Rep. Mark Meadows slapped former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen with a criminal referral Wednesday over violating the Foreign Agent Disclosure Act (FARA).
Meadows pressed Cohen during the hearing Wednesday over his failure to list contracts with foreign companies that paid him for access to the Trump administration.
Breitbart.com reports: In one instance, drug company Novartis allegedly paid Cohen $1.2 million to act as a consultant for the Trump White House. Cohen also allegedly acted as a consultant for South Korea’s Aerospace Industries (KAI) and Kazakhstan BTA Bank.
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Rep. Meadows asked whether Cohen had foreign contracts with Novartis, KAI, or Kazakhstan BTA Bank.
Meadows said:
I’m going to back to the question I asked before with regards to your false statement that you submitted to Congress. On here it was very clear that it asks for contracts with foreign entities over the last two years. Have you had any foreign contracts with foreign entities whether it’s Novartis or the Korean Airline or Kazakhstan BTA bank? Your testimony earlier said that you had contracts with them. In fact, you went into detail.
Cohen responded, “They are not government agencies, they are privately and publicly traded companies.”
Meadows then asked, “Did you have foreign contracts over the last two years?” Cohen responded “yes” admitting that he did have contracts with foreign entities.
Right after the exchange, Rep. Meadows said he just entered a referral for a criminal investigation for Cohen, suggesting that he violated FARA.
“I just entered a referral for criminal investigation of Michael Cohen, who violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act by illegally lobbying on behalf of foreign entities without registering,” Meadows tweeted. “Cohen talks about ‘blind loyalty.’ His real blind loyalty? It’s to the almighty dollar”:
I just entered a referral for criminal investigation of Michael Cohen, who violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act by illegally lobbying on behalf of foreign entities without registering
Cohen talks about "blind loyalty." His real blind loyalty? It's to the almighty dollar.
— Mark Meadows (@MarkMeadows) February 27, 2019
Sean Adl-Tabatabai