C-SPAN video
Testimony of Michael D. Cohen

U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Reform

February 27, 2019

New Information Revealed in Oversight Hearing with Michael Cohen

Washington, D.C. (Feb. 27, 2019)—Today, the Committee on Oversight and Reform held a hearing with Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s personal attorney and one of his most trusted advisors.  Mr. Cohen’s statements—many supported by corroborating documents—revealed new information that raises serious legal and ethical concerns about the conduct of President Trump and the accuracy of his statements.

  • Mr. Cohen produced to the Committee a personal check with President Trump’s signature, dated when the President was in office, that reimbursed Mr. Cohen for the illegal hush-money payments he made to Stormy Daniels.  Mr. Cohen testified that this was one of 11 checks he received from President Trump or his trust.  Even after writing these checks, President Trump publicly denied knowing anything about the hush-money payments. 
  • Mr. Cohen also produced a check from the Trump Trust signed by Donald Trump, Jr. and Alan Wiesselberg on March 17, 2017.  This check was written after President Trump held a press conference announcing that he was no longer exercising control over the Trump businesses.  Mr. Cohen testified that President Trump, Donald Trump, Jr., and Mr. Weisselberg were all active participants in this financial conspiracy.
  • Mr. Cohen confirmed the inaccuracy of the information provided by the President’s lawyer about these payments to federal officials at the Office of Government Ethics (OGE).  The President’s lawyer indicated to OGE that the payments were made pursuant to a retainer agreement, but Mr. Cohen testified that no such agreement existed—testimony confirmed by federal prosecutors.
  • Mr. Cohen testified that President Trump “knew of and directed the Trump Moscow negotiations throughout the campaign and lied about it.”  According to Mr. Cohen, he personally discussed the issue with President Trump “at least a half-dozen times” during the campaign.  Mr. Cohen also briefed Ivanka and Donald, Jr. about the project “in the regular course.”   
  • Mr. Cohen said that President Trump met with Mr. Cohen at the White House to discuss his upcoming testimony before the Intelligence Committees in 2017.  He testified that the President reinforced the message he expected Mr. Cohen to follow.  The existence of this meeting, which also included the President’s personal lawyer, was corroborated by an internal White House email on May 16, 2017, which was reviewed by the Committee in camera.  The email stated:  “POTUS requested a meeting on Thursday with Michael Cohen and Jay Sekulow.” 
  • Mr. Cohen testified that President Trump’s personal lawyers reviewed and edited a draft of his false written statements to Congress on efforts to build Trump Tower Moscow during the 2016 campaign.  Mr. Cohen testified that these lawyers wanted him to stay “on message” by minimizing the extent of negotiations and the involvement of President Trump. 
  • Mr. Cohen told the Committee that President Trump “knew from Roger Stone in advance about the Wikileaks drop of emails.”  According to Mr. Cohen, he witnessed Roger Stone tell President Trump that he had just spoken with Julian Assange, and that there would be a “massive dump of emails that would damage Hillary Clinton’s campaign.” Mr. Cohen said President Trump replied, “wouldn’t that be great.”
  • Mr. Cohen stated that President Trump provided inflated financial statements to Deutsche Bank while seeking a loan to buy the Buffalo Bills.  Mr. Cohen also produced the President’s financial statements that reportedly were falsely inflated.  Those statements show President Trump claimed to have boosted his net worth by more than $3 billion over just nine months.  Mr. Cohen told the Committee that President Trump “inflated his total assets when it served his purposes, such as trying to be listed among the wealthiest people in Forbes, and deflated his assets to reduce his real estate taxes.”
  • Mr. Cohen disputed President Trump’s claim that he cannot release his tax returns because he is under audit.  Mr. Cohen said that President Trump told him the real reason he has refused to release his tax returns is because he is afraid that “tax experts” will “run through his tax return and start ripping it to pieces” and that the President would then be audited and forced to pay additional taxes and penalties. 

Next Steps in the Investigation

Today, Chairman Elijah Cummings sent a letter to former Deputy White Counsel Stefan Passantino and a letter President Trump’s personal attorney Sheri Dillon requesting that they appear for transcribed interviews.

