Michael Cohen is having a very bad week.
Make that year.
Make that couple of years.
His habitual lying and backstabbing has led to a big fall from grace.
And that fall from grace just entered a new chapter: now involving a criminal referral to the DOJ!
That’s something you typically want to avoid in life!
He now joins the company of Michael Avenatti and Julie Swetnick who also received them recently.
Memo to Mike Cohen: when you’re already facing 3 years in prison for lying to Congress and lying to investigators and tax evasion and who knows what else, that’s usually a good time to STOP LYING!
Take a look at the new charges:
Fox News explained more:
Republican Rep. Mark Meadows filed a criminal referral for Michael Cohen on Wednesday, claiming he violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act by not disclosing his foreign contracts.
“I just entered a referral for criminal investigation of Michael Cohen, who violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) by illegally lobbying on behalf of foreign entities without registering,” Meadows tweeted Wednesday during Cohen’s public hearing before the House Oversight Committee.
“Cohen talks about ‘blind loyalty.’ His real blind loyalty? It’s to the almighty dollar,” he said.
A source close to Meadows told Fox News that the referral specifically involves Cohen’s consulting on behalf of Kazakhstan’s BTA Bank, as well as consulting for Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis and South Korean aerospace.
During Cohen’s hearing, Meadows, R-N.C., blasted Cohen for not listing his “foreign contracts” on a "Truth and Testimony" form he was required to fill out prior to his hearing, and called it a “criminal offense.”
“This is just one more example of you skirting the truth,” Meadows said to Cohen.
Cohen explained that he reviewed the form with his legal counsel, and interpreted the directions differently, but would amend the document before the end of the day if necessary.
Last week, Meadows and committee ranking member Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, first addressed the issue, and penned a letter to Cohen attorney Lanny Davis, to seek information about Cohen’s “consulting, lobbying and foreign agent work.”
The letter cited information from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York (SDNY) -- where Cohen had been under criminal investigation--which outlined “a substantial amount of consulting business for himself throughout 2017 by marketing to corporations what he claimed to be unique insights about and access" to Donald Trump.
“Cohen’s list of major domestic and foreign corporate clients included AT&T, Novartis, BTA Bank of Kazakhstan, Columbus Nova and Korea Aerospace Industries,” Jordan and Meadows wrote, listing the financial deals between Cohen and the corporations.
The letter stated that AT&T paid Cohen $600,000 for insight on how the Trump administration would approach the proposed merger with Time Warner; Novartis paid Cohen $1.2 million for access to the White House on health care policy; BTA Bank paid Cohen a “large sum” under a business agreement; Russian-linked company Columbus Nova paid him $500,000 for advice on sources of “capital” and potential investments; and Korea Aerospace Industries paid $150,000 for “legal consulting” related to a Pentagon contract the company was bidding on.
Cohen is not the first Trump associate charged with violating FARA. Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort has been charged with violations for not disclosing his lobbying activities with Ukraine. So was former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, in connection with lobbying work for Turkey.
It is unclear what the next steps in Meadows’ referral will be. A source told Fox News that it is “undated and very vague.”
Meadows, on Wednesday, also blasted Cohen for ignoring the committee rule that "requires witnesses to provide their testimony to Congress 24 hours in advance of a hearing." Cohen provided evidence and his opening statement to the committee late Tuesday night.
And here's more, from the Washington ExWashington Examineraminer:
A pair of House Oversight Committee Republicans submitted a criminal referral to the Justice Department on Thursday urging the agency to investigate statements made by Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen before the panel on Wednesday, including Cohen’s denial that he was not interested in a job at the White House.
Reps. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, the ranking member, and Mark Meadows, R-N.C., said they have proof Cohen “committed perjury and knowingly made false statements” during his testimony.
"Mr. Cohen's testimony is material to the Committee's assessment of Mr. Cohen's motive to monetize his former association with President Trump," Jordan and Meadows wrote, according to CNN. "It is essential that the Department of Justice investigate these remarkable contradictions between Mr. Cohen, the SDNY prosecutors, and the public accounts of witnesses with firsthand information."
According to a court filing from investigators in the Southern District of New York, Cohen disclosed to friends and colleagues that he was “expected to be given a prominent role and title in the new administration.” Publicly, Cohen told CNN’s Chris Cuomo in 2016 that he was hopeful he would receive an offer to work at the White House and said he planned to accept if an offer was extended.
But Cohen said Wednesday he wasn’t interested in an administration position.
“I was extremely proud to be the personal attorney for the President of the United States of America,” Cohen said. "I did not want to go to the White House.”
House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings, D-Md., cast doubt on whether Cohen actually wanted to work in the White House — citing salary limitations.
“I don’t have any knowledge of that,” Cummings said. “He said he wasn’t [lobbying for a job] and I believe him. I mean, think about it. He could make a helluva lot more money, a helluva lot more money, outside the White House than in the White House. I mean, I don’t know why you would want to do that.”
Among the other areas the lawmakers want the DOJ to examine is Cohen’s denial that he ever committed bank fraud.
Cohen's attorney, Lanny Davis, responded to the criminal referral, calling out the "two pro-Trump Committee members" for what he said was in his view a "sad misuse of the criminal justice system with the aura of pure partisanship."
"Mr. Cohen testified truthfully before the House Oversight Committee. He took full responsibility for his guilty pleas. He also backed up much of his testimony with documents," he said.
Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations regarding hush-money payments made during the 2016 campaign to two women who claimed they were involved in affairs with Trump.
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