Michael Cohen, the former attorney for President Donald Trump, has been disbarred, according to documents released Tuesday.
The development follows Cohen’s conviction for making false statements to members of Congress, according to court documents filed by Manhattan’s Appellate Division, First Department and the Attorney Grievance Committee.
The New York Post first reported the longtime Trump lawyer’s disbarment.
Cohen is expected to give a behind-the-scenes account of what he will claim is President Trump’s lying, racism and cheating, and possibly even criminal conduct, when he testifies publicly before a House committee on Wednesday, according to several reports.
The president’s former personal lawyer arrived on Capitol Hill Tuesday to begin three days of congressional appearances, starting with a closed-door interview with the Senate intelligence committee. The public won’t have a chance to hear from him until Wednesday, when he testifies before the House Oversight and Reform Committee. He will go behind closed doors again when he talks to the House intelligence committee on Thursday.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said in a statement Tuesday it was “laughable that anyone would take a convicted liar like Cohen at his word, and pathetic to see him given yet another opportunity to spread his lies.”
Lawmakers are alternately suspicious of Cohen, who is set to serve time in prison for lying to the House and Senate intelligence committees in 2017, and eager to hear what Cohen has to say after he turned on his longtime boss. In addition to lying to Congress, Cohen pleaded guilty last year to campaign finance violations for his involvement in payments to two women who allege they had affairs with President Trump. He is set to begin a three-year prison sentence in May. Federal prosecutors in New York have said President Trump directed Cohen to arrange the payments to buy the silence of porn actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal in the run-up to the 2016 campaign.
President Trump has repeatedly lambasted Cohen, calling his ex-lawyer a “rat” and a “weak person,” along with accusing him of lying in order to receive a softier jail sentence.
An Internal Revenue Service (IRS) analyst last Thursday was charged for disclosing confidential information regarding Cohen’s bank records. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California charged John Fry with leaking a suspicious activity report (SAR), which financial institutions file upon spotting red flags associated with a transaction, to television lawyer Michael Avenatti.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.