On February 15, the Committee released new documents showing that both attorneys were involved in a call in which Ms. Dillon appeared to provide inaccurate information to the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) relating to the President’s hush money payments to Stormy Daniels.

Chairman Cummings also sent a letter today to Ranking Member Jim Jordan in response to his letters last week objecting to the Committee’s efforts to investigate the Cohen payments.



Chairman Cummings’ Opening Statement at Hearing with Michael Cohen

Washington, DC (Feb. 27, 2019)—Below is Chairman Elijah E. Cummings’ opening statement for today’s full Committee hearing with Michael Cohen, former attorney to President Donald Trump.    

Today, the Committee will hear the testimony of Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s longtime personal attorney and one of his closest and most trusted advisors over the last decade.

On August 21, Mr. Cohen appeared in federal court and admitted to arranging secret payoffs of hundreds of thousands of dollars on the eve of the election to silence women alleging affairs with Donald Trump.  Mr. Cohen admitted to violating campaign finance laws and other laws.  He admitted to committing these felonies “in coordination with, and at the direction of” President Trump.  And he admitted, he admitted, to lying about his actions to protect the President.

Some will certainly ask, if Mr. Cohen was lying then, why should we believe him now?  This is a legitimate question.  As a trial lawyer for many years, I’ve faced this situation over and over again. 

And I asked the same question.  Here is how I view our role.  Every one of us in this room has a duty to serve as an independent check on the Executive Branch. Ladies and gentlemen, we are in search of the truth.  The President has made many statements of his own, and now the American people have a right to hear the other side.  They can watch Mr. Cohen’s testimony and make their own judgment. 

We received a copy of Mr. Cohen’s written statement late last night.  It includes not only personal eyewitness accounts of meetings with Donald Trump as President inside the Oval Office, but it also includes documents and other corroborating evidence for some of Mr. Cohen’s statements.

For example, Mr. Cohen has provided a copy of a check sent while President Trump was in office—with Donald Trump’s signature on it—to reimburse Mr. Cohen for the hush-money payment to Stormy Daniels.

This is new…this new evidence raises a host of troubling legal and ethical concerns about the President’s actions in the White House and before.

This check is dated August 1, 2017.  Six months later, in April of 2018, the President denied anything about it.  In April 2018, President Trump was flying on Air Force One when a reporter asked him the question:  “Did you know about the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels?”  The answer was:  “No.”           

A month after that, the President admitted making payments to Mr. Cohen, but claimed they were part of “a monthly retainer” for legal services.  This claim fell apart in August when federal prosecutors concluded, and I quote:  “In truth and in fact, there was no such retainer agreement.”

Today we will also hear Mr. Cohen’s account of a meeting in 2016 in Donald Trump’s office during which Roger Stone said, over a speakerphone, that he had just spoken with Julian Assange, who said there would be a “massive dump of emails that would damage Hillary Clinton’s campaign.” 
According to Cohen, Mr. Trump replied, “wouldn’t that be great.”                           

The testimony that Michael Cohen will provide today—ladies and gentlemen—is deeply disturbling…disturbing.  And it should be troubling to all Americans.  We will all have to make our own evaluation of the evidence and Mr. Cohen’s credibility.  As he admits, he has repeatedly lied in the past.  I agree with Ranking Member Jordan that this is an important factor we need to weigh. 

But we must weigh it, and we must hear from him.

But where I disagree fundamentally with the Ranking Member involves his efforts to prevent the American people from hearing from Mr. Cohen. 

Mr. Cohen’s testimony raises grave questions about the legality of Donald Trump’s—President Donald Trump’s—conduct and the truthfulness of statements while he was President.  We need to assess and investigate this new evidence as we uphold our constitutional, our oversight responsibilities.  And we will continue after today to gather more documents and testimony in our search for the truth.    

I had made it abundantly clear to Mr. Cohen, that if he comes here today and he does not tell him the truth…tell us the truth,  I will be the first one to refer that…those untruthful statements to DOJ. 

So, when people say that he doesn’t have anything to lose, he does have a lot to lose if he lies.

