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Former Trump attorney Cohen postponing testimony to Congress

28 January, 2019, 00:28 | Author: Gregory Stephens
  • Lead Dana Bash Giuliani clarifies again live Jake Tapper_00001729

U.S. President Donald Trump's former personal attorney Michael Cohen indefinitely postponed his upcoming congressional testimony Wednesday, citing "ongoing threats against his family from President Trump" and his attorney Rudolph W. Giuliani.

"This is a time where Mr. Cohen had to put his family and their safety first", Davis said.

Davis said Cohen would be willing to appear before the House oversight committee in the future but would not appear as planned.

Cohen's decision not to testify out of fear for his family could be yet another basis for the now-Democrat-controlled House to determine that Trump engaged in an abuse of power.

Democrats are now considering whether to subpoena Cohen to compel his testimony before he reports to prison next month, and at least one senior Democrat on the House Oversight Committee said he expects Chairman Elijah Cummings of Maryland to issue a subpoena.

"We are so distorting the system of justice just to get Donald Trump, it's going to hurt us so much", Giuliani responded.

"No, I would say he's been threatened by the truth".

Giuliani told Reuters that the "president's response covers it". But, they added, it "was never an option" for Cohen not to appear before Congress.

Giuliani suggested in a TV interview Sunday that Trump remembers conversations with Cohen about the project "up to as far as October, November", or right up until the election.


His comments come hours after Cohen announced he was postponing his testimony, which was scheduled for February 7.

But Cohen has said he wants to use the opportunity of testifying before Congress to "give a full and credible account of the events which have transpired" working with Trump.

Last month, he entered a guilty plea for lying to Congress about the timing and discussions about a proposed Trump Tower building in Moscow that was under consideration during the campaign.

Cohen said he lied because Trump had asked him to do so and because Cohen wanted his testimony to be consistent with Trump's public campaign narrative that he had no business dealings in Russian Federation. Sater said Peskov had invited Cohen as his guest.

Before sentencing, Cohen ripped into his former boss in federal court, telling the judge he felt it was his duty to cover up the president's "dirty deeds".

Cohen was sentenced in December to three years in prison for crimes including orchestrating hush payments to women in violation of campaign laws before the 2016 election. The report said Cohen acknowledged Trump's instructions when he was interviewed by the Mueller team.

"As we stated previously with our colleague, Chairman Jerry Nadler of the Judiciary Committee, efforts to intimidate witnesses, scare their family members, or prevent them from testifying before Congress are textbook mob tactics that we condemn in the strongest terms".

"We have received Mr. Cohen's notice postponing his voluntary appearance in an open hearing before the Committee on Oversight and Reform".

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