House Speaker Nancy Pelosi warned members of Congress not to make public comments that could affect investigations, after comments from a Republican lawmaker were widely criticized as threatening a witness.
“I encourage all Members to be mindful that comments made on social media or in the press can adversely affect the ability of House Committees to obtain the truthful and complete information necessary to fulfill their duties,” the California Democrat said in a statement Tuesday evening.
Pelosi said that the Ethics Committee should monitor these sort of comments.
I encourage all Members to be mindful that comments made on social media or in the press can adversely affect the ability of House Committees to obtain the truthful and complete information necessary to fulfill their duties. https://t.co/NDnxkaiFCA pic.twitter.com/DIIgSHgeb5
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) February 26, 2019
Pelosi posted the statement after Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., accused Michael Cohen of having extramarital affairs.
“Do your wife & father-in-law know about your girlfriends?” Gaetz said Tuesday on Twitter. “Maybe tonight would be a good time for that chat.”
He later said that Cohen, 52, would hear more deeply personal remarks on Wednesday, when Cohen is set to publicly testify before the House Oversight Committee.
Gaetz later defended his comments, claiming that he was not engaging in witness tampering but instead was “witness testing.”
“We’re witness testing not witness tampering,” Gaetz told reporters a few hours after posting the accusatory tweet. “And when witnesses come before Congress their truthfulness and veracity are in question and we have the opportunity to test them.”
Cohen has pleaded guilty to lying to Congress, along with campaign finance violations related to hush-money payments to two women who allege they had affairs with President Trump.
Lanny Davis, Cohen’s attorney, said they would not be responding to Gaetz’s allegations of affairs and implications that his wife, Laura Schusterman, could cheat on him if he were to go to jail.
“We will not respond to Mr. Gaetz’s despicable lies and personal smears,” Davis said, “except to say we trust that his colleagues in the House, both Republicans and Democrats, will repudiate his words and his comments.”
Cohen faces three years in prison.
