A member of House Intelligence Committee said Tuesday she expects lawmakers to hear more tapes from Michael Cohen.
As Cohen embarks on three days of testimony before three different committees, Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., gave CNN a preview of what she expects to hear from President Trump’s former fixer.
Comparing Cohen to former White House counsel John Dean in the Watergate area, Speier brought up the issues of tapes.
“I think listening to these tapes will be very edifying moving forward as well,” she said, noting last summer secretly recorded audio of a discussion between Cohen and Trump about paying for the rights of Playboy model Karen McDougal’s story about her alleged affair with Trump.
Last spring, the FBI reportedly seized more than 100 recordings during a raid of Michael Cohen’s office.
“I am confident that we’re probably going to be listening to other tapes at some point that will shed more light on how Donald Trump the businessman skirted the law,” Speier said.
Asked to confirm if she knew she would be listening to any new tapes during hearings held by the House Oversight and Intelligence Committees this week, Speier reasoned that a precedent has already been set for it because of the investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s unauthorized email server.
“It’s my expectation, because much like the Department of Justice made available all the data and information they had on Hillary Clinton, and the email fiasco that we went through for so many months, I think they have set a precedent,” Speier said.
She said she expects the reveal most likely would happen in the closed-door session before the House Intelligence Committee.
Cohen is due to testify on Capitol Hill in closed sessions before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday and the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday. His only public testimony will be before the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday.
ABC News reported Tuesday the former lawyer to Trump would publicly accuse president of potentially committing a crime while in office. Politico reports that Cohen will share documents to show Trump engaged in criminal activity in how he dealt with hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels, who also alleges having an affair with him.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders cast him as a liar seeking to further his agenda.
“Disgraced felon Michael Cohen is going to prison for lying to Congress and making other false statements. Sadly, he will go before Congress this week and we can expect more of the same. It’s laughable that anyone would take a convicted liar like Cohen at his word, and pathetic to see him given yet another opportunity to spread his lies,” Sanders said.
Cohen is scheduled to begin a three-year prison sentence in May after he pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including campaign finance violations and lying to Congress.
