The leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee said on Tuesday that they want President Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen to testify before the panel regarding recent media reports indicating he knew about the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting before it took place.
As Cohen surrendered to the FBI ahead of his guilty plea on charges of tax fraud, bank fraud and campaign finance violations in New York, Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Vice Chairman Mark Warner (D-Va.) issued a joint statement.
“[Cohen] appears to be pleading guilty to very serious charges,” the senators said. “However, we have no insight into any agreements he and his legal team have allegedly reached with the prosecutors in New York.”
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“What we can say is we recently re-engaged Mr. Cohen and his team following press reports that suggested he had advanced knowledge of the June 16th meeting between campaign officials and a Russian lawyer at the Trump Tower,” the senators added.
Burr said on MSNBC on Tuesday that Cohen previously testified before the committee and said he was not aware of the Trump Tower meeting until reports emerged in the press the following year.
“We hope that the day’s developments in Mr. Cohen’s plea agreement will not preclude him from an appearance before our committee as needed for ongoing investigation,” the senators added.
A recent CNN report indicated that Cohen was willing to tell special counsel Robert Mueller that the president knew that Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner and others planned to meet with a Russian lawyer who promised damaging information on Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
The Senate Intelligence Committee is conducting an investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.