Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal attorney and fixer, claims that he has found millions of incriminating files that would be of interest to lawmakers. In a statement that was released late on Thursday, Cohen through his lawyer Lanny Davis said that his recent testimony in front of Congress has opened up new areas of investigation against Trump. Davis also noted that Cohen had found a hard drive that contains over 14 million files. The files have been retrieved from Cohen’s computer and phone and they go back for a period of nearly 10 years.
Lanny Davis added that he and his client believe that the documents have significant value to the various Congressional committees already investigating the president for possible wrongdoing. These latest revelations were uncovered by CNN after the network obtained a copy of a letter sent by Davis to Congressional Democrats. Lanny also called on lawmakers to give Cohen more time, resources and assistance in order to separate the privileged documents and personal files from this hard drive.
Cohen told Congress in a separate letter that president Trump directed him to lie about the timing of a Trump Tower project in Moscow. He added that Trump’s lawyers reviewed and edited his testimony to Congress in 2017 on the same matter. Despite this, the former Trump fixer has not won many friends among Republicans who have accused him of being a “serial liar.” In fact, Cohen perjured himself when he claimed that he had not sought any job from the Trump White House after the president was elected.
The former fixer was also sentenced to three years in prison by a federal judge in December for lying to Congress and violating campaign finance laws. Cohen was largely involved in paying off two women on the run-up to the 2016 elections who claimed they had an affair with the president. The hush money was designed to keep them quiet but the Trump campaign didn’t report this. A number of documents filed by the Special Counsel in New York also indicated that Trump was aware of these payments.
Cohen’s sentence was originally expected to start in March but the date was delayed in order to give him a chance to testify in front of Congress. But if reports on the 14 million new documents are true, he may need extra time to put together a credible and actionable testimony. The news also comes a few weeks after the president was cleared of any wrongdoing by the special counsel Robert Mueller.
A summarized brief sent to Congress by the Attorney General William Barr noted that the investigation by the special counsel didn’t find any evidence that members of the Trump campaign colluded with Russia. The brief, however, noted that the president had not been exonerated. House Democrats have in fact issued a subpoena demanding the release of the full Mueller report and the underlying evidence it uncovered. However, GOP lawmakers have called to an end to this investigation saying that it’s time to move on.
