Even though Cohen is a key figure in the matter - his name is mentioned 24 times in the so-called Trump dossier - the hearings appear designed to prevent the public from learning anything new about the Russia matter.
Cohen has already answered questions from the House Intelligence Committee, and all members, Democrat and Republican, voted to make those answers public.
That means what Cohen has to say about the Russia affair is now the subject of an ongoing House investigation - the Schiff investigation - and the House owes it to the public to conduct the probe in public.
"The scope of the Oversight Committee's open public hearing will not include questions relating to the Intelligence Committee's investigation of efforts by Russia and other foreign entities to influence the U.S. political process during and since the 2016 U.S. election," Cummings wrote on Feb. 20.
"The Cohen hearings are designed to keep the Russia collusion narrative alive by keeping key witness testimony hidden," Oversight Committee Republican Rep. Mark Meadows told me in a text exchange.
What will the public Cohen hearings be about? After consulting with the Justice Department and with Schiff, Cummings released a list of topics that might be damaging or embarrassing to the president but would reveal little or nothing about the allegation that the Trump campaign and Russia conspired to fix the 2016 election.
Cohen might not answer the questions, and the chairman might take Cohen's side, but Republicans can at the least remind viewers that the Democrats who run the House, after talking Russia nonstop for two years, now don't want to talk publicly about the subject, even with a star witness sitting in front of them.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/byron-york-cohen-hearings-designed-to-keep-public-in-dark-about-russia
Cohen has already answered questions from the House Intelligence Committee, and all members, Democrat and Republican, voted to make those answers public.
That means what Cohen has to say about the Russia affair is now the subject of an ongoing House investigation - the Schiff investigation - and the House owes it to the public to conduct the probe in public.
"The scope of the Oversight Committee's open public hearing will not include questions relating to the Intelligence Committee's investigation of efforts by Russia and other foreign entities to influence the U.S. political process during and since the 2016 U.S. election," Cummings wrote on Feb. 20.
"The Cohen hearings are designed to keep the Russia collusion narrative alive by keeping key witness testimony hidden," Oversight Committee Republican Rep. Mark Meadows told me in a text exchange.
What will the public Cohen hearings be about? After consulting with the Justice Department and with Schiff, Cummings released a list of topics that might be damaging or embarrassing to the president but would reveal little or nothing about the allegation that the Trump campaign and Russia conspired to fix the 2016 election.
Cohen might not answer the questions, and the chairman might take Cohen's side, but Republicans can at the least remind viewers that the Democrats who run the House, after talking Russia nonstop for two years, now don't want to talk publicly about the subject, even with a star witness sitting in front of them.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/byron-york-cohen-hearings-designed-to-keep-public-in-dark-about-russia
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