Gosar doesn’t regret ‘liar, liar, pants on fire’ comment of Michael Cohen
Feb 28, 2019, 9:34 AM | Updated: 12:28 pm
Rep. Paul Gosar (AP photo)
(AP photo)
PHOENIX — U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar made headlines for calling President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen a “liar, liar, pants on fire” during questioning Wednesday, but the Arizona congressman said he did so for a reason.
“Now what you’re going to see when you see Mr. Cohen come to the forefront, come to the microphone, you’re going to say, ‘There’s that guy, liar, liar pants on fire. You can’t trust him,'” Gosar told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Arizona’s Morning News on Thursday.
“When you’re a flawed person and you’re being used as a pawn by the likes of (Democratic political operative) Lanny Davis and the Democratic opposition, people realize there’s a mantra and the one that actually sticks is that if you continue to lie, then the mantra must stand.”
Many criticized the comment, which came as a House committee was questioning Cohen over his relationship with Donald Trump, as being childish. But Gosar said he was just giving Democrats a taste of their own medicine.
“Democrats used empathy and short quotations, and that’s why we did it,” Gosar said.
“Here’s a guy that once again, yesterday, continued to lie. He got caught in numerous traps of lying right there and there.”
Gosar spoke to Cohen for approximately three minutes Wednesday, asking him whether he was appearing before Congress in order to score a reduced prison deal.
“You didn’t do this for Donald Trump, you did this for you,” Gosar said during the questioning.
"Liar, liar, pants on fire": Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) used the phrase that "our moms taught us" to scold Michael Cohen during his House hearing https://t.co/kIfFcDhZwb pic.twitter.com/yh591NZOuF
— CBS News (@CBSNews) February 28, 2019
Cohen is due to begin a three-year prison sentence in May, and described himself as cooperative with multiple investigations in hopes of reducing his time behind bars.
He is seen as a vital witness for federal prosecutors because of his proximity to the president during key episodes under investigation and their decade-long professional relationship.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
