Gaetz apologizes for threatening Michael Cohen

Trump ally Gaetz apologizes for threatening Michael Cohen ahead of hearing

By ANDREW RESTUCCIA and DARREN SAMUELSOHN

Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz, a staunch ally of President Donald Trump, apologized late Tuesday night after he threatened Michael Cohen with the release of damaging personal information, a startling statement that drew an implicit rebuke from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and led legal experts to wonder if he had committed witness tampering.

"While it is important 2 create context around the testimony of liars like Michael Cohen, it was NOT my intent to threaten, as some believe I did," the Florida Republican wrote shortly before midnight, quoting Pelosi's statement. "I'm deleting the tweet & I should have chosen words that better showed my intent. I’m sorry."

Gaetz had initially tweeted that Cohen, a former personal attorney for the president, should be afraid of what his wife and family will learn when he testifies publicly in front of Congress on Wednesday. Among the matters Cohen is known to have a front seat to is Trump's alleged infidelity, as legal documents show Cohen negotiated the hush-money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels to keep her reported affair with the future president quiet.

"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 wrote on Twitter on Tuesday afternoon.

Cohen is set to drop a number of potential bombshells during his Wednesday testimony, according to an opening statement obtained by POLITICO. One of those revelations is Cohen's claim that he has a check signed by Trump himself after he took office to reimburse him for the payment to Daniels.

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.

While not mentioning Gaetz directly, Pelosi said that comments that "adversely affect the ability of House Committees to obtain the truthful and complete information" could necessitate the House Ethics Committee, the body tasked with investigating members' conduct, to probe the matter. But more than political costs, the California Democrat suggested that such statements might not be constitutionally protected and thus leave someone like Gaetz legally vulnerable.

"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," Pelosi said in a statement.

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 initially refused to apologize when reporters asked about the tweet: "This isn't witness tampering, it's witness testing."

He was so sure of his defense that the Florida Republican went to the House floor to discuss the matter. "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 to start 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, Trump attorney Rudy 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.”

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 watch his testimony.

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.