President Donald Trump’s former lawyer and “fixer” Michael Cohen said he would postpone his House testimony scheduled for February 7 as a result of “ongoing threats against his family” coming from the President and his current lawyer Rudy Giuliani.
Democrats have now started looking into the possibility of subpoenaing Cohen to testify before he is due to start serving his prison sentence in March.
“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 added that his client is thankful for the opportunity to appear “before the House Oversight Committee and looks forward to testifying” at another time.
According to a person familiar with Cohen’s thinking, he feels that President Donald Trump’s and Giuliani’s statements are threatening and his family feels unsafe as a result.
Responding to Cohen’s citing threats against him and his family, Trump said, “Well I would say he’s been threatened by the truth. He’s only been threatened by the truth.”
House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings expressed belief that Cohen was acting in good faith but he was determined to have Cohen testify one way or another. However, he has not yet decided whether to issue a subpoena.
“I promise you we will hear from Mr. Cohen. Now, we will make those determinations soon and we will let you know how we plan to proceed, but we will get the testimony as sure as night becomes day and day becomes night,” Cummings said.
He also said that Cohen could testify even after he goes to prison.
Cummings and House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff issued a joint statement in which they criticized the President and his attorney for “efforts to intimidate witnesses, scare their family members, or prevent them from testifying before Congress.”
“We understand that Mr. Cohen’s wife and other family members fear for their safety after these attacks, and we have repeatedly offered our assistance to work with law enforcement to enhance security measures for Mr. Cohen and his family,” they said.
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