At the start of Wednesday’s House Oversight Committee hearing on the testimony of convicted criminal and disbarred former attorney to President Donald Trump, Michael Cohen, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) claimed that CNN obtained Cohen's statement and exhibits before the committee did.
Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) had objected to the start of hearing, on the grounds that committee rules require that members be given any testimony-related materials 24 hours prior to the meeting, but some were not provided until just before the hearing:
“Rule 9(f) of the committee rules say that any testimony from your witness needs to be here 24 hours in advance. The committee, the chairman knows well that, at 10:08, we received the written testimony. And, then we received evidence, this morning, at 7:54.
“Now, if this was just an oversight, Mr. Chairman, I could look beyond it. But, it was an intentional effort by this witness and his advisors to, once again, show his disdain for this body. And, with that, I move that we postpone this hearing.”
Rep. Jordan repeatedly asked to be recognized while Meadows sparred with Committee Chairman Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) and, when called upon, made the claim:
“You know who had this material before all the members of the committee? CNN had it before we did. CNN had the exhibits before we did.”
“Yeah, well, the vote is on the motion to postpone,” Cumming replied, dismissing Jordan’s comment and moving on.