It has been more than 100 days since former Trump attorney Michael Cohen testified before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI), and some House Republicans want to know why he hasn’t been held accountable for perjury.
Reps. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Mark Meadows (R-NC) wrote a letter to Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), who chairs the House Oversight and Reform Committee, on the 100-day anniversary of Cohen’s testimony. The letter acknowledges Cummings’ past defense of his decision not to hold Cohen accountable, and lays out several ways in which Cohen lied before congress.
Your exoneration of Cohen narrowly focuses on only one of Cohen’s lies: “I have never asked for, nor would I accept, a pardon from President Trump.” However, a straightforward reading of the sources cited in your May 22 letter – Cohen’s attorneys’ statements; Cohen’s February 28 and March 6 HPSCI testimony; and Special Counsel Robert Mueller III’s report – actually contradict your conclusion. These sources provide ample support that Cohen directed his attorneys to seek a pardon from the President, contrary to his sworn statement.
In all three sources Cohen admitted that he spoke, or directed his attorneys to speak, with the President’s representatives about a pardon. The Special Counsel’s report notes that “Cohen …recalled speaking with the President’s personal counsel about pardons after the searches of his home and office had occurred …” In his testimony before HPSCI on March 6, Cohen admitted that he directed his then-attorney to discuss a pardon with President Trump’s representatives and that he would have accepted it if offered. – READ MORE