Michael Cohen expected to claim lying, racism and cheating by Donald Trump
President Donald Trump‘s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, is expected to give a behind-the-scenes account of what he will claim is Trump’s lying, racism and cheating, and possibly even criminal conduct, when he testifies publicly before a House committee on Wednesday, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Cohen is expected to provide what he will claim is evidence, in the form of documents, of Trump’s conduct, said the person, who requested anonymity to discuss the confidential testimony. Trump’s former personal “fixer” arrived on Capitol Hill Tuesday to begin three days of congressional appearances, starting with a closed-door interview with the Senate intelligence committee. The public won’t have a chance to hear from him until Wednesday, when he testifies before the House Oversight and Reform Committee. He will go behind closed doors again when he talks to the House intelligence committee on Thursday. Lawmakers are alternately suspicious of Cohen, who is set to serve time in prison for lying to the House and Senate intelligence committees in 2017, and eager to hear what Cohen has to say after he turned on his longtime boss. Senators on the intelligence panel are expected to attend Tuesday’s meeting, a departure from the committee’s usual practice, where witness interviews are conducted by staff only. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr told The Associated Press that senators will have staff ask questions but will be in the room to observe. He said no topics will be off limits and Cohen “should expect to get any question from anywhere about anything.” Burr said committee members know a lot more than they did when they first interviewed Cohen, who later pleaded guilty to lying to the House and Senate intelligence committees about abandoning a proposal for a Trump Tower in Moscow in January 2016. Cohen has since acknowledged he continued pursuing the project for months after that. Burr suggested that the committee will take steps to ensure Cohen is telling the truth. “I’m sure there will be some questions we know the answers to, so we’ll test him to see whether in fact he’ll be truthful this time,” Burr said. As a close confidant of Trump for many years, Cohen’s testimony is among the most anticipated since the House and Senate started investigating the Trump campaign’s Russia ties two years ago. In addition to lying to Congress, Cohen pleaded guilty last year to campaign finance violations for his involvement in payments to two women who allege they had affairs with Trump. He is set to begin a three-year prison sentence in May. Federal prosecutors in New York have said Trump directed Cohen to arrange the payments to buy the silence of porn actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal in the run-up to the 2016 campaign. Trump denies the allegations and says that Cohen lied to get a lighter sentence. The person with knowledge of the matter said Cohen will provide information about Trump’s financial statements that he will claim shows Trump deflated assets to pay lower taxes on golf courses; will provide details of the Daniels payment and claim that Trump organized a cover-up by pretending Cohen would be repaid; and claim that Trump talked to him and asked him questions about the Trump Moscow project throughout 2016. He is also expected to discuss what he knows about a meeting between Trump campaign associates and a Russian lawyer in Trump Tower before the 2016 election, a matter that is of particular interest to special counsel Robert Mueller and congressional investigators. Cohen is only expected to discuss matters related to Russia in the closed-door interviews with the intelligence committees, as House Oversight and Reform Chairman Elijah Cummings has said he doesn’t want to interfere with Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and links to Trump’s campaign. Members of the Oversight panel are expected to ask questions about the campaign finance violations, Trump’s business practices and compliance with tax laws and “the accuracy of the president’s public statements,” according to a memo laying out the scope of that hearing. The hearing’s scope does not include Russia. Cohen’s week of interviews come as House Democrats launch multiple investigations into Trump’s ties to Russia and conflict-of-interest issues within the administration. House Republicans in the last Congress investigated whether Trump’s campaign coordinated with Russia, but ended that probe over Democratic objections, saying that there was no evidence that they did so. The Senate’s Russia investigation is ongoing. Cohen had been scheduled to speak to the three committees earlier this month, but rescheduled all of those appearances for different reasons. He said he needed to recover from surgery and also was concerned about what he considered to be threats to his family from Trump and the president’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff postponed Cohen’s appearance before that committee saying it was “in the interests of the investigation,” with no additional details. Republished with permission from the Associated Press.
Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, pleads guilty to lying to Congress
Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump‘s former lawyer, made a surprise appearance before a federal judge in New York on Thursday and pleaded guilty to lying to Congress to cover up that he was negotiating a real estate deal in Moscow on Trump’s behalf during the heat of his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. Trump called Cohen a “weak person” who is lying to get a lighter sentence. The charge was brought by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating Russian interference in the presidential election, and was the result of his cooperation with that probe. Flanked by his lawyers, Cohen admitted making false statements about the project in 2017 to Senate and House intelligence committees, which at the time were investigating possible connections between the Trump campaign and Russia. His comments made clear that his communications with Trump about the project were much more frequent than he had suggested. Cohen, 52, wearing a blue tie and dark suit, was noticeably relaxed throughout the appearance in a packed Manhattan courtroom, unlike his irritable and emotional demeanor when he entered a guilty plea during the summer. Cohen told the judge he lied about the timing of the negotiations, his communications with people in the company and in Russia about the deal, and other details to be loyal to Trump and consistent with Trump’s “political messaging.” Cohen and prosecutors referred to Trump as “individual one” throughout Thursday’s proceedings and said he lied “to be loyal to Individual One.” Among other lies, Cohen said he told Congress that all discussions about building a Trump Tower in Moscow had ended by January 2016, when they had actually continued until June of that year. He said he also lied about his contacts with Russian officials and lied when he said he never agreed to travel to Russia in connection with the project and never discussed with Trump plans to travel to Moscow to support the project. Prosecutors said in a court document that Cohen had misled Congress to give a false impression that the Moscow project had ended before the Iowa caucus and first Republican presidential primary in 2016. As he left the White House shortly after the court proceeding concluded, Trump called Cohen “a weak person” “Michael Cohen is lying and he’s trying to get a reduced sentence,” Trump said. Nothing said in court, or in associated court filings, addressed whether Trump or his aides had directed Cohen to mislead Congress. The charges were handled by Mueller’s team, not the federal prosecutors in New York who handled Cohen’s previous guilty plea in August to other federal charges involving his taxi businesses, bank fraud and his campaign work for Trump. Cohen is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 12. Cohen declined to comment as he left the courtroom. Cohen’s lawyer, Guy Petrillo, noted that a letter from federal prosecutors showed that Cohen’s cooperation with Mueller will be described to Cohen’s sentencing judge. However, the letter makes clear that Cohen is not receiving the kind of “5K1.1” letter written on behalf of formal government cooperators. Reacting to the plea, House Speaker Paul Ryan said Cohen “should be prosecuted to the extent of the law. That’s why we put people under oath.” Cohen gave a statement to congressional committees last year saying the president’s company pursued a project in Moscow during the Republican primary but that the plan was abandoned “for a variety of business reasons.” Cohen also said he sent an email to the spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin as part of the potential deal. In his statement, he said that he worked on the real estate proposal with Felix Sater, a Russia-born associate who he said claimed to have deep connections in Moscow. The discussions about the potential development began after Trump had declared his candidacy. Cohen had said the talks ended when he determined that the project was not feasible. Cohen had also disclosed that Trump was personally aware of the deal, signing a letter of intent and discussing it with Cohen on two other occasions. Republished with permission from the Associated Press.
Kay Ivey’s campaigns says opponent Walt Maddox ‘takes lying to a whole new level’
Tuscaloosa Mayor and Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Walt Maddox released his first statewide campaign ad of the general election campaign on Saturday where he introduces himself to Alabama saying he’s “pro-life” and “pro-Second Amendment.” But Gov. Kay Ivey‘s campaign quickly responded to the new ad saying Maddox is telling a flat out lie. “Walt Maddox promises not to lie, yet he just told two lies in 30 seconds. That takes lying to a whole new level – even for a politician like Walt Maddox,” wrote Ivey’s campaign. “When you look at his true position on abortion and the gun grabbing allies he pals around with, it’s clear Walt Maddox is too extreme for Alabama. Maddox and pro-life issues The Ivey campaign questioned Maddox joining with Planned Parenthood in opposing the Constitutional Amendment that acknowledges the sanctity of life. When asked by a radio DJ on 95.3 whether he is pro-life or pro-choice, Maddox replied, “It’s complicated.” Maddox and the 2nd Amendment Maddox’s critics also question whether or not he is truly pro 2nd Amendment as he refused to complete the NRA’s candidate survey and has been endorsed by Moms Demand Action, the same gun control group that endorsed Hillary Clinton. Watch Maddox’s ad below:
