When Michael Cohen appears before the House Oversight Committee next month, his public testimony will be severely limited thanks to his ongoing cooperation with multiple federal investigations.
The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that Cohen will be prevented from discussing matters he divulged to both special counsel Robert Mueller and the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s office.
That means the public may learn less than they hoped about matters involving Cohen’s contacts with Russia, hush-money payments Cohen made to women on Trump’s behalf, and the Trump Organization’s finances. But the Feb. 7 open hearing is still highly anticipated given Cohen’s dramatic public break with President Trump over the past year after nearly a decade in Trump’s service.
“He’s going to tell the story of what it’s like to work for a madman, and why he did it for so long,” a person close to Cohen told the Journal. “He’s going to say things that will give you chills.”
The newspaper reported that the committee is still working with Mueller and federal prosecutors in New York to define the limits of Cohen’s testimony.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) has said he plans to call Cohen in for a closed-door hearing to answer additional questions related to the Russia probe, though Cohen’s testimony would likely still be somewhat limited in that setting.
Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison in December for committing a host of financial crimes.
Interesting. Mueller is as professional as Trump is reckless, and Donnie is very, very reckless.
Sourced from someone close to Cohen. Who may or may not be talking up their book. There might be a lot of things Cohen would rather not talk about in front of congress, even in a closed session, but that might not be his or the prosecutors’ choice.
Glad Cohen is testifying, but not thrilled to be dependent on Cohen for anything let alone him communicating critical realities to the public.
Cohen looks like he’s aged a lot in that pic.
Good with it.
What I want to hear is what it was like to work in the Trump crime organization for all those years. Cohen should be able to testify on his time there that didn’t involve Russian connections.