Ethics panel examining if lawmaker threatened Trump lawyer

WASHINGTON (AP) - The House Ethics Committee is investigating whether a Florida congressman tried to intimidate Michael Cohen before the former personal lawyer to President Donald Trump testified to Congress about Trump.

Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz is a two-term lawmaker who has been one of Trump's most outspoken defenders.

Cohen testified to a House committee in February that Trump had known WikiLeaks had obtained damaging emails about his 2016 presidential rival, Hillary Clinton. The day before that appearance, Gaetz asked Cohen in a tweet if "wife and father-in-law know about your girlfriends?"

Gaetz later apologized for the tweet.

A brief statement Friday by the committee did not mention the tweet. It says Gaetz refused its requests to testify about the charges, so it is forming a bipartisan subcommittee to investigate.