And, the American people, by the way, voted for accountability in November.  They have a right to hear Mr. Cohen in public so they can make their own judgments.  Mr. Cohen’s testimony is the beginning of the process—not the end.  Ladies and gentlemen, the days of this Committee protecting the President at all costs are over—they’re over! 

Before I close, I want to comment about the scope of today’s hearing.  At the request of the House Intelligence Committee—my very good friend Adam Schiff, Congressman Adam Schiff is the Chairman—I’d intended—over the objections of the Ranking Member of our Committee—to limit the scope of today’s hearing to avoid questions about Russia.    

However, Mr. Cohen’s written testimony, in his written testimony, he’s made statements relating to Russia, and these are topics that we understand do not raise concern from the Department of Justice.  So in fairness to the Ranking Member and all Committee Members, we will not restrict questions relating to the witness’ testimony or related questions he is willing to answer. 

Finally, I remind Members that we will need to remain mindful of those areas where there are ongoing Department of Justice investigations.  Those scoping limitations have not changed. 

Finally, and to Mr. Cohen, Martin Luther King—Mr. Cohen—said the words that I leave with you today before you testify. He said “faith is taking the first step even when you can’t see the whole staircase.  There comes a time when silence becomes betrayal.  Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that truly matter.  In the end,  he says, “we will remember not the words of our enemies, but by the silence of our friends.”


@realDonaldTrump Feb. 27, 2019
4:08 a.m.

Michael Cohen was one of many lawyers who represented me (unfortunately). He had other clients also. He was just disbarred by the State Supreme Court for lying & fraud. He did bad things unrelated to Trump. He is lying in order to reduce his prison time. Using Crooked’s lawyer!

Republican National Committee

RNC
 Statement on Michael Cohen's Testimony 

WASHINGTON — Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel issued the following statement concerning Michael Cohen’s testimony to Congress:
 
"House Democrats and Michael Cohen put on a circus that was full of lies and uncorroborated allegations," said Chairwoman McDaniel. "The fact that Congressional Democrats invited Michael Cohen, a convicted felon with a history of lying to Congress, to testify shows how low Democrats will stoop to avoid talking about the historic results President Trump is achieving, and how absurd the supposed ‘Russian collusion’ investigations have become."
 
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PUBLISHED: FEB 21, 2019

RANKING MEMBER JORDAN STATEMENT ON COHEN HEARING

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congressman Jim Jordan (R-OH), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, released the following statement after the announcement of Michael Cohen’s scheduled appearance before the Committee on Wednesday, February 27th:

“I am disappointed and disheartened that Chairman Cummings’s first major hearing will feature Michael Cohen as phase one of the Democrats’ coordinated campaign to remove the President from office. Giving a platform to Mr. Cohen is beneath the dignity of the Congress and I am saddened that Democrats have sunk so low as to promote an admitted liar just to satisfy Tom Steyer and the political forces on the left who will settle for nothing less than impeachment. This charade is an affront to our Committee’s constitutional obligations.”

“Our system of justice only works when people tell the truth,” Mr. Jordan continued. “That’s why the law provides severe criminal penalties for misleading those entrusted by the public with safeguarding our Constitutional system of government. Mr. Cohen cannot be trusted to partake in honest fact-finding before our body. He’s said so himself – to a federal judge – when he plead guilty to lying to Congress.Yet, Chairman Cummings is providing a Congressional forum for Mr. Cohen to avenge his grudge with the president and further feed his insatiable desire for celebrity while being a patsy for political aims of the far left.”

“Moreover, I have serious process concerns with this hearing,” Mr. Jordan said. “No one should be scared of the truth, but everyone should be scared when the deck is stacked in favor of a liar. The Chairman indicated that he will be limiting the topics of the hearing to only a few areas of inquiry – all serving his interest in finding grounds for impeachment. I will not stand by quietly while an admitted liar comes before the Committee. Our Members intend to question Mr. Cohen about the crimes he pleaded guilty to, other criminal activity he participated in but refused to disclose, his international financial dealings, and a long list of other probative activities.”