Cohen dropped a piece of news during the hearing today, suggesting that his conversations with Trump after the raid of his home and businesses are under investigation by the SDNY – and that he was asked not to discuss it:
THE HILL – Cohen, Trump’s former personal attorney who is set for a three-year jail term on charges related to financial crimes, estimated that he last spoke with Trump or someone acting on his behalf last fall, though he could not recall a specific date.
“I would suspect it was within two months post-the raid,” he said, referring to the April 2018 FBI raid of his home, hotel room and office.
Asked what they discussed, Cohen said, “Unfortunately this topic is actually something that’s being investigated right now by the Southern District of New York, and I’ve been asked by them not to discuss and not to talk about these issues.”
On Wednesday, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) asked if there was “any other wrongdoing or illegal act” that Cohen is aware of regarding Trump that had not yet been discussed.
“Yes and that’s part of the investigation being looked at by the Southern District of New York,” Cohen said.
I take some of this with a grain of salt, especially what Cohen calls ‘wrongdoing’ or ‘illegal’ activity on Trump’s part. We don’t know what he’s referring to or what the SDNY is investigating. And I certainly wouldn’t take Cohen’s word for it in this hearing.
But it is newsworthy that, assuming he isn’t lying, the SDNY is investigating these conversations and instructed Cohen not to talk about it during the hearing.
We’ll keep an eye on this going forward…