President Trump’s longtime personal attorney Michael Cohen claimed Wednesday that he was offered a White House job, but turned it down to protect Trump’s attorney-client privilege.
Cohen, appearing before the House Oversight Committee to divulge details of his work with Trump, denied that he was embittered against Trump after not being offered a White House job.
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, contended that Cohen “didn’t get brought to the dance” when Trump became president and was getting revenge by airing damaging claims.
“I did not want to go to the White House. I was offered jobs,” Cohen insisted, describing an offer to work in the White House Counsel’s office, which has not previously been reported.
“I can tell you a story of Mr. Trump reaming out [former White House Chief of Staff] Reince Priebus because I had not taken a job where Mr. Trump wanted me to, which is working with Don McGahn at the White House General [sic] Counsel’s office,” Cohen said.
“I brought a lawyer in who produced a memo as to why I should not go in because there would be no attorney-client privilege and in order to handle some of the matters that I talked about in my opening, it would be best suited for me not to go in and that every president had a personal attorney,” he added.
The White House would not comment. Priebus did not immediately respond to an email.
Cohen’s claim was disputed on social media, including by Darrell Scott, the Trump-supporting African-American pastor and frequent White House visitor. “Michael Cohen asked…no, BEGGED me REPEATEDLY, to ask the POTUS to give him a job in the Administration! He’s STILL lying under oath!” Scott wrote on Twitter.
Michael Cohen asked…no, BEGGED me REPEATEDLY, to ask the POTUS to give him a job in the Administration! He’s STILL lying under oath!
— Dr.Darrell Scott (@PastorDScott) February 27, 2019
Bo Dietl, a former New York City police officer and frequent TV commentator, wrote on Twitter that he was “[g]etting sick watching these hearings” because “I know Michael Cohen personally for many years and he told me several times that he was very angry and upset that he didn’t get a post in the [White House] and that he ‘would do what he has to do now to protect his family’.”
Getting sick watching these hearings. I know Michael Cohen personally for many years and he told me several times that he was very angry and upset that he didn’t get a post in the WH and that he “would do what he has to do now to protect his family ” @seanhannity @potus
— Bo Dietl (@BoDietl) February 27, 2019
Cohen will report for a three-year prison sentence in May after pleading guilty to bank and tax fraud, a campaign finance violation, and lying to Congress about 2016 talks to build a Trump Tower in Russia.
Although Cohen said he lied to Congress in service to Trump, he conceded to Jordan that he also lied repeatedly in his private life, including on tax forms, for personal reasons unrelated to Trump.
Cohen, denied, however, that he personally created a Twitter account called Women for Cohen that used the hashtag #handsome and term “sex symbol” to describe him. He said a female publicist did so for “fun” during the 2016 campaign.
