Elijah Cummings seeks testimony of two ex-Trump lawyers over alleged Cohen hush-money payments

Two former lawyers for the president may be able to help lawmakers determine if he actually paid off a porn star to cover up an affair

Kia Morgan-Smith

Mar 11, 2019

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House Oversight Committee chairman Elijah Cummings is seeking an opportunity to talk with President Trump’s former attorneys who oversaw his finances as Democrats take a measured step toward a congressional investigation.

Sheri Dillon and Stefan Passantino are the attorneys Cummings wants to talk to. The duo was responsible for handling Trump’s ethics and financial disclosures and could lead them to uncovering whether or not the Trump made payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels through Cohen in an effort to keep her quiet about an alleged affair, NBC News reports.

However, a political coup against Trump won’t come easy as Dillon and Passantino both have ignored requests to cooperate with Cummings committee.

According to Democratic aides, they have yet to respond to a March 6 deadline to give transcribed interviews to the committee. But the White House did respond on behalf of Passantino and said he would not be made available for an interview, committee aides said.

Cummings could possibly subpoena the two lawyers, however.

Trump personal attorney Michael Cohen has already been forthcoming and testified before Congress on Feb. 27, saying that Trump did order him to make hush money payments to Daniels that even were made after he took office.

Cohen admitted that he had lied about those payments and Cummings believesDillon and Passantino did as well and “appeared to provide false information” to federal officials after the circumstances surrounding payments to Daniels to cover up the alleged Trump/Daniels affair.

Republicans, are upset at Cummings’ suggestion and said it they are “extremely unfair and unsupported accusations.”

“This is a serious charge, for which you relied only on cherry-picked passages of incomplete, one-sided handwritten notes prepared by OGE staff,” wrote Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio, the ranking Republican on the committee, and Mark Meadows of North Carolina.

Cummings is also seeking to request testimony as well from Allen Weisselberg, Trump family’s accountant and the Trump Organization’s chief financial officer. Weisselberg is under immunity protection and can disclose key information.