Two House allies of former President Donald Trump called on Attorney General Merrick Garland Tuesday to launch a criminal probe into Michael Cohen after he testified against his former boss in the New York fraud trial, according to a new report.
House Republican Conference Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Mike Turner demanded Garland investigate Cohen for lying under oath to Congress about the former president's business dealings, NBC News reports.
“Michael D. Cohen appears to have committed perjury,” the letter, dated Tuesday, reads. "That Mr. Cohen was willing to openly and brazenly state at trial that he lied to Congress on this specific issue is startling.”
Cohen issued a statement Thursday condemning the House representatives for what he dubbed a harassment campaign.
Said Cohen, "This is the type of harassment everyone, especially critics, should expect if Donald becomes President again!”
The move comes just one month after Cohen testified in the New York $250 million civil fraud trial that he lied to the House Intelligence Committee when he denied Trump and the former president's chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg’s requests that he inflate Trump’s worth, NBC notes.
Cohen pleaded guilty to fraud in 2018 for lying to Congress about Trump’s real estate dealings in Russia during the 2016 campaign.
Trump, who is now defending Trump Organization business practices in New York, where Attorney General Letitia James has accused him of fraudulently inflating the worth of his assets, has frequently attacked Cohen's credibility.
In a statement to NBC News, Stefanik reiterated those attacks.
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“The Biden Justice Department must take off its partisan blinders and investigate disgraced fraudster and disbarred attorney Michael Cohen,” she said in a statement to NBC News, “a felon previously convicted for lying to Congress, who just admitted to lying again to Congress.”
Cohen said: “Republican Congress members Stefanik and Turner continue to do Donald’s bidding in witness tampering and obstructing justice. The two members fail to understand the distinction between explicit and implied; which is how the question was asked and accurately responded to. The topic was further clarified several questions thereafter; which is conveniently and intentionally being ignored. I am not concerned at all with their baseless request.This is the type of harassment everyone, especially critics, should expect if Donald becomes President again!”
