Ex-Trump lawyer Cohen subpoenaed by U.S. Senate panel - adviser

By David Alexander and Karen Freifeld

 

Michael Cohen, U.S. President Donald Trump's former lawyer, arrives for his sentencing at United States Court house in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., December 12, 2018. REUTERS/Jeenah Moon/Files

 

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's former personal attorney and self-described "fixer" Michael Cohen has been subpoenaed to testify by the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee, Cohen's adviser Lanny Davis said on Thursday.

 

Coming one day after he postponed an appearance before a House of Representatives investigative panel, the subpoena thrust Cohen back into the spotlight, with MSNBC and CNN saying he will appear before the intelligence panel in mid-February.

 

"This morning the Senate Intelligence Committee served Michael Cohen with a subpoena," Davis said in a statement.

 

A New York lawyer who once said he would take a bullet for Trump, Cohen is a central figure in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe into possible ties between Trump's campaign and Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, as well as possible obstruction of justice.

 

Trump, whose presidency has been clouded for many months by the Mueller investigation, called his former confidant Cohen a "Rat" in a tweet last month for cooperating with prosecutors.

 

In a Fox News interview this month, Trump suggested he had damaging information on Cohen's father-in-law. "That's the one that people want to look at," Trump said in the interview.

 

Cohen's adviser Davis on MSNBC accused Trump of attacking Cohen's father-in-law "as a way of getting to Mr. Cohen, and that is called witness tampering, obstruction of justice."

 

Davis urged Congress "to protect Mr. Cohen by voting a resolution of censure that you can criticize Mr. Cohen but don't attack a man's family and intimidate a witness before Congress."

 

Cohen pleaded guilty in November to making false statements to both the House and Senate intelligence committees. He acknowledged that he had been involved in pursuing a Trump skyscraper project in Moscow deep into the 2016 campaign, later than he had disclosed in letters to the committees in 2017.

 

After Cohen's guilty plea, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr confirmed that his panel had made multiple referrals to Mueller's office for prosecution, including cases that could involve lying to the committee.

 

In December, Cohen was sentenced by a federal judge in Manhattan to two months for those lies to Congress, although that term will run simultaneously with the three years he got for arranging hush payments to women who claimed to have had affairs with Trump and unrelated financial crimes.

 

A spokesman for Burr declined to comment on the subpoena.

 

Russia has denied U.S. intelligence agencies' findings that Moscow interfered in the 2016 election. Trump has denied any collusion between his campaign and the Kremlin. The president regularly attacks Mueller's inquiry as a "witch hunt."

 

Cohen on Wednesday postponed scheduled Feb. 7 testimony to the House Oversight Committee because of what Davis described as "ongoing threats against his family from Trump" and Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani.

 

The chairmen of that committee and the House Intelligence Committee have both said they also want Cohen to testify.

Cohen is scheduled to begin serving his sentence in March.

 

(Additional reporting by Mark Hosenball, Nathan Layne and Tim Ahmann in Washington; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and James Dalgleish)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-01-25

Good news. If anyone is a 'rat' it's trump who constantly endeavours to undermine the Rule of Law and steadily erodes the functions of democratic Government.

Edited January 25, 20197 yr by simple1

20 minutes ago, simple1 said:

Good news. If anyone is a 'rat' it's trump who constantly endeavours to undermine the Rule of Law and steadily erodes the functions of democratic Government.

I doubt that the Senate Republicans' reason for inviting Cohen is in furtherance of investigating Trump.

3 minutes ago, bristolboy said:

I doubt that the Senate Republicans' reason for inviting Cohen is in furtherance of investigating Trump.

Exactly. Their purpose is to determine the extent of damage Cohen can do to Trump and start building a defense against impeachment.

37 minutes ago, bristolboy said:

I doubt that the Senate Republicans' reason for inviting Cohen is in furtherance of investigating Trump.

Take your point, but there are six Democrats on the committee. One step closer to shining the light on truth?

Edited January 25, 20197 yr by simple1

30 minutes ago, bristolboy said:

I doubt that the Senate Republicans' reason for inviting Cohen is in furtherance of investigating Trump.

The Senate Intelligence Committee appears to have been remarkably free of political bias.

 

They are investigating the Russian attack on the US election and by extension the Russian attack on US democracy.

 

I suspect they’ve seen enough evidence of how serous this is to put partisan politics aside.

 

I hope not to be proven wrong.

Edited January 25, 20197 yr by Chomper Higgot
Grammar

Trump and Giuliani have both committed witness tampering.  I know why Trump isn't in jail for it, but still wondering why Giuliani isn't.

