Republican lawmakers Monday said they don’t believe information provided to prosecutors by President Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, implicating the president in a payoff scheme.
“Let me say this about Mr. Cohen,” said Senate Judiciary Committee member John Kennedy, R-La. “I don’t know the man, I’ve just observed him. Jesus loves him but everybody else thinks he’s an idiot.”
“He’s obviously a sleazoid grifter, and if I were a prosecutor, I wouldn’t base a prosecution on evidence given to me by Mr. Cohen,” Kennedy said of Cohen, who has been indicted on charges of lying to Congress.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who is chairman of the Judiciary Committee, told reporters Cohen “is a liar,” and he added: “I don’t give much credibility to what he says.”
The majority whip, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who is also on the Judiciary panel, has questioned Cohen’s character as well when asked about his accusations against the president.
Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., a staunch defender of the special counsel probe by Robert Mueller into alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians, gave the report more credibility.
“Those are serious charges,” Flake, who is also on the Judiciary Committee, said. “I want to see the report.”
Trump is accused in the memo, release by prosecutors in the Southern District of New York, of directing Cohen to pay off mistresses. Trump is identified as “Individual-1.”
Kennedy said campaign finance violations are often civil offenses, if indeed Trump is guilty of Cohen’s accusation.
“This campaign finance act is important but … it’s a long way from collusion with a foreign agent to influence the election of 2016, which is what I thought this was about,” Kennedy said.
He called on Mueller to wrap up the investigation.
“If somebody broke the law they ought to be indicted and prosecuted, but the American people are entitled to know if Mr. Trump colluded with the Russians to influence the election of 2016 and I thought that’s what this is all about,” Kennedy said. “If they want to prosecute someone on campaign finance violations, that’s a separate issue, have at it. But I wouldn’t trust Mr. Cohen.”
