- Cohen revealed last week that he had uncovered 14 million files of evidence against President Trump, and requested backing for the delay to sort through the files and answer questions.
- Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison last December for lying to Congress and campaign-finance violations.
- Visit BusinessInsider.com for more stories.
House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam
Schiff on Monday said he no plans to help Michael Cohen, after Trumps
former attorney and fixer asked for his jail term to be delayed while
lawmakers sort through a trove of new evidence he uncovered.
"I don't get involved in sentencing matters as
a practice. I never have in Congress and that's been my policy," Schiff
told CNN in an interview on Monday.
In a statement last week, Cohens attorneys said their client had recently uncovered 14 million
files on old computers and phones, which he believes "has significant
value to the various congressional oversight and investigation
committees."
They wrote to lawmakers that Cohen needs more
time to sort through the files before beginning his three year prison
sentence on May 6. His lawyers added that a delay would allow him to be
"readily accessible and immediately available to answer questions from
Congress."
A federal judge in December sentenced Cohen to three years in prison
for lying to Congress about the Trump real-estate project in Moscow,
which ultimately fell through, and for an array of financial crimes.
Those included violating campaign-finance laws by facilitating payouts
during the 2016 presidential campaign to silence women who said they had
affairs with Trump. The president has denied having any affairs.
Cohen has cooperated with law enforcement
agents and lawmakers investigating Trump, testifying to Congress in
February that his former boss had instructed him to make the hush money
payouts and inflate the value of assets to secure loans.
He testified to Schiff's House intelligence Committee behind closed doors in late February and early March, with Schiff describing him as "very cooperative."
His jail sentence had been set to begin in March, but was pushed back to enable him to testify.
Cohens attorney, Lanny Davis, declined to comment on Schiffs remark.
Davis said that in the letter to lawmakers
last week he had requested them to send their letters supporting Cohens
request to Cohen's attorneys, and "did not ask members of Congress to
communicate with the court or prosecutors nor imply any quid pro quo
regarding Mr. Cohen's willingness to cooperate."
See Also:
- Michael Cohen says he's found an old hard drive with 14 million files of potentially damaging evidence on Trump
- In new memo to Congress, Michael Cohens lawyers say Trump encouraged Cohen to lie about the Trump Tower meeting by using 'code' language
- A wave of Islamic countries started to stand up to China over its persecution of its Muslim minority. But then they all got spooked.
No comments:
Post a Comment