Michael Cohen, the former personal attorney for President Trump, has agreed to testify privately to the House Intelligence Committee next month.
Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., announced Monday that Cohen will appear on Feb. 8 and thanked him for agreeing to do so voluntarily.
Cohen was set to appear for a public testimony before the House Oversight Committee on Feb. 7, but he announced last week he was postponing the appearance due to “ongoing threats against his family” by Trump and his attorney Rudy Giuliani.
“As I’ve previously stated with my colleagues, Chairmen Elijah Cummings and Jerrold Nadler, efforts to intimidate witnesses, scare their family members, or prevent them from testifying before Congress are tactics we expect from organized crime, not the White House,” Schiff said in a statement announcing Cohen’s scheduled testimony. “These attacks on Mr. Cohen’s family must stop. Federal law prohibits efforts to discourage, intimidate, or otherwise pressure a witness not to provide testimony to Congress.”
Cohen has also been subpoenaed by the Senate Intelligence Committee to appear in mid-February, and those details are being worked out.
Earlier Monday, Cohen announced he was shaking up his legal team, adding Michael Monico, a former federal prosecutor, and his law partner, Barry Spevack. The announcement was made by Lanny Davis, who is Cohen’s legal consultant and spokesman.
Since summer 2018, Cohen had been represented by Guy Petrillo, a criminal defense attorney.
Cohen is set to head to federal prison in early March after taking two plea deals last year in two separate federal cases.
The Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s Office charged him with eight counts, including bank and tax fraud and campaign finance violations.
Cohen was also charged with lying to Congress by special counsel Robert Mueller’s office.
He will spend three years behind bars beginning on March 6.
