Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (Joshua Roberts/Reuters)

The Republican chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee said the committee is losing patience with Michael Cohen, who skipped out on planned testimony Tuesday.

“I can assure you that any goodwill that might have existed in the committee with Michael Cohen is now gone,” Chairman Richard Burr told reporters Tuesday.


Cohen’s lawyer, Lanny Davis, said in a statement that his client’s committee appearance was postponed “due to post-surgery medical needs” from Cohen’s minor shoulder surgery. However, this is the third time President Trump’s former personal lawyer has postponed planned testimony for a myriad of reasons.

The committee has subpoenaed Cohen, who admitted in November to lying to the same committee about how long talks to build a Trump Tower in Moscow continued into the 2016 campaign season. He faces a three-year prison term set to begin in March for lying to Congress, a slew of financial crimes, and campaign finance violations for the Trump campaign.

“The way he’s positioning himself not coming to the committee we may help him go to prison,” the North Carolina senator warned.


“He’s had a letter for six months asking for his return,” Burr continued. “He’s already stiffed us on being in Washington today because of an illness,. Yet on Twitter a reporter reported he was having a wild night Saturday night eating out in New York with five buddies. Didn’t seem to have any physical limitations and he was out with his wife last night.”


Burr said he thinks it would be “prudent” to talk to Cohen before the committee concludes its investigation into the 2016 election, adding he would go to “every length I could to make sure we got his testimony.”

The senator said that he would prefer to hear what Cohen has to say before he goes to prison, rather than bringing him out afterwards for testimony.

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