Hello There, Guest! (LoginRegister)

Post Reply 
News Cohen met with Schiff staff for over 10 hours before hearing
Author Message
CrimsonPhantom Offline
CUSA Curator
*

Posts: 42,091
Joined: Mar 2013
Reputation: 2404
I Root For: NM State
Location:
Post: #1
Cohen met with Schiff staff for over 10 hours before hearing
Quote:President Trump's former personal attorney Michael Cohen told House investigators this week that staff for Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., traveled to New York at least four times to meet with him for over 10 hours immediately before last month’s high-profile public testimony, according to two sources familiar with the matter -- as Republicans question whether the meetings amounted to coaching a witness.

The sources said the sessions covered a slew of topics addressed during the public hearing before the oversight committee -- including the National Enquirer’s “Catch and Kill” policy, American Media CEO David Pecker and the alleged undervaluing of President Trump's assets.

But, Republicans have raised concerns with the sessions, with Ohio Rep. Mike Turner sending a letter to Cohen's team on Wednesday demanding answers.

Turner specifically asked for confirmation of Cohen’s contacts, if any, "with Democratic Members or Democratic staff of SSCI [Senate Select Committee on Intelligence], COR [House Committee on Oversight and Reform], or HPSCI [House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence] prior to his appearances before House and Senate committees last week" -- as well as the lengths of such contacts, their locations and who exactly was involved.

"These questions are important for the public to understand whether or not they were watching witness testimony, a public hearing, or well-rehearsed theater," he wrote.

During last month’s seven-hour public hearing before the House Oversight Committee, Cohen hesitantly acknowledged, under questioning from Ohio GOP Rep. Jim Jordan, that he had spoken with Schiff "about topics that were going to be raised at the upcoming hearing."

But, he did not elaborate on the discussions, which Fox News is told extended significantly longer than the seven hours that the public hearing itself lasted.

One by one, during the dramatic hearing, Cohen fielded questions on precisely the same topics that the sources told Fox News he discussed with Schiff’s staff during the sit-downs in New York.

For example, in response to questioning from Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., Cohen discussed the purported practice of paying for the rights to news stories harmful to Trump, only to bury them.

"I was involved in several of these catch-and-kill episodes," Cohen told Maloney, "but these catch-and-kill scenarios existed between David Pecker and Mr. Trump long before I started working in 2007."

Cohen went on to testify that Pecker, whose company publishes the National Enquirer, had paid $30,000 to a former Trump World Tower doorman who alleged he had information about a supposed love child fathered by Trump. The former Trump fixer asserted that Trump was concerned also about the "treasure trove of documents" Pecker had that could implicate him.

Further, Cohen was asked by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., "To your knowledge, did the president ever provide inflated assets to an insurance company?"

Cohen replied: "Yes."

"Who else knows that the president did this?" Ocasio-Cortez pressed.

"Allen Weisselberg, Ron Lieberman and Matthew Calamari," Cohen said, referring to the Trump Organization's chief financial officer and other key Trump associates. "You deflate the value of the asset and then you put in a request to the tax department for a deduction."

Asked about the revelations by email, a House Intelligence Committee spokesman defended the Schiff staff's pre-hearing discussions with Cohen.

"We are running a professional investigation in search of the facts, and we welcome the opportunity to meet with potential witnesses in advance of any testimony to determine relevant topics to cover in order to make productive use of their time before the Committee," spokesman Patrick Boland told Fox News.

Link
03-08-2019 04:02 PM
Visit this user's website Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
Advertisement


Post Reply 




User(s) browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)


Copyright © 2002-2024 Collegiate Sports Nation Bulletin Board System (CSNbbs), All Rights Reserved.
CSNbbs is an independent fan site and is in no way affiliated to the NCAA or any of the schools and conferences it represents.
This site monetizes links. FTC Disclosure.
We allow third-party companies to serve ads and/or collect certain anonymous information when you visit our web site. These companies may use non-personally identifiable information (e.g., click stream information, browser type, time and date, subject of advertisements clicked or scrolled over) during your visits to this and other Web sites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services likely to be of greater interest to you. These companies typically use a cookie or third party web beacon to collect this information. To learn more about this behavioral advertising practice or to opt-out of this type of advertising, you can visit http://www.networkadvertising.org.
Powered By MyBB, © 2002-2024 MyBB Group.