President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen will return to Congress next week along with the Russian-born business associate he worked with on the Trump Tower Moscow project.
Cohen appeared before the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday when he was grilled for over seven hours. The committee’s chairman, Adam Schiff, announced then that Cohen would appear before the panel for a second time on March 6 to finish his testimony.
Schiff added that a second hearing would be held on March 14 with a onetime associate of the president, Felix Sater, who worked with Cohen on the Moscow Trump Tower project. The panel “is going to try to do as much as we can in the open” with Sater, the chairman also noted.
Cohen was initially scheduled to begin serving his three-year prison sentence on Wednesday, but a judge granted him a delay so that he can prepare for his congressional testimony.
Cohen’s March 6 appearance before Congress will come only a week after his blockbuster testimony before the House Oversight Committee during which he made a series of allegations against President Trump, accusing him of involvement in a number of illegal activities and directing the crimes Cohen committed.
During the Wednesday testimony, the President’s Republican allies tried to paint Cohen as a liar who has previously pleaded guilty to lying to Congress. The White House as well attacked Cohen, saying that given his past record no one would take him at his word.
His appearance on March 6 will take place behind closed doors and will attract much less public attention. It is expected to focus on topics pertaining to the committee’s investigation into Russia’s 2016 presidential election interference and ties between Russia and Trump associates.
Schiff’s panel will delve into topics that arose during Wednesday’s hearing but also into such that didn’t, the chairman himself said. He also noted that his committee would be “doing a lot of the painstaking work of identifying the source’s corroboration.”
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