Michael Cohen's lawyer denies that he 'personally' asked Trump for a pardon

Michael Cohen has clarified a portion of his congressional testimony and pushed back on President Trump's claim that he lied under oath.

Cohen's lawyer, Michael Monico, said in a letter to the House Oversight Committee that when Cohen testified that "I have never asked for, nor would I accept, a pardon from Mr. Trump," this statement "could have been clearer regarding the time frame," although it's still "true" and Cohen "stands by" it, per The Washington Post's Robert Costa.

Monico said that Cohen's sentence was "written in the context of Mr. Cohen's decision in June 2018 to leave the Trump Joint Defense Agreement" and to start telling the truth, and that prior to that time, he did ask his attorney "to discuss with another Trump attorney possible pardon options" since President Trump had "dangled the possibility." However, Monico says that "nothing ever happened."

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Cohen's lawyer also said that "at no time" did he ask Trump for one "personally." Trump had tweeted that his former attorney asked him for a pardon "directly," saying that "He lied!"

This was one of two statements Cohen made during his testimony that were called into question, with another being his claim that he did not want a job in the White House. Trump has accused Cohen of lying about this as well, and Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) have asked the Department of Justice to investigate Cohen for perjury for making this statement, which they called "demonstrably, materially, and intentionally false."