Michael Cohen was contrite Wednesday when he appeared in front of the House Oversight Committee in a public hearing.
“Before going further, I want to apologize to each of you and to Congress as a whole,” Cohen said in his opening statement. “The last time I appeared before Congress, I came to protect Mr. Trump. Today, I’m here to tell the truth about Mr. Trump.”
Cohen reportedly issued a similar apology to the Senate Intelligence Committee in a closed-door session before lawmakers on Tuesday.
Trump’s former “fixer” was sentenced to two months in federal prison in December after he pleaded guilty to “knowingly and willfully” making “a materially false, fictitious and fraudulent statement and representation” to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees in 2017 about Trump Organization negotiations to build a Trump Tower in Moscow before the 2016 election.
Those two months, handed down through a case brought by special counsel Robert Mueller, will be served concurrently with the three years he received as part of the campaign finance violations and tax and bank fraud case he faced last year in New York.
“I am going to prison and have shattered the safety and security that I tried so hard to provide for my family. My testimony certainly does not diminish the pain I caused my family and friends — nothing can do that,” Cohen said. “And I have never asked for, nor would I accept, a pardon from President Trump.”
