Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's personal attorney, arrives on Capitol Hill on Tuesday. | Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP Senate panel calls off Trump lawyer's Russia interview, plans hearing instead Senate investigators said they were upset Michael Cohen released a statement denying any role in Russian meddling in the 2016 election after he was asked not to comment publicly.

Senate investigators on Tuesday called off a closed-door interview with Michael Cohen and asked him to instead appear at a public session, saying they were upset that President Donald Trump's longtime lawyer released a statement denying any role in Russian meddling in the 2016 election after the committee asked him not to comment.

The Senate Intelligence Committee has now asked Cohen to appear at an open hearing on Oct. 25, committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and top Democrat Mark Warner of Virginia said in a joint statement.


“We were disappointed that Mr. Cohen decided to pre-empt today’s interview by releasing a public statement prior to his engagement with committee staff, in spite of the committee’s requests that he refrain from public comment,” Burr and Warner said earlier Tuesday. “As a result, we declined to move forward with today’s interview.”

Cohen has come under increased scrutiny since it became public that he communicated with Russian officials about a proposal to build a Trump building in Moscow at the same time that Trump was campaigning in the GOP primaries.

On Tuesday morning, Cohen released what was intended as his prepared opening remarks, saying he had no involvement in any Russian meddling in last year's presidential election. The statement was released shortly after Cohen arrived on Capitol Hill for his scheduled interview. He spent over an hour with committee staffers in a classified committee room before emerging to announce that his testimony had been postponed.

“I'll be back, and I look forward to giving all the information that they're looking for,” Cohen told reporters.

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His lawyer, Stephen Ryan, said the postponement came at the request of the intelligence panel, which is probing Russia and the 2016 election.

In the prepared statement, Cohen said he was "certain that the evidence at the conclusion of this investigation will reinforce the fact that there was no collusion between Russia, President Trump, or me."

He said the communications with Russian officials related to "a real estate deal and nothing more."

"I was doing my job," he added. "I have never engaged with, been paid by, paid for, or conversed with any member of the Russian Federation or anyone else to hack anyone or any organization."

The Senate Intelligence panel's wide-ranging investigation into Russia's election meddling includes looking into whether the Trump campaign coordinated with the Kremlin as Moscow sought to tilt the presidential election in Trump's favor using propaganda and hacked materials.