NATION
Thursday, January 24, 2019
East Oregonian
A7
Ex-Trump lawyer Cohen
delays testimony to Congress
By MICHAEL BALSAMO
Associated Press
WASHINGTON
—
President Donald Trump’s
former lawyer, Michael
Cohen, will not testify
before a House committee
next month as scheduled,
his adviser said Wednes-
day, depriving Democrats
for now of a prime oppor-
tunity to scrutinize Trump,
his links to Russia and pay-
ments to buy the silence of a
porn star.
Cohen
indefinitely
delayed his Feb. 7 appear-
ance before the House Over-
sight and Reform Commit-
tee. He blamed threats from
Trump and the president’s
attorney-spokesman, Rudy
Giuliani, and cited his own
ongoing cooperation in spe-
cial counsel Robert Muel-
ler’s Russia investigation.
Cohen adviser Lanny
Davis said the decision was
made on advice of Cohen’s
lawyers.
“This is a time where Mr.
Cohen had to put his family
and their safety first,” Davis
said in a statement.
The statement did not
detail the threats. But Trump
and Giuliani have publicly
urged the Justice Depart-
ment to investigate Cohen’s
father-in-law, insinuating he
was part of some unspecific
criminal activity. Trump, for
example, told Fox News this
month that Cohen “should
give information maybe on
his father-in-law, because
that’s the one that people
want to look at.”
Asked about the claim
of a threat, Trump accused
Cohen of lying.
“He’s only been threat-
ened by the truth, and he
doesn’t want to do that,
probably for me or other of
his clients,” Trump said at
the White House. “He has
other clients also, I assume,
and he doesn’t want to tell
AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File
In this Sept. 19, 2017, file photo, Michael Cohen, President
Donald Trump’s personal attorney, steps out of a cab during
his arrival on Capitol Hill in Washington.
the truth for me or other of
his clients.”
Trump’s fixer-turned-foe
is a central figure in Muel-
ler’s investigation into pos-
sible coordination between
Russia and Trump’s cam-
paign. Cohen also played
a pivotal role in buying the
silence of a porn actress and
a former Playboy Playmate
who both alleged they had
sex with Trump. The presi-
dent has denied their claims.
Cohen pleaded guilty last
year to campaign finance
violations and other offenses
connected to the payments.
Federal prosecutors have
said Trump directed Cohen
to make the payments
during the campaign.
Newly empowered Dem-
ocrats wanted to make
Cohen the first high-profile
witness since they regained
control of the House and
have promised an aggres-
sive effort to investigate
the president. They have
pledged to limit their ques-
tioning to avoid interfering
with any investigations.
It is unclear how long
Cohen is seeking to delay
his testimony, but Cohen
“looks forward to testify-
ing at the appropriate time,”
Davis said.
Cohen is scheduled to
report to prison on March
6 to begin a three-year
sentence.
Democrats have sug-
gested they may subpoena
Cohen to compel his testi-
mony and the committee’s
chairman, Rep. Elijah Cum-
mings, said Cohen could
be brought from prison to
appear before Congress.
“We will get his testi-
mony,” Cummings said.
In a statement, Cum-
mings and Rep. Adam
Schiff, who heads the House
Intelligence
Committee,
said they understood the
“completely legitimate con-
cerns” Cohen raised about
threats. But, they added, it
“was never an option” for
Cohen not to appear before
Congress.
The committees have
been in touch with Cohen
and offered to work with
law enforcement to enhance
security measures to protect
his family and is in touch
with Cohen’s lawyers about
when he would testify, they
said.
“We will not let the pres-
ident’s tactics prevent Con-
gress from fulfilling our
constitutionally mandated
oversight responsibilities,”
the chairmen said in a state-
ment. “This will not stop us
from getting to the truth.”
In November, Cohen also
pleaded guilty to lying to
Congress. He admitted that
he said negotiations over the
development of a Trump-
branded tower in Moscow
had ended in January 2016
but had actually continued
until at least June 2016, well
into Trump’s presidential
campaign. Cohen has said
he lied to be consistent with
Trump’s “political messag-
ing” and to minimize the
public’s understanding of
Trump’s ties with Russia.
Republicans, in their
questioning at a Cohen
hearing, probably would
have seized on a disputed
BuzzFeed News story that
Trump instructed Cohen to
lie before Congress.
The special counsel’s
office issued a rare pub-
lic statement after the story
ran last week disputing ele-
ments of the article. Buzz-
Feed stands by the story and
has asked for clarity from
Mueller’s team.
AP Photo/John Minchillo
A Kentucky Catholic boys’ school shut down its campus
on Tuesday as a small protest was held outside their di-
ocese as fallout continued over an encounter between
white teenagers, Native American marchers and a black
religious sect last week.
Catholic student says
he didn’t disrespect
Native American
By JOHN MINCHILLO
Associated Press
PARK HILLS, Ky. — A
Catholic high school stu-
dent whose encounter with
a Native American activist
and a black religious sect
was captured on video in
Washington, D.C., says he
has nothing to apologize
for.
Nick Sandmann told
NBC’s “Today” show on
Wednesday that he had
every right to be there, as
did the others who gath-
ered in front of the Lin-
coln Memorial. He said he
wasn’t disrespectful and
was trying to stay calm
under the circumstances.
Videos posted of Sand-
mann and his classmates
wearing “Make Amer-
ica Great Again” hats and
facing off against Omaha
Nation elder Nathan Phil-
lips have sparked wide-
spread criticism. But the
various sides say they’ve
been misunderstood and
that snippets of video were
taken out of context.
Many saw the white
teenagers, who had trav-
eled to Washington for an
anti-abortion rally, appear-
ing to mock the Native
AP Photo/John Minchillo
Protesters gather outside
the Catholic Diocese of
Covington on Tuesday.
Americans. Others inter-
preted Phillips’ drum-
ming and singing as hos-
tile. Phillips has since
explained that he was try-
ing to intervene between
the boys and a group of
black street preachers who
were shouting racist insults
at both the Native Ameri-
cans and the white kids.
Sandmann said he defi-
nitely felt threatened by
the black men, who were
calling them things like
“incest kids” and “bigots.”
“In hindsight, I wish
we’d just found another
spot to wait for our buses,
but at the time, being posi-
tive seemed better than let-
ting them slander us with
all of these things.”
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