Michael Cohen’s testimony before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee was must-see TV in Washington, D.C., and beyond, with his denunciations of President Trump and revelations grabbing headlines in the days following his appearance.
But while there’s disagreement as to whether Cohen provided a smoking gun to Democrats looking to expose wrongdoing by the president, Trump’s former longtime attorney and “fixer” did give lawmakers a road map to conducting further investigations into Trump’s business dealings and finances, crossing into territory the president has declared off-limits to special counsel Robert Mueller and his team of investigators.
“Mr. Cohen’s testimony was everything the Democrats in Congress were likely hoping for because it painted a very dark picture of the Trump Organization and gave just enough additional information to provide them additional fodder to argue that continued investigation is warranted,” Robert Mintz, a former federal prosecutor now in private practice, said. “Really, for at least the Democrats in Congress, this provides an additional road map for them and I think only signals that this inquiry is not going to go away any time soon.”
Cohen, who pleaded guilty to lying to Congress, campaign finance violations, and bank and tax fraud last year, testified before lawmakers four separate times over a span of two weeks: three times before closed doors and once publicly before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
During his lengthy public testimony, Cohen alleged Trump knew about plans by WikiLeaks to publish hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee during the 2016 presidential election and was informed of a June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower, which is now under scrutiny by Mueller, between top Trump campaign officials and a Russian lawyer who claimed to have damaging information on Hillary Clinton.
Several lines of inquiry from lawmakers led Cohen to provide the House Oversight Committee with the names of specific people who may have knowledge of possible wrongdoing by the president. Democrats said his testimony bolsters the need for copies of the president’s tax returns, which Trump has not released.
Cohen also gave the committee a tranche of documents including financial statements from the president that Cohen said inflated his net worth, as well as two checks signed by Trump as reimbursement for hush money payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels just before the 2016 presidential election.
[Related: 2016 video shows Michael Cohen lied to Congress about not wanting a Trump administration job]
Gene Rossi, a former federal prosecutor in the Eastern District of Virginia, said Cohen, through his testimony, provided Democrats with “invaluable” information.
“Michael Cohen was like Monty Hall,” Rossi said, referring to the host of “Let’s Make a Deal.” “He’s basically telling the committees and Congress you better look behind door number one, door number two, door number three. But unlike the show, he was telling the committee who is behind each door and what that person may have done in all those schemes involving the president of the United States.”
Indeed, congressional Democrats — now in control of the House and with subpoena power — wasted no time in launching a sweeping probe on the heels of Cohen’s testimony.
The House Judiciary Committee last week announced an investigation into “alleged obstruction of justice, public corruption and other abuses of power” by Trump. As part of the probe, the committee sent document requests to 81 individuals, agencies, and entities, including Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s chief financial officer; Trump’s sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump; and his son-in-law and White House senior adviser Jared Kushner.
Nearly all of the people Cohen referenced in his testimony received demands for documents from the House Judiciary Committee.
In a statement responding to the House Judiciary Committee’s investigation, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders called the probe “disgraceful and abusive” and claimed Democrats are “more interested in pathetic political games and catering to a radical, leftist base than in producing results for our citizens.”
“Chairman Nadler and his fellow Democrats have embarked on this fishing expedition because they are terrified that their two-year false narrative of ‘Russia collusion’ is crumbling,” Sanders said. “Their intimidation and abuse of American citizens is shameful. Democrats are harassing the president to distract from their radical agenda of making America a socialist country, killing babies after they’re born, and pushing a ‘Green New Deal’ that would destroy jobs and bankrupt America.”
[Also read: Michael Cohen denies key portion of Trump dossier: ‘I’ve never been to Prague’]
Some of the people identified by Cohen have already testified in connection with Mueller’s probe, Mintz said, but any appearances before Congress could pierce the secrecy surrounding the special counsel’s investigation.
“When those individuals get called before Congress, that may bring to light some of the information that, at least at this point, has remained behind the closed doors of the Mueller probe,” he said.
Rossi, meanwhile, said that for the president, it’s what Cohen didn’t say that should be cause for concern.
“The Southern District of New York is still in constant contact with Michael Cohen,” Rossi said. “And if I were the president of the United States, that part of Mr. Cohen’s testimony would send chills up my spine. That Michael Cohen could not even talk about what they’re looking at would send double chills up my spine.”
“That’s the most grievous risk that the president of the United States has,” he added.
