House Democrats were not kidding when they said that Congress is providing oversight of the executive branch again, because three House Committee chairs have sent a stern warning to President Donald Trump telling him not to intimidate or make a statement about his former fixer Michael Cohen testifying.
Cohen, fresh off being sentenced to serve prison time as part of a plea deal in which he implicated Trump in the direction and coordination of campaign finance felonies during the 2016 Election, agreed to testify before the House Oversight Committee on February 7th, telling CNN that he agreed to do so “in furtherance of my commitment to cooperate and provide the American people with answers.”
“I look forward to having the privilege of being afforded a platform with which to give a full and credible account of the events which have transpired,” Cohen said.
However, Trump has a history of trying to intimidate Cohen through attacks on Twitter in what appears to be efforts to bully him into staying quiet.
Trump has also engaged in witness tampering, especially when it comes to Michael Flynn and his agreement to testify.
And House Democrats are not going to tolerate it anymore, which is why Rep. Elijah Cummings, Rep. Adam Schiff, and Rep. Jerrold Nadler, the Chairmen of the House Committees on Oversight and Reform, Intelligence, and the Judiciary had released a joint statement strongly warning Trump against doing so or else risk obstruction of justice charges.
“The integrity of our process to serve as an independent check on the Executive Branch must be respected by everyone, including the President. Our nation’s laws prohibit efforts to discourage, intimidate, or otherwise pressure a witness not to provide testimony to Congress. The President should make no statement or take any action to obstruct Congress’ independent oversight and investigative efforts, including by seeking to discourage any witness from testifying in response to a duly authorized request from Congress.”
How Trump will respond to this clear warning shot is unknown, but former federal prosecutor Mimi Rocah certainly appreciated it.
The President has been put on notice that further public comments about prosecuting a witness or his family would be obstruction of justice. Good move @OversightDems https://t.co/EdECmW2LcY
— Mimi Rocah (@Mimirocah1) January 13, 2019
Trump is finally experiencing that whole checks and balances thing that our Constitution talks about, and we all know that he is going to desperately want to say something about Cohen on Twitter. After all, he constantly brags about punching back. The problem is if he does, the House of Representatives can now smack him down for it.
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