Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., said the House Intelligence Committee’s closed-door hearing with Michael Cohen on Thursday was all about Democrats furthering their “narrative” of conspiracy between President Trump and Russia.
Nunes, the ranking member of the panel, explained at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Oxon Hill, Md., why the Democratic majority was so intent on making the hearing private.
“He already came in behind closed doors,” Nunes said, referring to testimony Cohen gave the committee when Nunes was chairman and in the middle of a Russia investigation.
“He was already busted for lying to Congress,” Nunes said. “But what you saw yesterday … Why was it behind closed doors? Because they want it to be secret. So that they can then run out and they can talk to all the mainstream media who are in search of that ever elusive collusion, conspiracy, obstruction animal.”
Nunes also noted that Cohen, Trump’s longtime fixer, had no access to classified information, and his attorney, Lanny Davis, conceded that Cohen isn’t changing his position, suggesting that there is no new evidence to support the notion that there could be collusion or conspiracy.
“This was all about building the narrative out,” Nunes said.
[Related: Michael Cohen says he has no evidence Trump colluded with Russia]
In 2018, the then-GOP majority of the House Intelligence Committee concluded that there was no collusion in its final report. Democrats argued that the inquiry was closed prematurely without an adequate sweep of hearings and testimony.
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., who is now the chairman, is revamping the committee’s look into Trump and Russia. He said Thursday that Felix Sater, a Russia-born executive who had worked for the Trump Organization and is an associate of Cohen, will appear at a public hearing March 14 for testimony on plans to build a skyscraper in Russia.
Cohen testified publicly before the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday, and privately before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday.
