Michael Cohen's testimony in the House postponed

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Democrats are currently investigating the possibility of assigning Cohen to appear in court before going to jail next month. At least one senior Democratic official in the House's Monitoring Committee said he was expecting Maryland's president, Elijah Cummings, to issue a subpoena.

"Due to the ongoing threats that President Trump and Mr. Giuliani have threatened against his family this weekend, as well as Mr. Cohen's ongoing cooperation with the ongoing investigations, Mr. Cohen's appearance will be postponed to a later date, "said Cohen's lawyer, Lanny Davis, in a statement. "Mr. Cohen wishes to thank President Cummings for allowing him to appear before the House Oversight Committee and looks forward to testifying in a timely fashion."

Davis added, "This is a time when Mr. Cohen had to put his family and his safety first."

A source told CNN on Wednesday that Cohen's wife and father-in-law felt threatened by the comments of the President and Giuliani, Trump's lawyer. Cohen's intention was to testify, but he made reservations – and hesitated – because of his family's concerns over statements by Trump and Giuliani, the source said.

Cohen's decision raises the question of whether he will testify in public. On March 6, he goes to jail for a three-year prison term.

Interviewed on Wednesday about Cohen, citing threats of threats against him and his family, Trump said, "Well, I would say that he was threatened by the truth." He was threatened only by the truth. "

Cummings and House Intelligence chairman Adam Schiff, who wants to hear from Cohen in private, issued a joint statement accusing Trump and Giuliani of" continuing to intimidate witnesses, to scare family members or to prevent them from testifying before Congress "

" We understand that Mr. Cohen's wife and other family members fear for their security after these attacks and we have repeatedly offered our help to strengthen security measures in favor of Mr. Cohen and his family, "Cummings and Schiff said

But the Democratic President said that they were always waiting for Cohen to testify. Earlier Wednesday, Schiff had declared that he was ready to quote Cohen if he did not want to testify voluntarily.

"When our commissions began discussions with Mr. Cohen's lawyer, not appearing before Congress was ever an option," lawmakers said. "We will not let the President's tactics prevent Congress from fulfilling our constitutionally mandated oversight responsibilities. … We expect Mr. Cohen to appear before both committees and we stay in touch with his lawyer for his next appearances. "

Trump vs. Cohen

Following the public announcement of Cohen's testimony earlier this month, the President attacked him during an interview with Fox News, suggesting without proof that he was aware of detrimental information about Cohen's family.

On Twitter, the president added: "Lying down to reduce his jail time! Look at his stepfather!"

Giuliani appeared on TV news this weekend, including CNN, where he called Cohen a "serious liar". In CNN's "The State of the Union", host Jake Tapper asked Giuliani how Trump's repeated calls to a survey of Cohen's family members before the planned testimony of Mr. Cohen was not tantamount to intimidating a witness or obstructing justice.
Trump's Television Lawyer

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"We are so distorting the justice system just to have Donald Trump, it's going to hurt us so much," Giuliani replied. When Tapper asked if it was acceptable to pick it up at Cohen's stepfather, Giuliani replied, "That's the case, if the stepfather is a criminal."

In December, Trump was interviewed in an interview with Fox News. about Cohen's cooperation with special advocate Robert Mueller, and he suggested that Cohen had reached an agreement "to avoid trouble for his wife", as well as his stepfather.

The next day, Cohen declared that Trump was wrong Interview with ABC News.

"Inaccurate He knows the truth, I know the truth, others know it, and here is the truth: the people of the United States of America, people of the world, do not believe what he says, "said Cohen. "The man does not tell the truth, and it's sad that I'm responsible for his dirty deeds."

But New York attorneys had threatened Trump 's former attorney with many other charges that may also implicate his wife. CNN also reported the possibility that his assets would be seized
In the US Attorney's case in Manhattan against Cohen, he had pleaded guilty to five counts of tax evasion related to his taxi-locket business. Cohen's taxi business was closely tied to his family members, including his stepfather, Fima Shusterman, whom Cohen had bought medallions from, CNN reported. According to the court records, Shusterman, emigrated from Ukraine, pleaded guilty in 1993 to a financial crime related to the taxi business.

During the purchase of his taxi medallion, Cohen and his wife took out several unspecified loans, putting the medallions as collateral, according to CNN reports. CNN reported that his wife, Laura Cohen, was not named in the search warrant that was used to obtain documents on Cohen's borrowings and other taxi-related documents.

"An Overwhelming Consensus on Subpoena"

Democrats on the Oversight Committee Declare to Wait for Cummings to Proceed on Trial with a Subpoena to appear. Representative Stephen Lynch, a Massachusetts Democrat, said that he had spoken to Cummings and that the "overwhelming consensus" among committee members was that Cohen should be summoned to appear. Lynch said Cummings was still in talks with the Democrats on his panel before making a final decision.

"I think President Cummings will institute the subpoena process," Lynch said. "He is talking with other members of the committee right now, but up to now, I think the broadest consensus is that we should go ahead with a summons. to appear."

Rep. Gerry Connolly, a Virginia Democrat sitting on the committee, said that he had not spoken to Cummings yet, but that he had supported a subpoena so the public could hear his story. . "He's not a reluctant witness, at least until now, and the reason for his reluctance is not our committee, but the client he's afraid of putting his family at risk. limits for congressional hearings "data-src-mini =" // cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/181207165138-02-michael-cohen-1206-file-small-169.jpg "data-src- xsmall = "// cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/181207165138-02-michael-cohen-1206-file-medium-plus-169.jpg" data-src-small = "http: // cdn. cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/181207165138-02-michael-cohen-1206-file-large-169.jpg "data-src-medium =" // cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/181207165138 -02-michael-cohen-1206-file-ex-large-169.jpg "data-src-large =" // cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/181207165138-02-michael-cohen-1206-file- super-169.jpg "data-src-full16x9 =" // cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/181207165138-02-michael-cohen-1206-file-full-169.jpg "data-src-mini1x1 = "// cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/181207165138-02-michael-cohen-1206-file-small-11.jpg" data-demand-load = "not-loaded" data-eq-pts = "mini: 0, xsmall: 221, small: 308, medium: 461, large: 781" src = "data: image / gif; base64, R0lGODlhEAAJAJEAAAAAAP /////// wAAACH5BAEAAAIALAAAAAAQAAkAAAIKlI + py + 0Po5yUFQA7" /> [19659028] Republicans: Cohen's Lawyer Declares Key Topics Forbidden for Congressional Hearings ” class=”media__image” src=”http://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/181207165138-02-michael-cohen-1206-file-large-169.jpg”/>

Before the postponement, Cummings had stated that Cohen would not testify related to the Ongoing investigation of the special council, and that he was in consultation with Mueller's office.

But Congressional Republicans criticized Cummings for scheduling an audience with Cohen, accusing Democrats of "political theater." Rep. Jim Jordan, a Republican on the Oversight Committee, said the decision to summon Cohen was the responsibility of Cummings. But Jordan and Rep. Mark Meadows on Tuesday issued a letter raising questions about the usefulness of Cohen's testimony while many topics were outlawed, citing a conversation they had with Davis.

"No, you are talking about a tweet," Meadows said. "I can say that a restricted audience in Congress is not a real congressional audience, so you can not go in and talk about your feelings about someone and not having an exchange." really solid. "

This story was updated Wednesday with additional developments.

Gloria Borger of CNN, Lauren Fox and Eli Watkins contributed to the writing of this report.

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