Trump Lawyer to Testify Again as President Assails New Investigations

Trump Lawyer to Testify Again as President Assails New Investigations

WASHINGTON —

U.S. President Donald Trump's former longtime personal attorney Michael Cohen returns to testify Wednesday before the House Intelligence Committee, one of several committees in the Democrat-led House that this week launched fresh investigations of the Trump administration.

Cohen made three appearances on Capitol Hill last week, speaking to the House and Senate intelligence committees in closed sessions and publicly testifying before the House Oversight Committee that Trump is a "con man" who directed him to cover up affairs with two women and who lied about his business efforts in Russia.

The heads of the House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight committees made a joint request to the White House on Tuesday for records concerning any communications Trump had with Russian President Vladimir Putin, expressing concern about allegations Trump worked to conceal details of those interactions.

Separately, the House Judiciary Committee requested documents from 81 individuals as part of what chairman Jerrold Nadler called an "investigation into the alleged corruption, obstruction, and other abuses of power by President Trump, his associates, and members of his Administration."

Trump assailed the investigations as "a big, fat, fishing expedition in search of a crime.

He contended that House Democrats "have gone stone cold CRAZY" and said letters looking for information were sent to "innocent people to harass them."

On Twitter, he called the House Judiciary Committee investigation "the greatest overreach in the history of our Country. The Dems are obstructing justice and will not get anything done."

"PRESIDENTIAL HARASSMENT!" he declared in a final, all-caps broadside.

Later, Trump told reporters, "It's a disgrace to our country," saying Democrats have still not gotten over him winning the 2016 election. "They want to focus on nonsense."

In announcing the Judiciary Committee probe, Nadler said, "Over the last several years, President Trump has evaded accountability for his near-daily attacks on our basic legal, ethical and constitutional rules and norms. Investigating these threats to the rule of law is an obligation of Congress."

Trump has long denied wrongdoing involving his campaign's links to Russia and during his presidency. Asked about the Nadler investigation on Monday, Trump replied, "I cooperate all the time with everybody. … You know the beautiful thing? No collusion. It’s all a hoax."

In a statement, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said the Democrats launched the investigation "because they are terrified that their two-year false narrative of 'Russia collusion' is crumbling. Their intimidation and abuse of American citizens is shameful. Democrats are harassing the President to distract from their radical agenda of making America a socialist country, killing babies after they’re born, and pushing a ‘green new deal’ that would destroy jobs and bankrupt America."

She said White House lawyers and "relevant White House officials" would review the Judiciary Committee's demand for documents and "respond at the appropriate time."

Aside from the White House, the panel sent its requests for documents to the Justice Department; senior campaign officials; the Trump Organization, the president's global business empire; and his two oldest sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump.

​Nadler said Sunday he believes the president has obstructed justice. He said Cohen, in his lengthy public testimony to Congress last week, "directly implicated the president in various crimes, both while seeking the office of president and while in the White House."

"We don't have the facts yet," Nadler said. "But we're going to initiate proper investigations."

The information gathered by the Judiciary Committee, along with that in the yet-to-be-released report by special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of Trump campaign links to Russia and obstruction allegations, could form the basis of impeachment proceedings against Trump. But Nadler said talk of trying to remove Trump from office is premature.

"We will act quickly to gather this information, assess the evidence and follow the facts where they lead with full transparency with the American people," he said.

Mueller's report could soon be turned over to Attorney General William Barr, but how much of it will be made public is uncertain. Democratic lawmakers have called for its full release, but Barr has said he would only do so to the extent that Justice Department regulations allow.

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