legal strength of michael cohen s contentions and how much more worried president trump ought to be about his own legal standing after cohen s testimony today. we re also going to speak with one of the members of the committee today who questioned mr. cohen and who elicited herself some very important information. because these are criminal allegations against the president, though, i think it is out it is worth stressing at the outset that when you are talking about allegations of criminal behavior by a sitting president, though allegations live sort of on, like, i guess it s parallel paths. there are at least two paths here when you re talking about a president and potential criminal behavior. one clear path is determined by the fact this is congressional testimony today, right? congress itself has the responsibility of oversight and of investigating credible allegations like this about the executive branch up to and including the president himself.
i want to ask you about that exchange you had with michael cohen. he talked to another couple of your colleagues today about the president s lawyers being involved in reviewing and editing his congressional testimony about the trump tower moscow project. we know he has plead guilty to lying to congress about that, about the duration of that project, among other things. do you feel like you have any further clarity about what happened there and whether anybody else may be implicated in that crime of lying to congress? well, it would appear if jay sekulow and abbe lowell doctored up his testimony, i think a case can be made that they conspired with michael cohen to lie to congress, and i really feel that it s going to be very important for us to get a copy of michael cohen s original statement, which he has agreed to offer to the committee to be able to compare it to what was the statement he made to the intelligence committee after the fact.
inflated his assets for potentially fraudulent purposes. you provided this committee with copies of the president s financial statements or parts of them from 2011, 2012 and 13. can you explain why you had these financial statements and what you used them for? so these financial statements were used by me for two purposes. one was discussing with media, whether it was forbes or other magazines, to demonstrate mr. trump s significant net worth. that was one function. another was when we were dealing later on with insurance companies, we would provide them with these copies so that they would understand that the premium which is based sometimes upon the individual s
unknown open ongoing federal criminal investigation involving something related to the president. now michael cohen says that investigation is being pursued by the southern district of new york that is the u.s. attorney s office that prosecuted him. that is the u.s. attorney s office in which prosecutors have already told a federal judge in the cohen case that it was the president who directed the commission of those two campaign finance flynns to whi s felonie has plead guilty. now one quiet subplot which has been unfolding over the last few days is the process that the judiciary committee in congress has obtained evidence that the president has been leaning on that u.s. attorney s office, that the president has been trying to get justice department officials to intervene in that office in the southern district of new york to try to get his own preferred prosecutor to take over the investigations in that office that pertain to michael cohen and that potentially pertain to the presiden
special counsel. and i m certain that we will do the same with the southern district in new york and the actions that they re pursuing right now. overall, congresswoman, heading into this intelligence committee hearing tomorrow, which, again, you re on the intelligence committee, and that will be a closed door hearing, heading into that tomorrow, hearing what you heard today, what for you is the most important revelation of what mr. cohen has been able to bring to congress. obviously, your republican colleagues have said that nothing that he said should have any weight that he s a confessed liar, that he never should have been brought before congress because he has no credibility. the democratic chairman of this committee and oversight and the democratic chairman in intelligence obviously believe that cohen had something to offer that could be of worth to congress. from your perspective, what do you think is most important that he s been able to bring forward thus far? well, he has