President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen has scored a hat trick when it comes to postponing congressional testimony.
For the third time this month, Cohen’s scheduled congressional testimony has been delayed, as his attorney said Monday that Cohen’s Senate Intelligence Committee appearance this week had been pushed back.
“The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has accepted Mr. Cohen’s request for postponement of tomorrow’s hearing due to post surgery medical needs. A future date will be announced by the committee,” Davis said in a statement.
Cohen has been subpoenaed to appear before the committee on February 12. A spokeswoman for committee declined to comment on Cohen’s testimony.
Cohen’s shifting congressional testimony comes before he is scheduled to report to jail on March 6. Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to tax crimes, campaign finance violations and lying to Congress in his 2017 Senate Intelligence Committee testimony.
Three committees are now seeking for Cohen to testify, two behind closed doors and one publicly.
Cohen was initially scheduled to appear before the House Oversight Committee for a public hearing on February 7, but that was scrapped and a new date has not been offered. Cohen was supposed to testify behind closed doors before the House Intelligence Committee the following day, February 8, and that interview has now been rescheduled for February 28.
Last week, House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, said that Cohen is still being “fully cooperative” with the committee despite the postponement.
Both Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr, a North Carolina Republican, and Schiff have said they need Cohen to testify before he goes to jail. So far, the Senate Intelligence Committee is the only one who has issued a subpoena for Cohen to appear.