The top two lawmakers on the Senate Intelligence Committee postponed today’s interview with President Trump’s longtime personal lawyer Michael Cohen after Cohen released his opening remarks to the press earlier in the morning.
“We were disappointed that Mr. Cohen decided to pre-empt today’s interview by releasing a public statement prior to his engagement with Committee staff, in spite of the Committee’s requests that he refrain from public comment,” the statement from Chariman Richard Burr, R-N.C. and Vice Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., said.
“As a result, we declined to move forward with today’s interview and will reschedule Mr. Cohen’s appearance before the Committee in open session at a date in the near future. The Committee expects witnesses in this investigation to work in good faith with the Senate.”
Cohen’s statement released earlier this morning blasted the investigations into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 elections, and whether there was any coordination or collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign.
“I emphatically state that I had nothing to do with any Russian involvement in our electoral process,” Cohen said in his four-page statement.
He also denied ever engaging in any efforts to cyber-hack anyone, including the Democratic National Committee, or that he “conversed with any member of the Russian Federation or anyone else to hack or interfere with the election.”
“We will come back for a voluntary interview whenever we can to meet with them, and we look forward to voluntarily cooperating with the House committee and with anyone else who has an inquiry in this area,” Cohen’s lawyer told reporters after the postponement was announced.
Cohen’s interview was expected to focus on newly leaked emails which showed that the Trump business organization was looking into the possibility of building a Trump Tower-like project in Moscow.
The attorney and also longtime friend to Trump also has had dealings with Ukraine that the committee is expected to investigate.
