LOOKING INTO IT

House Intel Committee Probes Obstruction Claims Against Trump Lawyers

The committee sent out document requests related to Michael Cohen’s claim that the attorneys edited his 2017 congressional testimony.

The House Intelligence Committee is reportedly looking into whether lawyers for President Trump and his family aided in obstructing the committee’s inquiry into Russian election interference by “shaping false testimony” from Michael Cohen. According to The New York Times, the committee recently sent out “lengthy document requests” to attorneys for Trump, Don Jr., Ivanka, and the Trump Organization. The requests were reportedly in response to Cohen’s claim that the lawyers helped edit his false 2017 testimony about the Moscow Trump Tower project. Cohen also told the committee the group dangled the idea of a pardon to keep him loyal. The lawyers reportedly have not been cooperative with the requests, and Intel Committee Chair Adam Schiff (D-CA) is prepared to subpoena the lawyers over the matter.

In a statement, the attorneys said the committee was trying to start a “truly needless dispute” that would force them to “violate privileges and ethical rules[.]” They also asserted that Cohen was a witness of “questionable reliability.” Schiff said in his own statement that letting one individual lie before the committee would “encourage others” to “similarly obstruct, both now and in the future.”