President Donald Trump’s ex-personal lawyer and former “fixer” Michael Cohen reportedly met with the team of Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) for a stunning ten hours before appearing before the House Intelligence Committee in February. The “unusual” meetings, as described by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), has the GOP further questioning if Cohen was coached for the hearing.
According to Fox News, Cohen told House investigators that Schiff’s staffers “traveled to New York at least four times to meet with him for over 10 hours immediately before last month’s high-profile public testimony.”
The report backs Cohen’s comments on February 27, when the disbarred lawyer admitted to Rep. Jordan that he had spoken with Schiff “about topics that were going to be raised at the upcoming hearing” prior to giving his testimony.
Reacting to the Fox report on Friday, Jordan categorized the meetings as “unusual” and suggested coordination on behalf of the Democrats.
“There’s always, Bill [Hemmer], a little bit of interaction with the witness prior to a hearing. But 10 hours, several trips to his location in New York, that is very unusual. Particularly when we asked for a deposition and weren’t given that opportunity,” Jordan said, appearing on “America’s Newsroom.”
“They did 10 hours of preparations with the witness and he came into Congress and still lied to us,” he added.
Schiff has denied such claims. “The extent of my contact was just inviting him to testify and also trying to allay his concerns about the President’s threats against him and his family, but our staff certainly sat down to interview him and that’s what you do in any credible investigation,” the Democrat claimed on CBS’ “Face The Nation.”
“And that takes 10 hours?” Jordan mocked. “I think the average person is saying ‘wait a minute, there’s something else going on here.’”
Jordan also accused Lanny Davis, Cohen’s attorney, of “choreographing” the partisan hearing.
“Understand what took place here. Lanny Davis coordinated and choreographed this whole thing,” said the Republican. “He told our staff, ‘I planned this hearing, I picked this committee, I had to persuade Michael Cohen to do it.’ Maybe most importantly he said ‘I had to persuade chairman Cummings to do it.’”
Davis has been described by The Washington Post as the “ultimate Clinton loyalist.” The Post reported:
For much of his adult life, [Davis] has fashioned himself as a Clinton warrior, serving as White House counsel during Bill’s early crises and as a surrogate for Hillary’s presidential campaigns. In February, Hillary Clinton attended a party celebrating the release of Davis’s book “The Unmaking of the President 2016: How FBI Director James Comey Cost Hillary Clinton the Presidency.” Now he has been handed a chance to help vanquish the man who defeated her in 2016, the man who led his rally crowds to chant “lock her up.
As reported by The Washington Examiner, Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH) sent a letter Wednesday to Cohen’s team demanding answers to questions concerning pre-hearing meetings:
Turner asked if Cohen had any contact “with Democratic Members or Democratic staff … prior to his appearances before House and Senate committees last week.”
“These questions are important for the public to understand whether or not they were watching witness testimony, a public hearing, or well-rehearsed theater,” Turner wrote.