Getty Michael Cohen, former attorney and fixer for President Donald Trump is sworn in before testifying before the House Oversight Committee on Capitol Hill February 27, 2019 in Washington, DC.
Two House Republicans are asking the Department of Justice to formally investigate whether Michael Cohen committed perjury when he testified to Congress on February 27. The two members of Congress — Jim Jordan and Mark Meadows — sent a letter to the Attorney General on February 28, writing that they had “significant evidence” that Cohen had “comitted perjury and knowingly made false statements during his testimony before an Oversight and Reform Committee hearing.” You can read the full text of that letter here.
Meadows & Jordan Charge that Cohen Lied Repeatedly to Congress to ‘Make Himself Look Better’
Mark Meadows and Jim Jordan
Meadows and Jordan write that Cohen’s testimoney to the House Oversight and Reform Committee “was a spectacular and brazen attempt to knowing and willingly testify falsely and fictitiously to numerous material facts.” The letter sets out a number of examples of what Meadows and Jordan call Cohen’s perjury: They argue that he lied when he told Congress that he has never defrauded a bank, even though he has pleaded guilty in court to tax evasion and to making a false statement to a bank. Meadows and Jordan also say that Cohen lied when he told Congress that he never had any relationship with a “foreign government entity.” The congressmen argue that in fact, Cohen had relationships with at least two foreign government entities — BTA Bank of Kazakhstan and Korea Aerospace Industries of South Korea.
Cohen spent ten years working for Donald Trump as his personal lawyer and adviser, and he’s often said that he was motivated to commit crimes because of the “blind loyalty” he felt for Trump. But Meadows and Jordan say that, far from being “blindly loyal,” Cohen was motivated chiefly by “greed and ambition.” This is an opinion shared by Judge Pauley of the Southern District Court of New York. Jordan and Meadows say that Cohen is trying to “make himself look better” to the nation, by lying about his motivations and about his past. They write:
“His [Cohen’s] testimony included intentionally false statements designed to make himself look better on a national stage. Mr. Cohen’s prior conviction for lying to Congress merits a heightened suspicion that he has yet again testified falsely before Congress. We therefore request that the Department investigate whether any of Mr. Cohen’s testimony warrants another charge” for the violation of laws against perjury.