FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: apus121022

House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler said his committee is filing a court petition Friday in an effort to obtain secret grand jury material underlying former special counsel Robert Mueller's report.

The panel is also expected to file a lawsuit next week to try to enforce a subpoena against former White House counsel Donald McGahn, a key Mueller witness, if he doesn't comply before then.

That suit is expected to challenge the White House's claim that former White House employees have "absolute immunity" from testifying before Congress.

The move comes after Mueller's testimony Wednesday to Congress saying he had not "exculpated" President Donald Trump. Democrats are trying to focus public attention on Mueller's words and on his 448-page report's contents, including several episodes in which Trump sought to influence the special counsel's investigation into Russia election interference.

Mueller concluded that he could not exonerate Trump on obstruction of justice. He also concluded that there was no evidence of a criminal conspiracy between Trump's campaign and Russia.

The panel has struggled to bring in witnesses like McGahn who spoke extensively to Mueller because the White House has directed them to refuse to testify. Trump has said he will fight "all of the subpoenas."

Nadler said the committee is still negotiating with McGahn for documents and testimony, and the committee will file the lawsuit "in very short order" if he does not comply.

The court battles are beginning as the House leaves for a six-week recess and Democrats are debating whether to impeach the Republican president. More than 90 House Democrats have said they favor starting the impeachment process, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said she wants to build the strongest case possible before making that decision, including by going to court to force witnesses to comply.

Nadler said the court filing will include a line saying that the materials are necessary "to determine whether the committee should recommend articles of impeachment."

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington - 26 July 2019

1. SOUNDBITE (English) Jerrold Nadler, House Judiciary Committee Chairman: ++SOUNDBITE PARTIALLY OVERLAID++

"Before he (Robert Mueller) ever stepped into our hearing room, the director had rendered our country a great and necessary public service. He showed through his report and his indictments that the United States was attacked and remains under siege by a foreign adversary. He showed that the Trump campaign both welcomed and benefited from this attack on our country. And he showed that the president repeatedly lied to cover it up."

++SOUNDBITES SEPARATED BY WHITE FLASHES++

POOL

Washington - 24 July 2019

2. Various Robert Mueller testifying

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington - 26 July 2019

3. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Jerrold Nadler, House Judiciary Committee Chairman:

"We will continue to seek testimony from key fact witnesses.  As many of you know the committee has authorized several additional subpoenas. Our work will continue into the August recess and we will use those subpoenas, if we must. We will also continue to seek important documents from the Department of Justice and the White House. We have made some progress on this front. There appears to be compelling evidence of the President's misconduct outside of the four corners of the redacted version of the Mueller Report. And we will work to uncover that evidence as well. Finally, today we are filing an application for the grand jury material underlying the Mueller report. That information is critically important for our ability to examine witnesses including former White House counsel Don McGahn and to investigate the president's misconduct. I will not comment on reports of our ongoing negotiations with Mr. McGahn but unless he complies with our accommodation efforts in very short order we expect to file an additional suit to enforce a subpoena for his testimony and that would be next week or earlier next week."

FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: apus113364

President Donald Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen filed a lawsuit Thursday claiming the Trump Organization broke a promise to pay his legal bills and owes at least $1.9 million to cover the cost of his defense.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday in New York state court, claims the Trump Organization stopped paying Cohen's mounting legal fees after he began cooperating with federal prosecutors in their investigations related to Trump's business dealings in Russia and attempts to silence women with embarrassing stories about his personal life.

It alleges breach of contract and seeks damages on Cohen's behalf.

Messages seeking comment have been left with the Trump Organization. Cohen's attorneys declined to comment.

The lawsuit says the company stopped paying for his legal defense about two months after the FBI raided Cohen's home and office last year. It says that was around the time Cohen began discussing privately with friends and family that he was considering cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller and federal prosecutors in New York.

The lawsuit said that as part of his work for Trump, the company agreed to indemnify him for his company-related work. It said the Trump Organization initially lived up to that promise, footing the bill for more than $1.7 million in Cohen's legal fees.

Cohen hired the law firm McDermott Will & Emery in spring 2017 after it became clear he was a "person of interest" in Mueller's investigation.

That firm withdrew from his case late last spring after the Trump Organization stopped paying Cohen's bills, a withdrawal the lawsuit says "prejudiced" Cohen's ability to respond to the federal investigations.

In addition to the $1.9 million in legal fees Cohen is seeking, the lawsuit claims the Trump Organization should also pay the $1.9 million Cohen was ordered to forfeit "as part of his criminal sentence arising from conduct undertaken by Mr. Cohen in furtherance of and at the behest of the Trump Organization and its principals, directors, and officers."

Cohen was one of Trump's lawyers and closest advisers for a decade until their public split last summer.

Last week, Cohen told lawmakers he also has not been paying Lanny Davis, an attorney who has served as an adviser and spokesman for Cohen over the past several months.

POOL

Washington - 28 February 2019

1. Michael Cohen testimony in congress

ASSOCIATED PRESS

New York - 7 March

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Jim Mustian, AP Law Enforcement Reporter:

"This is the latest salvo in Michael Cohen's long running legal issues is that he is now accusing the Trump organization of failing to pay nearly two million dollars in legal fees dating back to June of last year. He essentially claims that Trump organization had been footing the bill for his legal defense, his representation in the Mueller investigation and with the Southern District of New York and essentially bailed on this indemnification agreement two months after the FBI raided his apartment and hotel room last year."

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Archive: Various 2018

3. Various Michael Cohen walking down street

ASSOCIATED PRESS

New York - 7 March

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Jim Mustian, AP Law Enforcement Reporter:

"His contention essentially is that he worked for them the agreement was they would cover his legal costs for anything like this that he would encounter and that they had been doing that in fact he says that they had paid over a million dollars through the end of 2017 and essentially reneged on this this agreement. "

ASSOCIATED PRESS

New York - 7 March

5. SOUNDBITE (English) Jim Mustian, AP Law Enforcement Reporter:

"It essentially comes as Mr. Cohen is staring at a three-year prison sentence that he's due to begin serving in May and he has mounting legal bills. He has millions of dollars that he has not paid,  over a million to one law firm that represented him initially and the Associated Press has reported that his most recent split from the attorneys who represented him in his two cases in the southern district was actually due to his failure to pay legal legal bills to those attorneys as well."

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Archive: Various 2018

6. Various Michael Cohen walking down street

ASSOCIATED PRESS

New York - 7 March

7. SOUNDBITE (English) Jim Mustian, AP Law Enforcement Reporter:

"Importantly the lawsuit also claims that the Trump organization should be required under the same indemnification agreement to pay the $1.9 million dollars that he was ordered by a federal judge to forfeit as part of his criminal sentence."

ASSOCIATED PRESS

New York - 7 March

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Jim Mustian, AP Law Enforcement Reporter:

"The lawsuit In that respect alleges that the acts that he took in the hush-money payments scandal were at the direction of President Trump and in furtherance of his role at the Trump Organization."

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Archive: Various 2018

9. Michael Cohen walking down street