Michael Cohen’s testimony before the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday saw several heated exchanges between Cohen and the Committee’s ranking Republican, Jim Jordan, who called Cohen — President Trump’s former personal lawyer — a “patsy” for Democrats.
“The Democrats don’t care,” Jordan told Cohen. “They just want to use you. You are the patsy today. They want to find someone somewhere to say something so they can remove the president.”
Cohen, who worked for Trump as his personal lawyer for a decade, appeared before the Committee on Wednesday after months of criticizing his former boss and cooperating with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian efforts to influence the 2016 election.
He pled guilty to federal prosecutors in New York in December and was sentenced to three years in prison for financial crimes, campaign-finance violations, and lying to Congress about how deep into the 2016 campaign negotiations over a proposed deal to build a Trump Tower in Moscow continued.
“His remorse is nonexistent. You just debated a member of Congress saying, ‘I really didn’t do anything wrong with the false bank things that I’m guilty of and going to prison for,'” Jordan said during one of the most dramatic moments of the hearing.
“Shame on you, Mr. Jordan,” Cohen shot back. “That’s not what I said and you know that that’s not what I said. I pled guilty and I take responsibility for my actions. Shame on you.”
“I am remorseful and I am going to prison,” Cohen said. “I will be away from my wife and family for years, so before you turn around and cast more aspersion, please understand, there are people watching you today that know me a whole lot better. I made mistakes. I own them.”
A number of Republicans echoed Jordan’s comments during the course of the hearing, including Georgia representative Jody Hice, who called the hearing a “shameful mockery,” and Tennessee representative Mark Green, who called Cohen a “fake witness.”