Jim Jordan Demands Cummings Hold Michael Cohen Accountable for Perjury

House Oversight and Reform Committee ranking members Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Mark Meadows (R-NC) wrote a letter Friday to committee Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-MD) demanding that he hold former Donald Trump attorney Michael Cohen accountable for perjury.

Jordan and Meadows wrote a letter to Cummings on the 100th day since Cohen’s “perjury-laden” testimony the House Oversight Committee in February, demanding that Cummings hold Cohen accountable for his lies to the committee.

The House conservatives wrote:

We are deeply disappointed that you have declined to hold Cohen accountable, despite your forceful promises to do so and contrary to Vice Chair Katie Hill’s expectation that you would. We can only assume that you worry that acknowledging Cohen’s lies would undermine the investigation on which they are based and ultimately undercut your partisan attacks upon the President. We hope that you will reconsider your decision, put the institutional interests of the Committee ahead of your political goals, and do what you promised to do.

The Ohio and North Carolina congressmen cite that recent House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) transcripts show that Cohen lied about never seeking a pardon from President Trump.

Meadows and Jordan note that Cummings promised to send Cohen’s testimony to the Department of Justice (DOJ) if he lied to the committee. “I will be the first one to refer that,” Cummings said during the Cohen hearing in February 2019.

The two congressmen said that they have seven problematic areas surrounding Cohen’s testimony that require further investigation for potential perjury, including, but not limited to, the following:

• Cohen’s repeated denials that he wanted a job in the White House, which is “contrary to court documents” submitted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
• Cohen’s assertion that he “never defrauded a bank,” even though he pleaded guilty to bank fraud.
• Cohen’s denial of creating the Twitter account, “@WomenForCohen,” which runs contrary to the assertion to the owner of the technology firm who stated that Cohen directed him to create the account.

Reps. Jordan and Meadows continued, charging that through the release of the HPSCI transcripts, Cohen engaged in “extensive and exclusive strategy sessions with Oversight Democrats” before his testimony to the committee to address Cohen’s “credibility problem.”

The conservatives said that the HPSCI transcripts reveal that Cohen’s testimony before the committee “was not legitimate oversight but merely an episode of political theater proposed and produced by a prominent Democrat operative.”

During the February hearing with Cohen, Jordan delivered a fiery speech, charging that “Clinton operative” Lanny Davis orchestrated the hearing with Cohen to push the Donald Trump impeachment narrative.

Jordan said:

I want everyone to think about this: Michael Cohen, the first announced witness for the 116^th Congress, is a guy who’s going to prison in two months for lying to Congress. Mr. Chairman, your chairman will always be identified with this hearing and we all need to know what this is: This is the Michael Cohen hearing presented by Lanny Davis.

That’s right. Lanny Davis choreographed the whole thing, the Clintons’ best friend, loyalist, operative, Lanny Davis put this all together.

He said the hearing was his idea, he selected this hearing, he had to talk Michael Cohen into coming and most importantly he had to persuade the chairman to actually have it.

“So now, Clinton operative Lanny Davis has persuaded the chairman of the Oversight Committee to give a convicted felon a forum to tell stories and lie about the United States so that they can all lie about their impeachment process,” Jordan added during the February hearing.

“But respectfully, you invited Michael Cohen before the Committee, and you must live the consequences. We warned you about the dangers of showcasing the testimony of a convicted liar.

The stain of Cohen’s testimony will continue to tarnish the Committee’s reputation and that of your chairmanship until you accept the overwhelming evidence that he lied and act to hold him accountable,” Reps. Meadows and Jordan finished in their letter to Cummings.

Read Jordan and Meadows’ full letter to Chairman Cummings here.