Michael Cohen accused the Justice Department of lying to Congress six times

Politics

By means of Ryan King

Former Trump lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen was hit with a new criminal referral to the Justice Department on Wednesday.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) urged the DOJ to investigate Cohen for allegedly speaking against Congress at least six times in 2019 lied.

“We again request that the Department of Justice investigate whether Mr. Cohen’s testimony warrants new charges,” Jordan and Comer wrote in a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Republicans on the Judiciary Committee asked the DOJ in 2019 to investigate Cohen based on testimony he gave to the panel in February, but the FBI declined to act on the referral at the time.

The six alleged violations included Cohen claiming that he had not tried to get a job in former President Donald Trump’s administrations, that he had not called for the creation of a social media account called “WomenForCohen” and that he denied having any dealings with a foreign government that he was required to report.

Trump’s former lawyer and “fixer” also allegedly lied to Congress by denying that he had committed fraudulent acts to which he later pleaded guilty and claiming he had “blind loyalty” to the then-president.

Comer and Jordan pointed out that prosecutors found factual evidence that Cohen “expected to have a prominent role and title in the new administration” of Trump.

They also pointed to statements from the owner of the WomenForCohen account that apparently contradicted Cohen’s claim, two contracts he had in 2017 with entities partially owned by foreign governments and actions that suggested he did not have “blind loyalty ” to Trump.

Cohen, who ultimately had a bitter feud with Trump, is likely to be a key witness in the hush-money trial of the ex-president underway in Manhattan.

“Currently, Manhattan’s popularly elected District Attorney Alvin Bragg is using Cohen as his star witness in an ongoing criminal prosecution of President Donald Trump,” Comer and Jordan wrote.

“Bragg’s case relies heavily on Cohen’s testimony and credibility.”

Comer and Jordan also referenced a separate allegation that Cohen lied to Congress, involving the House Intelligence Committee.

During an appearance before the panel in 2019, Comer testified that he did not recall Trump asking him to increase the value of the former president’s assets to secure a more favorable loan.

But last year, during Trump’s civil fraud trial in New York, Cohen was pressed again about whether he was asked to fudge the numbers.

“I was instructed by Mr. Trump to increase total assets based on a number he arbitrarily selected… and my responsibility, along with (then Trump Organization CFO) Allen Weisselberg, was primarily to reverse engineer,” he said.

Trump was later ordered to pay more than $454 million in that case and has appealed the verdict.

Trump lawyer Alina Habba later contacted Cohen about the apparent inconsistency with his previous testimony.

Cohen answered “yes” when asked if he had “lied under oath” to Congress – which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner (R-Ohio) last year called on the DOJ to investigate the matter.

They then renewed their request to the DOJ earlier this month.

Comer and Jordan provided transcripts and other materials in support of their request to Garland.

“Congress cannot fulfill its oversight function if witnesses appearing before its committees do not provide truthful testimony,” they wrote.

Cohen was previously sentenced to three years after pleading guilty in 2018 to crimes including violating US campaign finance laws during Trump’s 2016 presidential election.