May 15, 2024
By Josh Christenson
House Republican conference chairwoman Elise Stefanik went after Manhattan and Brooklyn Democrat Rep. Dan Goldman Wednesday for dismissing the severity of criminal prosecutions against former President Donald Trump that could damage his re-election effort.
Stefanik (R-NY) attacked Goldman during a subcommittee hearing on the weaponization of the federal government for ignoring past “election interference” attempts by Democrats.
“Let me tell you what is really election interference: Withholding military aid to an ally in the middle of a war in order to coerce and extort a foreign government to investigate a political opponent,” Goldman began.
“All the Republican majority is trying to do here today is lawfare, is interfere in ongoing criminal investigations that our system is perfectly well-equipped to handle,” he concluded.
“Oh, I love being able to respond to the novice from New York,” Stefanik shot back. “First of all, thank you so much for stating the obvious that political lawfare is in fact election interference. That’s what we’re seeing with the sham Alvin Bragg trial.
“Thank you also to the novice freshman member from New York highlighting that withholding military aid to an ally for a political purpose just like [President] Joe Biden is doing to Israel,” she mocked. “Always grateful for you stepping in.”
Last week, the Biden administration paused military aid to Israel on the condition that it hold off on an invasion of Rafah, the last stronghold of Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The decision came as Biden, 81, faces pressure from Muslim and Arab-American voters to reject his earlier support for Israel, with tens of thousand casting “uncommitted” ballots in Democratic presidential primaries nationwide.
Goldman, in his round of questioning, scoffed at Republicans and panel witnesses who claimed that the unprecedented 34 business felony counts lodged against the former president by Bragg constituted “lawfare.”
Attorney Robert Costello, one of those witnesses, discredited recent testimony by Cohen by pointing to a litany of lies the ex-Trump attorney had told Congress.
In 2018, Cohen was sentenced to three years in federal prison for perjury and ordered to pay a $50,000 fine.
Goldman accused Costello of “jury tampering” by calling out Cohen’s history of lies — which Stefanik noted had kept the Justice Department, Federal Election Commission (FEC) and Bragg’s predecessor as Manhattan DA, Cy Vance, from bringing the case earlier.
In an earlier appearance, on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Goldman discussed that he had “deposed Michael Cohen” and “met with him a number of times to prepare him” in the past, though it was unclear when.
“Congressman Goldman was referring to his February 2019 deposition of Michael Cohen, when the Congressman was Director of Investigations for the House Intelligence Committee overseeing an investigation into Donald Trump’s financial ties to Russia,” said Madison Andrus, his office’s spokeswoman.
“The Congressman has had nothing to do with the Manhattan District Attorney’s prosecution of Donald Trump.“
The Democrat also did not disclose that he remains a client of the Manhattan trial judge’s daughter, Loren Merchan, who serves as president of the Chicago-based progressive political consulting firm Authentic Campaigns.
The Democrat also did not disclose that he remains a client of the Manhattan trial judge’s daughter, Loren Merchan, who serves as president of the Chicago-based progressive political consulting firm Authentic Campaigns.
Goldman accused House Republicans of pushing a “bogus impeachment investigation … without finding a single piece of evidence of wrongdoing” — disregarding witness testimonies about Biden having met with his son Hunter’s foreign patrons who paid millions of dollars to the first family.
He further failed to mention allegations by IRS whistleblowers that Biden’s Justice Department impeded the five-year-long probe into Hunter that culminated in two separate criminal charges against the first son.
