Rep. Mark Meadows slammed former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen during a House Oversight Committee on Wednesday for allegedly violating the Foreign Agent Disclosure Act (FARA).
Fox News reported that a source close to Meadows indicated that the criminal referral “specifically involves Cohen’s consulting on behalf of Kazakhstan’s BTA Bank, as well as consulting for Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis and South Korean aerospace.”
“Mr. Cohen, I’m going to come back to the question that I asked for with regards to your false statements that you submitted to Congress,” Meadows said. “On here, it was very clear that it asks for contracts with foreign entities over the last two years. Have you had any foreign contract with foreign entities, whether it’s Novartis, whether Korean airline, or Kazakhstan BTA Bank? Your testimony earlier said that you had contracts with them. In fact, you went into detail about them.”
“I just entered a referral for criminal investigation of Michael Cohen, who violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act by illegally lobbying on behalf of foreign entities without registering,” Meadows said. “Cohen talks about ‘blind loyalty.’ His real blind loyalty? It’s to the almighty dollar.”
WATCH:
Partial transcript provided via Mediaite:
MEADOWS: Mr. Cohen, I’m going to come back to the question that I asked for with regards to your false statements that you submitted to Congress. On here, it was very clear that it asks for contracts with foreign entities over the last two years. Have you had any foreign contract with foreign entities, whether it’s Novartis, whether Korean airline, or Kazakhstan BTA Bank? Your testimony earlier said that you had contracts with them. In fact, you went into detail about them.
COHEN: Sir, I believe it talks about lobbying. No, I did no lobbying, and on top of that they are not government…
MEADOWS: I’m not asking about lobbying, Mr. Cohen.
COHEN: They are not government agencies, they are privately owned, publicly traded companies.
MEADOWS: Did you have foreign contracts over the last 2 years?
COHEN: Foreign contracts?
MEADOWS: Contracts with foreign entities. Did you have contracts?
COHEN: Yes.
MEADOWS: Why didn’t you put them on the form, it says it’s a criminal offense to not put them on this form, for the last two years, why did you not do that?
COHEN: Because those foreign companies that you’re referring to are not government companies.
MEADOWS: It says non-governmental, Mr. Cohen, you signed it.
COHEN: They’re talking about me as being non-governmental.
MEADOWS: It says foreign agency, it says foreign contracts, do you want us to read it to you?
COHEN: I read it and it was reviewed by my counsel, and I am a non-government employee who is not lobbying, and they are not foreign countries.
MEADOWS: This has nothing to do with lobbying, it says it’s a criminal offense to not list all your foreign contracts. That’s what it says.
COHEN: Well then I’m going to take a look at it before I leave and hopefully I will amend it prior to leaving, because that’s not the way I read your document.
MEADOWS: You know, it’s just one more example of, Mr. Cohen, of you skirting the truth.