Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez line of questioning to Michael Cohen on Wednesday led to Donald Trump's long time personal attorney to urge her to go after the president's tax returns.

Cohen also offered a list of people at the Trump Organization that the House Oversight and Reform Committee could subpoena for more information.

Cohen, in response to Ocasio-Cortez's inquires, revealed additional details on how Trump provided insurance companies with financials that exaggerated his assets and wealth but wanted to reduce his real estate taxes - and if the president lied on insurance and IRS forms to make this happen, that would be fraud.

Ocasio-Cortez kept her questions to Cohen short and to the point - unlike many of her colleagues on the House Oversight and Reform Committee who used their questioning time to make political points.

The freshman Democrat kept her focus on the money and whether there could have been financial fraud on the part of the president.

She inquired if the president was interested in lowering his real estate taxes.

When Cohen replied in the affirmative, she asked how that would be done.

'You deflate the value of the asset and then you put in a request to the tax department for a destruction,' he said in response.

She stayed on financial issues for nearly all her questioning as she laid the groundwork for the committee to continue and expand its investigation of the president's business empire.

'Where would the committee find more information on this? Do you think we need to review his financial statements and tax returns in order to compare them?,' she asked.

'Yes, and you would find it at the Trump Org,' Cohen told her.

She also set up the possibility of the committee using its subpoena power to obtain the president's tax records and other financial documents.

Ocasio-Cortez inquired if it 'would it help for the committee to obtain federal and state returns from the president and his company to address that?'

'I believe so,' Cohen told her in her four minutes of questioning.

The Democrat from New York was one of the last lawmakers to question Cohen in his day of public testimony - his second out of three appearances this week on Capitol Hill and the only one before cameras.

Members ask questions in an order tied to their length of service on the committee. Ocasio-Cortez just joined it this year.

She also got Cohen, who was known as the president's fixer, to reveal the names of additional people who knew about Trump's business dealings, a list of names that could find themselves the subject of a Congressional subpoena.

Those names were Allen Weisselberg, the chief financial officer of the Trump Organization; Ron Lieberman, an executive vice president with the Trump Organization; and Matthew Calamari, the director of corporate security for the president.

'Yeah we probably will,' Oversight chairman Rep. Elijah Cummings said when asked after the hearing if there will be additional subpoenas.

He did sound a note of caution. 'There's certain areas we have to be careful with because special counsel and the Southern District of New York said there are certain areas they are getting into.'

He added: 'I think there are still a number of shoes to drop.'

Earlier in his nearly five hours before the committee, Cohen also said he didn't know if the president's tax returns were being audited, which is the reason Trump gave for not releasing them during the 2016 campaign even though other presidential contenders have released such information.

'Mr. Cohen, do you know whether President Trump's tax returns were really under audit by the IRS in 2016?' Democratic Rep. Jimmy Gomez asked him.

'I don't know the answer. I asked for a copy of the audit so that I could use it in terms of my statements to the press, and I was never able to obtain one,' Cohen said.

Additionally, Cohen provided the committee with three years of Trump's financial records that, if the committee subpoena's Trump's tax returns, they could use for comparison.

Cohen handed over internal Trump financial valuations from 2011 through 2013 – documents he said were used to try to obtain a loan for the football team purchase.

His valuations show a sudden jump in Trump's self-proclaimed worth, from $4.6 billion in 2012 to $8.7 billion a year later, when he was angling to buy the team.

In his opening statement, Cohen told the panel: 'As previously stated, I'm giving the Committee today three years of President Trump's financial statements, from 2011-2013, which he gave to Deutsche Bank to inquire about a loan to buy the Buffalo Bills and to Forbes [magazine]. These are Exhibits 1a, 1b, and 1c to my testimony. It was my experience that Mr. Trump inflated his total assets when it served his purposes, such as trying to be listed among the wealthiest people in Forbes, and deflated his assets to reduce his real estate taxes.'</s>Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez line of questioning to Michael Cohen on Wednesday led to Donald Trump's long time personal attorney to urge her to go after the president's tax returns.

Cohen also offered a list of people at the Trump Organization that the House Oversight and Reform Committee could subpoena for more information.

Cohen, in response to Ocasio-Cortez's inquires, revealed additional details on how Trump provided insurance companies with financials that exaggerated his assets and wealth - a move, that if true, would be against the law.

He also revealed Trump wanted to reduce his local real estate taxes, which, if true, would also be illegal.

