A CNN panel acknowledged Wednesday that President Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen was likely lying in his Congressional testimony Wednesday when he told Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) that he had not wanted a job with the White House.
CNN’s Dana Bash called that claim into question, pointing out that CNN’s reporting indicated that Cohen was indeed eagerly seeking a position in the White House.
“One potential problem that I thought Michael Cohen has is when he was asked if he wanted a job in the White House, and he said no,” she said. “Our reporting, I know, Pam you have been told and I have been told, all of us, by people in and around the process real time, he very much wanted a job in the White House.”
Jake Tapper agreed, saying, “I think a lot of us here raised our eyebrows because we knew it to not be true.”
“I think the issue there is that one sentence. ‘I did not want to go to the White House.’ All of our reporting suggests that’s not true,” Tapper emphasized.
Rep. Jordan suggested Cohen had wanted to work in the White House early on in the House Oversight Committee’s questioning.
“You wanted to work in the White House, but you didn't get brought to the dance," Jordan said.
Cohen vehemently denied that claiming he was "extremely proud to be personal attorney to the president of the United States of America."
"I can tell you a story of Mr. Trump reaming out Reince Priebus because I had not taken a job where Mr. Trump wanted me to, which was working with Don McGahn at the White House general counsel," Cohen claimed.
"After he said that I reached out to Reince Priebus," Bash told the panel. "I spoke to him, and his comment was 'no comment.' He said ‘I'm not getting involved in this’ and I can just say and we, of course, witnessed this real time that this president probably more than any other, if he wants somebody in the White House, they're there."
Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump both tweeted contradictions Wednesday of Cohen’s claim that he did not want a White House job.
Hahahaha Michael Cohen begged to work at the White House and everyone knows it.
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) February 27, 2019
Michael was lobbying EVERYONE to be “Chief of Staff.” It was the biggest joke in the campaign and around the office. Did he just perjure himself again?
— Eric Trump (@EricTrump) February 27, 2019
In December, Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison after he pleaded guilty to a series of charges including bank fraud, campaign finance violations, and one count of making a false statement to Congress.