Analysis: What Michael Cohen can, can’t and likely won’t talk about while he’s on Capitol Hill
President Trump’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, will be on Capitol Hill for hearings from Tuesday through Thursday this week. America — or at least that most important part of America: people who pay close attention to the intricacies of politics — is on tenterhooks waiting for Wednesday’s public testimony before the House Oversight Committee.
Former assistant U.S. attorney Mimi Rocah, who spoke by phone with The Washington Post, explained that this is likely not just Cohen offering a courtesy to Mueller and his team, who are investigating possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russian government. Mueller’s team and Cohen have a formal cooperation agreement that outlines what is expected of Cohen.
"Theoretically Mueller could go back and say he breached his cooperation agreement, Rocah said. That could prompt Mueller to return to the court that sentenced Cohen and suggest that his three-year sentence be increased. What’s the difference? The latter is narrower, protecting only communications between the two that’s centered on getting legal advice. Privilege is also maintained until waived by the client or by a court order.
All of that said, Cohen doesn’t get to simply decide that conversations he had with Trump should be exempt from privilege. Even that discussion of the hush-money payments might not be cleared under crime fraud: Perhaps, Margulies pointed out, Trump could prove that he wasn’t involved in the payments and therefore any conversations weren’t exempted.
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