Washington (CNN) President Donald Trump's former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen is offering Democrats new information in a bid to stay out of jail while he cooperates with Congress.

Cohen's attorneys Lanny Davis and Michael Monico told lawmakers in a letter Thursday that Cohen has discovered substantial files on a hard drive that might be helpful to investigators.

Cohen is asking for additional time -- and congressional help -- to persuade the Southern District of New York to allow him to postpone reporting to jail in order to review the files. Cohen's lawyers wrote in the letter, obtained by CNN, they hoped Cohen would receive a reduced term, and that the May 6 date Cohen is scheduled to report to prison "will be substantially postponed while he is fully cooperating with prosecutors and Congress."

He is asking top Democrats on the committees where he testified to write letters outlining his cooperation that he could use to lobby prosecutors for a lesser sentence.

"We hope that this memorandum demonstrates that Mr. Cohen needs to be readily accessible and immediately available to provide ongoing assistance to Congress in order for it to fulfill its executive branch oversight responsibilities. Mr. Cohen was only recently able to access a hard drive with important documents," the letter states.

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