The House Intelligence Committee postponed the appearance of President Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen until later this month – less than a week before he’s scheduled to report to federal prison.
“In the interests of the investigation, Michael Cohen’s testimony has been postponed until February 28th,” Chairman Adam Schiff said in a statement on Wednesday.
The California Democrat declined to say if special counsel Robert Mueller, who’s investigating Russian involvement in the 2016 election, asked for the delay.
“I can’t comment any further than our statement on that,” Schiff told reporters. “We look forward to his testimony on Feb. 28 and Mr. Cohen has been fully cooperative with us and we hope and expect that will continue. But we felt it was in the investigation’s interest that we postpone to that date.”
Trump was asked by reporters Wednesday about Schiff planning to plow ahead with investigations despite the president warning at his State of the Union address that they could harm the country.
“On what basis would he do that? He has no basis to do that. He’s just a political hack who’s trying to build a name for himself,” Trump said, adding that “it’s called presidential harassment.”
Cohen, a longtime fixer for Trump, was scheduled to testify at a closed-door hearing before the panel Friday.
Cohen was convicted of crimes that included paying off a former porn star and a Playboy model before the 2016 election to keep them quiet about affairs they alleged they had with Trump.
He was sentenced to three years in federal prison in December and is scheduled to report on March 6.