Something like this:

 

‘Mr Cohen, can you please tell us why you recently changed your mind to voluntarily give testimony to the House?

 

Might I remind you that you are under oath and what you say will be recorded as sworn testimony before the Senate’

Edited January 25, 20197 yr by Chomper Higgot
First sentence

4 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Something like this:

 

‘Mr Cohen, can you please tell us why you recently changed your mind to voluntarily give testimony to the House?

"Um...because my family was threatened by Don Corleone Trump.

 

Better sing loud and clear Cohen it’s your only hope

1 hour ago, Chomper Higgot said:

The Senate Intelligence Committee appears to have been remarkably free of political bias.

 

They are investigating the Russian attack on the US election and by extension the Russian attack on US democracy.

 

I suspect they’ve seen enough evidence of how serous this is to put partisan politics aside.

 

I hope not to be proven wrong.

let's hope so.

Committee Chairman: Mr. Cohen, how will we know you're not lying before the Committee about Trump directing you?

Cohen: May I play a recording between me and Trump?

Oops.

 

6 hours ago, simple1 said:

Good news. If anyone is a 'rat' it's trump who constantly endeavours to undermine the Rule of Law and steadily erodes the functions of democratic Government.

Specifically a sewer rat

reported post removed.

In related breaking news, the FBI has just arrested close Trump buddy and adviser Roger Stone.  The noose is slowly tightening.

 

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/01/25/politics/roger-stone-arrested/index.html

In related breaking news, the FBI has just arrested close Trump buddy and adviser Roger Stone.  The noose is slowly tightening.
 
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/01/25/politics/roger-stone-arrested/index.html

Well deserved. He appears to be an infernal traitor but of course happy to let Mr. Mueller make that determination. If he talks "trump" may as well get fitted for his orange jumpsuit.

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Boy, is that noose tightening around Mr. Wall. Just ate 3 popcorn bags!

No tweets from Trump yet ... surprisingly. Wonder what angle he'll take ... complain falsely about the unfairness of the FBI as he did with its raid on Cohen's office? 

Boy, is that noose tightening around Mr. Wall. Just ate 3 popcorn bags!

Yeah turns out "trump" may actually get his special "wall" after all.

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1 minute ago, Jingthing said:

Yeah turns out "trump" may actually get his special "wall" after all.

yep complete with his own tower lol

Just read the Stone indictment.  The word "collusion" comes up....zero times.

Former Trump adviser Roger Stone indicted and arrested in Mueller investigation.

 

Just now, Kelsall said:

Just read the Stone indictment.  The word "collusion" comes up....zero times.

Since "collusion" is not a criminal offense, why would it come up?

21 minutes ago, Kelsall said:

Just read the Stone indictment.  The word "collusion" comes up....zero times.

 

My god you're right!  This totally exonerates Trump!

30 minutes ago, goferman said:

No tweets from Trump yet ... surprisingly. Wonder what angle he'll take ... complain falsely about the unfairness of the FBI as he did with its raid on Cohen's office? 

"Roger who? Oh, yeah I think he fetched coffee at the campaign office or something..."

50 minutes ago, Kelsall said:

Just read the Stone indictment.  The word "collusion" comes up....zero times.

There is no crime called Collusion.

 

There is however a crime called Conspiracy.

 

Moreover, Mueller’s charged and/or imprisoned enough Trump associates for you to have learned by now that he initially arrests on serious but easily proven crimes and uses those indictments to pressure the suspect to cutting a plea deal.

 

The plea deal comes with a complete confession(*) and a requirement to blag on others further up the crime tree.

 

Roger Stone is going to sing like a canary.

 

 

 

(* Manafort thought he could outsmart Mueller and hide some of his crimes -look where tat got him)

55 minutes ago, LomSak27 said:

Former Trump adviser Roger Stone indicted and arrested in Mueller investigation.

 

His ‘Tricky Dicky’ tattoo is going to be something special for the boys in the showers.

1 hour ago, Kelsall said:

Just read the Stone indictment.  The word "collusion" comes up....zero times.

Tick tock tick tock.  YO! TRUMP! WE'RE COMING FOR YOU!

Love,

Robert Mueller

9 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

His ‘Tricky Dicky’ tattoo is going to be something special for the boys in the showers.

True. I wonder if he is going to auction off all those nice suits. He is a smooth operator, soon to be a smooth bottom bunker.

Stone has made a big noise about how he is not going to talk. Too bad if he doesn't. Maybe he's really prepared to sacrifice himself for dear leader. What a hero! Something is really special about Stone. The arrest wasn't a normal white collar crime arrest. They came in there prepared for anything as of they were for a drug cartel kingpin.

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