Ocasio-Cortez kept her questions short and to the point - unlike many of her colleagues on the House Oversight and Reform Committee who used their questioning time to make political points.

The freshman Democrat kept her focus on the financial trail of Trump.

She inquired if the president was interested in lowering his real estate taxes.

When Cohen replied in the affirmative, she asked how that would be done.

'You deflate the value of the asset and then you put in a request to the tax department for a destruction,' he said in response.

She stayed on the financial issues for nearly all her questioning.

'Where would the committee find more information on this? Do you think we need to review his financial statements and tax returns in order to compare them?,' she asked.

'Yes, and you would find it at the Trump Org,' Cohen told her.

She also set up the possibility of the committee using its subpoena power to obtain the president's tax records and other financial documents.

Ocasio-Cortez inquired if it 'would it help for the committee to obtain federal and state returns from the president and his company to address that?'

'I believe so,' Cohen told her in her four minutes of questioning.

She also got Cohen to reveal the names of additional people who knew about Trump's business dealings, a list of names that could find themselves the subject of a Congressional subpoena.

Those names were Allen Weisselberg, the chief financial officer of the Trump Organization; Ron Lieberman, an executive vice president with the Trump Organization; and Matthew Calamari, the director of corporate security for the president.

Earlier in his nearly five hours before the committee, Cohen also said he didn't know if the president's tax returns were being audited, which is the reason Trump gave for not releasing during the campaign even though other presidential contenders have released such information.

'Mr. Cohen, do you know whether President Trump's tax returns were really under audit by the IRS in 2016?' Rep. Jimmy Gomez asked him.

'I don't know the answer. I asked for a copy of the audit so that I could use it in terms of my statements to the press, and I was never able to obtain one,' Cohen said.

Additionally, Cohen provided the committee with three years of Trump's financial records that, if the committee subpoena's Trump's tax returns, they could use for comparison.

Cohen handed over internal Trump financial valuations from 2011 through 2013 – documents he said were used to try to obtain a loan for the football team purchase.

His valuations show a sudden jump in Trump's self-proclaimed worth, from $4.6 billion in 2012 to $8.7 billion a year later, when he was angling to buy the team.

In his opening statement, Cohen told the panel: 'As previously stated, I'm giving the Committee today three years of President Trump's financial statements, from 2011-2013, which he gave to Deutsche Bank to inquire about a loan to buy the Buffalo Bills and to Forbes [magazine]. These are Exhibits 1a, 1b, and 1c to my testimony. It was my experience that Mr. Trump inflated his total assets when it served his purposes, such as trying to be listed among the wealthiest people in Forbes, and deflated his assets to reduce his real estate taxes.'</s>Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, the House Oversight and Reform Committee ranking Republican, left, and Chairman Elijah Cummings, D-Md., right, during a committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2019. The committee voted to subpoena Trump administration officials over family separations at the southern border, the first issued in the new Congress as Democrats have promised to hold the administration aggressively to count. The decision by the Oversight Committee will compel the heads of Justice, Homeland Security and Health and Human Services to deliver documents. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, the House Oversight and Reform Committee ranking Republican, left, and Chairman Elijah Cummings, D-Md., right, during a committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2019. The committee voted to subpoena Trump administration officials over family separations at the southern border, the first issued in the new Congress as Democrats have promised to hold the administration aggressively to count. The decision by the Oversight Committee will compel the heads of Justice, Homeland Security and Health and Human Services to deliver documents. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

WASHINGTON (AP) — A House committee voted Tuesday to subpoena Trump administration officials over family separations at the southern border, the first issued in the new Congress as Democrats have promised to hold the administration aggressively to count.

The decision by the Oversight Committee will compel the heads of Justice, Homeland Security and Health and Human Services to deliver documents to lawmakers.

The committee’s chairman, Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, has pledged to press the administration for documents and testimony on a wide swath of issues, but family separation was among his first priorities.

“I believe this is a true national emergency,” Cummings said. “When our own government rips children from the arms of their mothers and fathers with no plans to reunite them - that is government-sponsored child abuse.”

Cummings said committee members have been seeking the documents for seven months.

The Oversight Committee is seeking details on the children separated, location and facilities where they were held, details on their parents, information on efforts to restore children to their parents and whether parents were deported.

Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, the committee’s ranking Republican, sent Cummings a letter arguing that the subpoenas would not be necessary, and that the administration had produced hundreds of pages of documents in response to earlier requests for information.

