Trump's ex-lawyer to talk to Senate intel panel on Tuesday: sources
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen will testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday in one of three appearances before U.S. lawmakers next week ahead of reporting to prison in May.
Cohen, Trump’s longtime fixer who is set to go to prison for three years after pleading guilty to campaign finance and other crimes, will speak to senators behind closed doors, two sources familiar with congressional plans told Reuters.
Representatives of the committee could not be immediately reached for comment.
Cohen’s Senate committee testimony will be the first of three congressional appearances the former Trump lawyer is scheduled to make next week.
The House Oversight Committee, now led by Democrat Elijah Cummings, announced on Wednesday that it will hold a public hearing next Wednesday at which Cohen will be the only witness.
Committee Democrats said that among the issues they plan to question Cohen about are Trump’s personal finances, the making of payments related to efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election, and alleged public efforts by Trump and his lawyers to intimidate Cohen and others to avoid such testimony.
Representative Jim Jordan, a Republican member of the Oversight Committee, said “giving a platform to Mr. Cohen is beneath the dignity of Congress.”
Cohen also will appear at a closed-door hearing on Thursday next week before the House Intelligence Committee, now led by Adam Schiff, a Democratic critic of Trump.
Cohen, who once said he was so loyal to Trump that he would “take a bullet” for him, handled a $130,000 payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, who said she had an affair with Trump. In December Trump tweeted that Cohen was a “rat” for cooperating with prosecutors.
Reporting by Nathan Layne and Mark Hosenball; Writing by Susan Heavey and Mark Hosenball; Editing by Bill Trott
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