GOP Rep demands Biden's AG take 'immediate action' to prosecute 'pathological liar' Michael Cohen

In a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland on Wednesday, House Majority Whip Tom Emmer urged the Department of Justice leader to take "immediate action" on the criminal referrals issued by congressional committees for former Trump attorney Michael Cohen.

"Michael D Cohen has proven to be a pathological liar, particularly to Congress," Emmer began.

Noting that Cohen pled guilty in 2018 to lying to the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Emmer wrote that Cohen has since "been referred to the US Department of Justice (DOJ) on at least three separate occasions by Republicans on the House" Oversight and Judiciary Committees and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence "for committing perjury and knowingly making false statements during his testimony at a Congressional hearing and deposition."

Emmer said that Cohen during his House Oversight and Reform Committee testimony on February 27, 2019, "repeatedly claimed that he did not seek employment in President Trump’s White House, despite evidence from the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York demonstrating that 'Cohen privately told friends … that he expected to be given a prominent role and title in the new administration.'"

Emmer wrote that "Mr. Cohen’s lie to Congress" was confirmed when a witness at Trump’s ongoing New York City trial "gave a firsthand account of Mr. Cohen’s rage in December 2015 about not receiving a job in the Trump administration."

Cohen "personally admitted" during the first day of his testimony from the witness stand in the trial on May 13 "that he 'had conversations with a lot of people about working with President Trump in the White House' and 'would have liked to be considered' for the Chief of Staff role under President Trump' for ego purposes.'"

Emmer added that during Cohen’s May 20 testimony, Cohen also admitted to stealing from the Trump Organization.

"In other words, the prosecution’s star witness admitted to a more significant felony than what the prosecution has charged for President Trump with," Emmer wrote, adding that "despite Mr. Cohen’s record of lying under oath and being a self-admitted thief, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is currently utilizing Mr. Cohen as his star witness in the prosecution of President Joe Biden’s chief political rival, former President Trump, who is the presumptive nominee for president."

Emmer stated that under 18 USC Section 1001, "a witness commits a crime if the witness 'knowingly and willfully' makes 'any material false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation' with respect to 'any investigation under review, conducted pursuant to the authority of any committee … of the Congress."

He also cited 18 USC Section 1621, stating that "a witness commits perjury if the witness 'willfully' asserts 'any material matter which he does not believe to be true' after 'having taken an oath' to 'testify…truthfully.'"

Given this "overwhelming evidence against Mr. Cohen, his record as a convicted liar, his admission to theft, and the use of his testimony as the basis for the prosecution of a former president," Emmer called on the DOJ to "take immediate action on the criminal referrals submitted by congressional committees."

Emmer Letter to AG Garland by Hannah Nightingale on Scribd