“We should not rush to compel documents from the departments, especially when they have sought to comply with your request voluntarily,” Jordan wrote.

Other Republicans said the committee should go through the paperwork they have on hand before deciding whether the agencies haven’t complied with the request, and ask for data related to separations under the Obama administration. But two voted to issue the subpoenas.

Cummings said the documents already submitted to the committee were vastly incomplete.

“The information we got was not one name, not one number,” Cummings said. “Zilch.”

A spokeswoman for Health and Human Services said the department appreciates the role of oversight and communicates regularly with the committee.

“Additionally, we have transparently provided 792 pages of documents related to the committee’s request,” and offered a review of an information portal, spokeswoman Caitlin Oakley said.

If any officials don’t comply with new subpoenas, the committee and eventually the full House could vote to hold the department in contempt, setting up a potentially lengthy court battle

More than 2,700 children were separated from their parents at the border last year under a zero-tolerance immigration policy by then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions that criminally prosecuted anyone caught crossing the border illegally.

Because children can’t be placed with their parents in jail, they were separated. Watchdog reports have found the administration was not prepared to manage the aftermath of the separations, and had no way to track the families and did not have a way to reunite them until a federal judge stepped in.

An internal watchdog report recently found that thousands more children than previously thought may have been separated before the zero-tolerance policy officially began. Immigration officials are allowed to separate children if there is a concern for the child’s well-being, if a parent has a criminal charge or if there are serious health risks.

The House Judiciary Committee authorized a subpoena to compel then-acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker to testify if necessary, but it was never served.</s>Former Donald Trump personal attorney Michael Cohen will testify before the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday morning.

Cohen will testify before the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday morning. Cohen testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday behind closed doors and will testify before the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday about his relationship with Donald Trump.

Cohen did not answer questions from reporters Tuesday why Congress and the public should believe him; Cohen pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about President Trump’s past business dealings in Russia, among other alleged crimes.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said that Cohen was a liar in a statement Tuesday.

Disgraced felon Michael Cohen is going to prison for lying to Congress and making other false statements. Sadly, he will go before Congress this week and we can expect more of the same. It’s laughable that anyone would take a convicted liar like Cohen at his word, and pathetic to see him given yet another opportunity to spread his lies.

Ahead of the hearing, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), a member of the House Oversight Committee, wondered why Democrats would want him to testify considering that he lied to Congress. Jordan asked rhetorically, “Why are OversightDems hastily issuing a subpoena? Maybe they want to be the first committee to issue a subpoena against this administration. Why not have a hearing first?”</s>Democratic-led House committee votes to subpoena Trump administration over family separations at border

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic-led House committee votes to subpoena Trump administration over family separations at border.</s>WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic-led House committee votes to subpoena Trump administration over family separations at border.</s>A House committee voted Tuesday to subpoena Trump administration officials over family separations at the southern border, the first issued in the new Congress as Democrats have promised to hold the administration aggressively to count.

The decision by the Oversight Committee will compel the heads of Justice, Homeland Security and Health and Human Services to deliver documents to lawmakers.

The committee’s chairman, Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, has pledged to press the administration for documents and testimony on a wide swath of issues, but family separation was among his first priorities.

“I believe this is a true national emergency,” Cummings said. “When our own government rips children from the arms of their mothers and fathers with no plans to reunite them – that is government-sponsored child abuse.”

Cummings said committee members have been seeking the documents for seven months.

The Oversight Committee is seeking details on the children separated, location and facilities where they were held, details on their parents, information on efforts to restore children to their parents and whether parents were deported.

A Homeland Security spokesman said the department had already sent over 2,600 pages in response to the request.

“Today’s unnecessary subpoena vote was a political stunt and contrary to the constitutionally mandated accommodation process,” said spokesman Tyler Houlton. “We have worked with congressional committees in good faith and will continue to do so. We hope they will return the favor and respect the process and the men and women of DHS.”

Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, the committee’s ranking Republican, sent Cummings a letter arguing that the subpoenas would not be necessary, and that the administration had produced hundreds of pages of documents in response to earlier requests for information.

“We should not rush to compel documents from the departments, especially when they have sought to comply with your request voluntarily,” Jordan wrote.

Other Republicans said the committee should go through the paperwork they have on hand before deciding whether the agencies haven’t complied with the request, and ask for data related to separations under the Obama administration. But two voted to issue the subpoenas.

