Florida Congressman Wants Hearing Into Claims That Trump Directed Lawyer To Break The Law
Follow CBSMIAMI.COM: Facebook | Twitter
MIAMI (CBSMiami) - A South Florida congressman is demanding immediate hearings about President Donald Trump's former personal attorney's assertion that 'candidate Trump' directed him to break the law.
Michael Cohen, at one time the fixer Trump who said he would take a bullet for him, has tossed a legal hand grenade right in the middle of the Trump White House.
On Tuesday, Cohen pleaded guilty to eight charges, two of which implicated Trump as participating in a crime, violating campaign contribution laws involving hush money paid to silence two women who claim they had sexual relations with Trump.
Cohen told the judge that the payments to the women were "at the direction of the candidate and for the purpose of influencing the election for president in 2016."
"What he did was he worked to pay money to silence two women who had information that he believed would be detrimental to the 2016 campaign and to the candidate and the campaign," said Robert Khuzami, Deputy U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.
Cohen did not name the two women or even the President, but the details line up with payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal. Both women claim to have had affairs with Trump, which he denies.
Cohen's attorney, Lanny Davis said his client specifically stated under oath Trump directed him to commit a crime, making Trump, as much guilty of that felony as Cohen.
Rep. Ted Deutch is demanding immediate hearings into Cohen's claims.
"There are too many members of Congress whose allegiance is not first and foremost, as it should be, to the Constitution, it's to the defense of the President," said Deutch.
Cohen said he paid adult film star Stormy Daniels $130-thousand right before the election to keep her quiet. Trump initially denied knowing about the payment.
The President and Cohen seemed to part ways in July when Cohen released a secret recording of his conversation with then-candidate Trump about payments related to a Playboy model who claims she also had an affair with Trump.
Davis said Cohen will tell the truth to any authority including a congressional committee and that's exactly what Deutch wants.
The President's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, said in a statement, "There is no allegation of any wrongdoing against the President in the government's charges against Mr. Cohen."
