


WASHINGTON — House Intelligence Committee Chairman Michael Turner is asking Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate Michael Cohen after Donald Trump’s former “fixer” admitted in an ongoing civil fraud trial that he lied to Congress.
Cohen, the 77-year-old ex-president’s onetime lawyer, served a three-year prison term for lying in 2017 to the Senate intelligence committee about a Moscow real estate project and other crimes — and Turner (R-Ohio) says his latest admitted untruth dating to 2019 may warrant another prosecution.
Cohen testified at Trump’s New York fraud trial on Oct. 25 that “yes” he lied in February 2019 to the House panel — a crime punishable by up to five years in prison — when he said Trump didn’t ask him to inflate his personal financial statements.
Under oath before the committee, Cohen said: “Did he ask me to inflate the numbers? Not that I recall, no” — before testifying in court last month that Trump had done just that.
“Mr. Cohen, were you being honest in front of the Permanent Select Committee when you testified [in] February … 2019?” Trump lawyer Alina Habba asked Cohen in the civil fraud case.
“No,” Cohen said.
“So you lied under oath in February of 2019? Is that your testimony?” Habba pressed.
“Yes,” Cohen replied.
“Mr. Cohen’s testimony at the New York trial is inconsistent with his testimony before the Committee,” Turner wrote in a letter to Garland that was cosigned by Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), chair of the House Republican Conference.
“That Mr. Cohen was willing to openly and brazenly state at trial that he lied to Congress on this specific issue is startling.”
“Mr. Cohen’s testimony before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence on February 28, 2019, is contradicted by his reported recent testimony on October 25, 2023. Mr. Cohen’s prior conviction for lying to Congress merits a heightened suspicion that he has yet again testified falsely before Congress,” Turner and Stefanik wrote.
“We therefore request that the Department investigate whether any of Mr. Cohen’s testimony warrants another charge for the violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1001 or 1621.”
The Justice Department and Cohen did not immediately respond to The Post’s requests for comment.
Cohen, now 57, pleaded guilty in 2018 to lying to Congress as part of a broader set of charges including tax fraud. He served much of his prison term in home confinement due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
It’s rare for public figures to be prosecuted for lying to Congress and some high-profile officials have managed to entirely avoid charges for false testimony. Those include former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who testified in 2013 that the feds were “not wittingly” mass-collecting data on Americans — before whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed the mass-collection of phone and Internet data.
Clapper said at the time he had given the “least untruthful” answer that he could.