House Oversight Chair Elijah Cummings on Thursday outlined plans for his committee to seek interviews with close Trump associates and family members following a blockbuster public hearing featuring President Donald Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen.
Cummings told CNN that five or six House committees will investigate all the allegations that emerged from Cohen’s testimony.
Asked if his committee would focus on Trump’s role in the hush-money scandal, the Maryland Democrat said: “Probably.”
Cummings told reporters that his committee will reach out to individuals named repeatedly during Wednesday’s hearing for interviews, saying his panel will comb through the transcript of the hours-long hearing to “figure out who we want to talk to and we’ll bring them in.”
“All you have to do is follow the transcript. If there were names that were mentioned or records that were mentioned during the hearing, we’re going to take a look at all of that,” Cummings told reporters when asked who the committee expects to follow up with. “We’ll go through, we’ll figure out who we want to talk to and we’ll bring them in.”
A list of names drawn from people mentioned during the hearing could encompass a range of individuals, including members of the President’s inner circle and family such as his daughter Ivanka Trump and son Donald Trump Jr. as well as Allen Weisselberg, a top Trump Organization official and the company’s longtime chief financial officer.
The House Intelligence Committee is also expressing an interest in Weisselberg. A committee aide told CNN the panel “anticipates” bringing in Weisselberg.
House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, also announced on Thursday that his committee will hold an open hearing on March 14 with Felix Sater, the Russian-born onetime business associate of Trump’s who worked to build a Trump Tower in Moscow.
Asked on Thursday if his committee is interested in speaking with members of the Trump family such as Ivanka and Don Jr., Cummings replied, “Just follow the transcript.”
“I’m going to follow the facts and then whatever comes out of it, fine,” Cummings said. “But what we’re about is just making sure that government is accountable, and this administration, this branch is accountable,” the House Oversight and Reform Committee chairman said.
When a reporter asked if the committee plans to seek information from anyone mentioned multiple times during the hearing, Cummings said, “They have a good chance of hearing from us … at least an interview.”
CNN’s Jeremy Herb contributed to this report.