Donald Trump’s former lawyer and “fixer” Michael Cohen will offer his first public testimony about his years working closely with Trump when he appears before the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday — and that testimony will contain at least one major “bombshell,” according to a report by CBS News on Tuesday. And in anticipation of accusations that he is not telling the truth about Trump, expected to come from Republicans on the committee, Cohen will reportedly provide official, internal Trump Organization documents to back up his “bombshell” allegation, the report said.
“A source close to Michael Cohen says he’s going to drop a bombshell at an open congressional hearing on Wednesday, sharing documents prepared by Trump’s accountant that may contain evidence of tax fraud,” CBS News revealed in a Tuesday afternoon Twitter post.
On Tuesday, Cohen testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee, but the testimony took place in a closed session and senators in the hearing kept quiet about details of what Cohen told them, though Republican Susan Colins of Maine said that Cohen was subjected to “an extensive grilling,” according to an ABC News report.
But judging by comments made by senators leaving the hearing, Cohen’s testimony — which was expected to focus on possible collusion between the 2016 Trump presidential campaign and Russia — contained dramatic revelations, according to a CNN report.
“When this investigation started I said it may be the most important thing I’m involved in,” said Senate Intelligence Committee ranking Democrat Mark Warner, according to an MSNBC report. “Nothing that’ve I heard today dissuades me from that view.”
California Senator Kamala Harris, a member of the committee — and Democratic 2020 presidential candidate — offered no details of Cohen’s testimony. But asked by reporters if she had learned “anything new” from what Cohen revealed, Harris simply replied, “Yes,” according to CNN correspondent Manu Raj, reporting via Twitter .
Cohen is due to start a three-year prison sentence on May 6 for, among other offenses, lying to the Senate Intelligence Committee about the Trump Organization’s Trump Tower Moscow project, in earlier testimony behind closed doors. On Tuesday, Cohen apologized to the committee for those lies, according to the CNN report.
According to an NBC News report, Cohen has recently been providing extensive and new information to federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York — which would appear to indicate that any evidence that he presents to the House Oversight Committee, including his allegedly planned “bombshell” proving Trump tax fraud, is already in the possession of SDNY prosecutors, as one national security lawyer noted via Twitter on Tuesday.
“Whatever Cohen says, SDNY and (Special Counsel Robert) Mueller already know,” wrote attorney Bradley P. Moss on his Twitter account.