Trump Issues Fiery Response to Cohen's Claim That He Knew About Russia Meeting
President Donald Trump accused his former attorney Michael Cohen of lying about candidate Trump knowing beforehand about a meeting between his son and a Russian attorney at Trump Tower during the 2016 presidential campaign.
CNN reported that Cohen is willing to testify regarding the matter to special counsel Robert Mueller, according to sources with whom the network spoke.
The sources indicated that Cohen does not have any physical evidence, such as audio recordings, to corroborate his claim of Trump’s prior knowledge.
Further, the attorney reportedly privately testified last year before two congressional committees investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election that the president did not know about the Trump Tower meeting beforehand.
Trump denied having prior knowledge and suggested that Cohen is making up the story, perhaps at the coaching of “Crooked Hillary’s” former lawyer Lanny Davis by whom he is now being represented.
“I did NOT know of the meeting with my son, Don jr,” Trump wrote. “Sounds to me like someone is trying to make up stories in order to get himself out of an unrelated jam (Taxi cabs maybe?).” An FBI raid on Cohen’s office in April sought information about the New Yorker’s financial dealings with the owners of a taxi cab company.
“He even retained Bill and Crooked Hillary’s lawyer. Gee, I wonder if they helped him make the choice!” Trump added.
…..I did NOT know of the meeting with my son, Don jr. Sounds to me like someone is trying to make up stories in order to get himself out of an unrelated jam (Taxi cabs maybe?). He even retained Bill and Crooked Hillary’s lawyer. Gee, I wonder if they helped him make the choice!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 27, 2018
Trump once again stated (as he has many times in the past) that he did not collude with Russia, while the Democrats in fact did.
….,the only Collusion with Russia was with the Democrats, so now they are looking at my Tweets (along with 53 million other people) – the rigged Witch Hunt continues! How stupid and unfair to our Country….And so the Fake News doesn’t waste my time with dumb questions, NO,….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 27, 2018
The president’s attorney Rudy Giuliani told CNN Thursday night that Cohen has “been lying all week, he’s been lying for years.”
“I don’t see how he’s got any credibility,” Giuliani said.
Fox News host Chris Wallace questioned the importance of Cohen’s assertion, arguing that even if he is telling the truth, it appears to have no legal ramifications.
“The worst that you could say, assuming that Cohen is telling the truth now, is that Donald Trump lied back in 2017. So what? It’s not admirable. You would hope he wouldn’t but it’s not breaking the law, lying to the media,” Wallace said on FNC’s “America’s Newsroom” on Friday.
“He certainly wouldn’t be the first president, if he did who had done so,” the Fox News personality continued. “Even the meeting itself, while it certainly doesn’t seem praiseworthy that an American political candidate or their team would be meeting with a Russia lawyer to try to get dirt on Hillary Clinton that was being offered to them, it falls a long way from any hint of collusion between Trump and the Kremlin.”
LISTEN: @SandraSmithFox and @FoxNewsSunday's Chris Wallace on President Trump firiing back at the latest Michael Cohen claim #nine2noon pic.twitter.com/aitDp0Pk6V
— America's Newsroom (@AmericaNewsroom) July 27, 2018
On Thursday, Trump praised Harvard Law School professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz and his recently released book “The Case Against Impeaching Trump.”
…called “The Case Against Impeaching Trump,” which I would encourage all people with Trump Derangement Syndrome to read!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 26, 2018
“.@AlanDersh, a brilliant lawyer, who although a Liberal Democrat who probably didn’t vote for me, has discussed the Witch Hunt with great clarity and in a very positive way,” the president tweeted.
“He has written a new and very important book called ‘The Case Against Impeaching Trump,’ which I would encourage all people with Trump Derangement Syndrome to read!”
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