Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, hinted Tuesday that it could be a while before the panel releases the transcripts of Michael Cohen’s private testimony.
“We would certainly like to release those transcripts as soon as we are able to, but at the same time, there may be evidence in those transcripts that would prejudice the investigation if they were disclosed before we did other investigative work,” the California Democrat told reporters at the Christian Science Monitor breakfast, according to Politico.
Cohen testified behind closed doors to the committee Feb. 28 and March 6. After the first interview, Schiff said President Trump’s former fixer “shed light on a lot of issues that are very core to our investigation.”
Schiff said Tuesday the committee’s investigators need to follow up on the leads from Cohen’s testimony, including interviews with other witnesses, before transcripts are released.
Cohen reportedly gave the committee documents that showed his false testimony to the panel in 2017 about Trump Tower negotiations was edited. Cohen has pleaded guilty to lying about the time frame of the talks. In a public hearing with the House Oversight Committee in late February, Cohen told lawmakers one of Trump’s attorneys edited the false statement. The lawyer, Jay Sekulow, has denied the claim.
Cohen is set to report to prison May 6 to serve three years for lying to Congress, tax fraud, and campaign finance violations related to payments to women alleging they had affairs with Trump.
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