Rep. Gaetz threatens Michael Cohen ahead of public hearing

[GMDino]

This is beyond the pale. (Bold mine)

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/02/26/matt-gaetz-michael-cohen-1189581

Quote:Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz, a staunch ally of President Donald Trump, threatened Michael Cohen on Tuesday with the release of damaging personal information, the latest in a string of increasingly aggressive attacks on Trump's former lawyer as he testifies before Congress this week.



"Hey @MichaelCohen212 - Do your wife & father-in-law know about your girlfriends? Maybe tonight would be a good time for that chat. I wonder if she’ll remain faithful when you’re in prison. She’s about to learn a lot...," Gaetz, a sitting Florida congressman, wrote on Twitter on Tuesday afternoon.

Gaetz's tweet came one day before Cohen is scheduled to testify publicly before the House Oversight Committee. Cohen is planning to offer up potentially damaging informationabout the president to Congress, including a document that he claims will show the president engaged in criminal conduct related to a hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels, according to a person familiar with his planned testimony. Gaetz is not on the Oversight panel.


Still, the remarkable online threat prompted immediate speculation about potential consequences for Gaetz. Some raised the prospect that Gaetz could be in legal trouble, while others warned he could face serious backlash from his colleagues in Congress.


"I encourage all Members to be mindful that comments made on social media or in the press can adversely affect the ability of House Committees to obtain the truthful and complete information necessary to fulfill their duties," Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement, adding that the House Ethics Committee should "vigilantly monitor these types of statements, which may not be protected by the speech or debate clause."

Cohen's lawyer, Lanny Davis, called Gaetz's remarks "despicable."


"We will not respond to Mr. Gaetz’s despicable lies and personal smears, except to say we trust that his colleagues in the House, both Republicans and Democrats, will repudiate his words and his conduct," Davis said in a statement. "I also trust that his constituents will not appreciate that their congressman has set a new low — which in today’s political culture is hard to imagine.”


Gaetz shot back when reporters asked about the tweet: "This isn't witness tampering, it's witness testing."



Later Tuesday, during brief remarks on the House floor, Gaetz defended himself. "I think it is entirely appropriate for any member of this body to challenge the truthfulness and veracity and character for the people who have a history of lying and have a future that undoubtedly contains nothing but lies," he said. 


"That is the story of Michael Cohen. We’ll see it play out tomorrow and I for one can’t wait to get to the bottom of things."


The White House and Trump's outside allies have launched a fierce counter-offensive against Cohen, arguing that he can’t be trusted because he pleaded guilty to, among other things, lying to Congress. Cohen is slated to report to prison in May for a three-year sentence.


“Disgraced felon Michael Cohen is going to prison for lying to Congress and making other false statements,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement Tuesday. “Sadly, he will go before Congress this week and we can expect more of the same. It’s 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.”

Cohen was once one of Trump's most loyal aides, having worked alongside him for more than a decade. But the two men had a drawn-out, public falling out in the aftermath of the FBI's raid of Cohen's office last year, after which Cohen made it clear he was willing to cooperate with authorities.


Trump has sometimes employed the lingo of mafia bosses to deride Cohen, referring to him as a “rat” last year on Twitter. The president has also appeared to suggest that investigators should look into Cohen’s father-in-law.

The person familiar with Cohen’s testimony said Cohen plans to discuss the president’s critical tweets — which he believes amount to witness intimidation — during his appearances before Congress.


In a text message to POLITICO earlier Tuesday, Giuliani challenged Cohen on the notion that the president’s comments on Twitter amounted to witness intimidation, arguing he was simply pointing to allegations in the public domain.



Giuliani then forwarded links to a half dozen news articles dating to the spring of 2018 — published in the weeks after the FBI raided Cohen’s home, office and hotel room — alleging the former Trump lawyer's business dealings had ties to the mob.



In a subsequent text message 15 minutes later, Giuliani added, “Remember the father in law was convicted of tax crimes in 1993 in an investigation involving money laundering."


Even some of Cohen’s former colleagues turned on him Tuesday.


“I think it’s pretty difficult to figure out when Michael Cohen is lying and when he’s telling the truth. We know that from what he’s plead guilty to and we know that from the things he’s running away from,” Michael Caputo, a former Trump adviser predating his run for the presidency, told POLITICO .

“I think the senators and the congressmen on Capitol Hill have a lot to work through,” Caputo added. “Trying to decide what is actually factual is the biggest challenge they have with Michael Cohen. I wish him well in his next life. And I think he looks good in orange.”


Caputo, who has been a witness in the Mueller and congressional probes, said he was surprised by Cohen’s guilty plea and the concession that he lied to Congress. “The things he’s said and accused the president of, I didn’t think he’d do this. I didn’t find him the kind of person that would be so dishonest and so disloyal. But since he’s chosen that path, I’d like to urge him along it because we know where it ends up.”


One person familiar with the thinking inside the White House about Cohen's testimony said the only concern aides have is that "anecdotal things" could come out that "might be embarrassing." But this person insisted that "there’s significant less concern" about any new substantive allegations emerging, despite Cohen's plans to essentially call Trump a criminal.


But it was Gaetz's commentary that got people talking on Tuesday. The congresman's past Republican colleague in the Florida House, former Miami state Rep. J.C. Planas, jokingly compared Gaetz on Twitter to a mafia figure. “Matt Gaetz may also just show up at the hearing with Cohen’s brother like in Godfather 2,” Planas wrote.


It’s the second Godfather reference from a Florida Republican in the cases connected to Trump. The president’s former adviser, Roger Stone — who was indicted for lying to Congress and witness tampering — allegedly threatened a witness by mentioning the suicide of the movie character “Frankie Five Angels” Pentangeli. In the film, the character had been set to testify against the Corleone crime family, but opted instead to kill himself after his brother from Sicily was brought in to see him.

Cohen testified privately on Tuesday before the Senate Intelligence Committee and was scheduled to appear in a closed-door session on Thursday before the House Intelligence Committee.