Cohen agrees to testify on Wednesday

WASHINGTO >> Michael Cohen has agreed to testify in public Wednesday before Congress about his work as President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer and longtime fixer, but lawmakers said they would limit the scope of their questioning in deference to the special counsel.

The hearing before the House Oversight and Reform Committee will give Cohen, once one of Trump’s most loyal aides, a rare public platform to try to explain his work for the president, including an illegal scheme during the 2016 campaign to pay hush money to two women claiming to have had affairs with Trump. And it promises to provide House Democrats investigating Trump, his business and his administration with early fireworks to punctuate their efforts.

But Cohen — who has pleaded guilty to lying to Congress, tax fraud and a campaign finance violation in the hush money scheme — will also face intense scrutiny from Republicans, who have already indicated that they plan to aggressively challenge his past work and credibility as a witness against the president.

The committee’s chairman indicated that after consultation with the Justice Department and the House Intelligence Committee, Cohen would not be allowed to discuss matters related to Russia, including a proposed Trump Tower project in Moscow under scrutiny by special counsel Robert Mueller.

Cohen had been expected to report early next month to begin serving a three-year prison sentence, but on Wednesday, a federal judge in Manhattan said he could delay that appearance by two months, to May 6.

In requesting the delay, Cohen’s lawyers said he had undergone recent shoulder surgery and needed to take part in physical therapy.