence Committee. The scope of the Oversight Committee’s open public hearing will not include questions relating to the Intelligence Committee’s investigation of efforts by Russia to influence the 2016 election and other matters.

BACKGROUND

As the President’s personal attorney and “fixer” for more than a decade, Cohen can provide the Committee and the American people with key testimony about why he went from one of the President’s staunchest defenders to one of his most vocal critics, as well as describe his concerns about the President’s actions since assuming office.



On January 8, 2019, Cummings sent letters to the White House and the Trump Organization renewing his previous requests from four months earlier for documents related to President Trump’s apparent failure to report debts and payments to Mr. Cohen to silence women alleging extramarital affairs before the election.



Last Friday, on February 15, Cummings sent new letters to the White House and the Trump Organization along with documents obtained from federal officials at the Office of Government Ethics—the office charged with overseeing the President’s financial disclosure forms—showing that lawyers representing President repeatedly provided false information to ethics officials, including “evolving stories” about whether payments were made to Cohen and the purposes of those payments.



The White House and the Trump Organization have until this Friday, February 22, to inform the Committee whether they intend to comply voluntarily with the Committee’s document requests “or whether the Committee should consider alternative means to obtain compliance.”

Due to limited press seating, credentialed media must RSVP to oversightpress@mail.house.gov by 5 p.m. on February 25. Please be advised that an RSVP does not guarantee a seat, but the Committee will do its best to accommodate as many organizations as possible. The hearing is open to the public and a live video stream will be broadcast here.

[Tiredretiredlawyer]