Michael Cohen to testify before House committee Feb. 8 behind closed doors

Credit: DaytonDailyNews

Update 5:45 p.m. EST Jan. 28: President Donald Trump's former personal attorney Michael Cohen will testify before the House Intelligence Committee next month in a closed hearing, according to news reports.

Cohen is expected to appear before the committee on Feb. 8, according to House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), CNN reported.

Monday’s announcement follows Cohen’s postponement last week of an appearance before the House Oversight Committee that had been scheduled for Feb. 7. after accusing President Donald Trump and his attorney Rudy Giuliani of making “ongoing threats against his family.”

Update 11:35 a.m. EST Jan. 24: 

The Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday subpoenaed President Donald Trump’s former attorney, Michael Cohen, one day after his lawyer announced he was postponing scheduled testimony before the House Oversight and Reform Committee, according to multiple reports.

Unidentified sources told CNN that Cohen was subpoenaed to testify in mid-February. An exact date was not immediately known.

It was not clear how Cohen would respond to the subpoena. CNN reported the Senate Intelligence Committee conducts its interviews behind closed doors.

Original report: A lawyer for President Donald Trump's longtime attorney, Michael Cohen, said Wednesday that Cohen is postponing his scheduled testimony before the House Oversight and Reform Committee due to "ongoing threats against his family" from Trump and his attorney, Rudy Giuliani.

The planned appearance was announced earlier this month by Committee Chairman Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Maryland. Cohen was scheduled to publicly testify on Feb. 7.

“Due to ongoing threats against his family from President Trump and Mr. Giuliani, as recently as this weekend, as well as Mr. Cohen’s continued cooperation with ongoing investigations, by advice of counsel, Mr. Cohen’s appearance will be postponed to a later date,” Cohen’s attorney, Lanny Davis, said in a statement.

 

Davis did not say when the testimony would be heard, if not for Feb. 7.

A federal judge in New York last month sentenced Cohen, 52, to serve 36 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to several charges earlier in the year. He admitted to lying to Congress in connection to a Trump Tower deal in Moscow after prosecutors with special counsel Robert Mueller’s team charged him with making false statements. He also pleaded guilty in August to eight charges, including multiple counts of tax evasion and arranging illicit payments to silence women who posed a risk to Trump's presidential campaign.

In the time since his guilty pleas, Cohen has spent more than 70 hours speaking with investigators for the Southern District of New York, who prosecuted the tax evasion case, and Mueller's team, which is investigating Russian election meddling and its possible ties to Trump, according to The New York Times.

Check back for updates to this developing story.

About the Author