Cummings said the documents already submitted to the committee were vastly incomplete.

“The information we got was not one name, not one number,” Cummings said. “Zilch.”

A spokeswoman for Health and Human Services said the department appreciates the role of oversight and communicates regularly with the committee.

“Additionally, we have transparently provided 792 pages of documents related to the committee’s request,” and offered a review of an information portal, spokeswoman Caitlin Oakley said.

If any officials don’t comply with new subpoenas, the committee and eventually the full House could vote to hold the department in contempt, setting up a potentially lengthy court battle

More than 2,700 children were separated from their parents at the border last year under a zero-tolerance immigration policy by then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions that criminally prosecuted anyone caught crossing the border illegally.

Because children can’t be placed with their parents in jail, they were separated. Watchdog reports have found the administration was not prepared to manage the aftermath of the separations, and had no way to track the families and did not have a way to reunite them until a federal judge stepped in.

An internal watchdog report recently found that thousands more children than previously thought may have been separated before the zero-tolerance policy officially began. Immigration officials are allowed to separate children if there is a concern for the child’s well-being, if a parent has a criminal charge or if there are serious health risks.

The House Judiciary Committee authorized a subpoena to compel then-acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker to testify if necessary, but it was never served.</s>WASHINGTON — Democratic-led House committee votes to subpoena Trump administration over family separations at border.

Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>(WASHINGTON) — A House committee voted Tuesday to subpoena Trump administration officials over family separations at the southern border, the first issued in the new Congress as Democrats have promised to hold the administration aggressively to count.

The decision by the Oversight Committee will compel the heads of Justice, Homeland Security and Health and Human Services to deliver documents to lawmakers.

The committee’s chairman, Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, has pledged to press the administration for documents and testimony on a wide swath of issues, but family separation was among his first priorities.

“I believe this is a true national emergency,” Cummings said. “When our own government rips children from the arms of their mothers and fathers with no plans to reunite them – that is government-sponsored child abuse.”

Cummings said committee members have been seeking the documents for seven months.

The Oversight Committee is seeking details on the children separated, location and facilities where they were held, details on their parents, information on efforts to restore children to their parents and whether parents were deported.

Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, the committee’s ranking Republican, sent Cummings a letter arguing that the subpoenas would not be necessary, and that the administration had produced hundreds of pages of documents in response to earlier requests for information.

“We should not rush to compel documents from the departments, especially when they have sought to comply with your request voluntarily,” Jordan wrote.

Other Republicans said the committee should go through the paperwork they have on hand before deciding whether the agencies haven’t complied with the request, and ask for data related to separations under the Obama administration. But two voted to issue the subpoenas.

Cummings said the documents already submitted to the committee were vastly incomplete.

“The information we got was not one name, not one number,” Cummings said. “Zilch.”

The House Judiciary Committee authorized a subpoena to compel then-acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker to testify if necessary, but it was never served.

If any officials don’t comply with new subpoenas, the committee and eventually the full House could vote to hold the department in contempt, setting up a potentially lengthy court battle

More than 2,700 children were separated from their parents at the border last year under a zero-tolerance immigration policy by then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions that criminally prosecuted anyone caught crossing the border illegally.

Because children can’t be placed with their parents in jail, they were separated. Watchdog reports have found the administration was not prepared to manage the aftermath of the separations, and had no way to track the families and did not have a way to reunite them until a federal judge stepped in.

An internal watchdog report recently found that thousands more children than previously thought may have been separated before the zero-tolerance policy officially began. Immigration officials are allowed to separate children if there is a concern for the child’s well-being, if a parent has a criminal charge or if there are serious health risks.</s>WASHINGTON (AP) — House Democrats voted to subpoena Trump administration officials over family separations at the southern border.

The subpoenas will be the first issued in the new Congress as House Democrats have promised to hold the administration aggressively to account.

The Oversight Committee voted Tuesday to compel the heads of Justice, Homeland Security and Health and Human Services to issue documents on family separations, including the age and gender of each child separated. Chairman Elijah Cummings says he’s been trying to get information for seven months and has received nothing.

More than 2,700 children were separated from their parents at the border last year. An internal watchdog report recently found that thousands more children than previously thought could have been separated.

Cummings said the separations were a “national emergency.”
An oversight committee is expected to vote on whether to subpoena Trump administration officials over family separations at the southern border.