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Cohen was on Capitol Hill Thursday in the secure spaces of the Senate Intelligence Committee before the interview next week. He spent most of the day there, with a lunch break at Monocle, a restaurant near the Capitol. He left shortly before 5 pm AND and refused to answer questions about his departure.
Cohen is to be questioned on Tuesday behind closed doors by the Senate Intelligence Committee, according to a source familiar with the matter, the first of three appearances before Congress of the president's former lawyer next week.
Cohen is scheduled to testify publicly on Wednesday before the House Oversight Committee and again in camera on Thursday before the House Intelligence Committee.
It is unclear why Cohen was in the offices of the Senate Intelligence Committee prior to his testimony, an unusual step for witnesses who were interviewed by the panel as part of his two-year investigation into Russia.
Cohen's lawyer, Lanny Davis, told reporters Thursday afternoon that Cohen was talking to his lawyers and that he had not had a meeting with the committee. He would not say if Cohen was reviewing the committee documents or his transcript of the previous interview.
A spokesman for Senate Speaker Richard Burr did not respond to requests for comment on Cohen's testimony next week or his appearance Thursday. Democrat Senator Mark Warner's spokesman declined to comment.
Cohen was convicted in December for tax crimes, campaign funding violations related to secret payments to women and lying in Congress during her 2017 testimony on the length of negotiations for a Trump Tower Moscow in the 2016 campaign.
Intelligence Committee staff conducted the vast majority of interrogations as part of the Committee's investigation in Russia, which included more than 200 interviews. Mr. Burr publicly commended the staff of both parties for his conduct during the interviews, claiming that witnesses often stated that they did not know who was a Republican and a Democrat.
But Cohen is appearing for the second time before the committee – at his first appearance in 2017, he told the lies for which he pleaded guilty in December 2018 – and this time, he is summoned. Before Cohen's first interview, Burr threatened to hold a public hearing for Cohen after he issued a statement to the media. But Burr gave in and Cohen was interviewed by staff members behind closed doors.
House and Senate oversight committees and House intelligence have been anxious to have Cohen appear before his incarceration, although all three had to postpone his testimony earlier this month, citing different reasons. The Senate Intelligence Committee issued a subpoena to testify while appearing voluntarily before House committees.
Republicans have said they will not respect these guidelines. The representative of the Republic, Jim Jordan, said in a statement Thursday that Cohen's hearing was "the first phase of the coordinated campaign of the Democrats to remove the president from his president."
"Our members intend to question Mr. Cohen on the crimes for which he pleaded guilty, on other criminal activities in which he participated but refused to disclose, on his international financial transactions and on a long list of other successful activities, "Jordan said.
CNN's Gloria Borger, Kristin Wilson, Ryan Nobles, Ted Barrett and Margo Snipe contributed to this story.
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