Cohen lawyer: Trump knew Cohen planned to lie to Congress about Russia
Trump reportedly knew that Michael Cohen planned to lie to Congress about a proposal for a Trump property in Moscow — and he did nothing to stop it.
The attorney for Trump’s former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen said Wednesday night that Trump knew ahead of time Cohen was planning to give false testimony to Congress about a plan to build a Trump property in Moscow — and that Trump didn’t try to stop him or advise him to tell the truth.
Lanny Davis, an attorney and spokesperson who represents Cohen, said during an interview on Bloomberg Radio’s “Sound On” that Trump saw the false testimony about the proposed Trump Tower Moscow project before his then-lawyer submitted it to Congress.
Although Trump did not advise his former lawyer to lie about the real estate venture, David said, he also did not direct Cohen to be truthful even after seeing his false testimony.
“Mr. Trump and the White House knew that Michael Cohen would be testifying falsely to Congress and did not tell him not to,” Davis told Bloomberg.
Davis also said Cohen will reveal publicly what he knows about Trump once special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation is complete and the findings are released. Cohen has reportedly spent 70 hours with Mueller’s team, but very little is known about what he told investigators.
“There will come a time after Mr. Mueller is done with his work that Michael Cohen will be sitting in front of a microphone before a congressional committee and what he has to say about the truth will be judged by the members of Congress listening and then will be up to people to decide whether he has got the facts or not,” Davis said.
At the end of November, Cohen agreed to a plea deal and admitted to lying to Congress about the timing of the proposed Trump Tower Moscow project, as well as Trump’s involvement in the plan.
Previously, Trump and those around him had claimed that negotiations for the Moscow project ended in January 2016 — long before Trump won the GOP nomination for president.
Multiple members of Trump’s family, including daughter Ivanka and son Don Jr., were reportedly involved in the negotiations, which continued through the summer of 2016, according to the testimony Cohen gave as part of his plea deal.
Cohen’s plea agreement with the special counsel’s office was the second plea deal he has entered into with federal prosecutors. He previously agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in the Southern District of New York.
Both plea deals describe unethical and illegal activities by Trump, his family, and his campaign.
As part of the agreement with SDNY, Cohen admitted to paying hush money to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, who allegedly had a sexual relationship with Trump while he was married to Melania.
The payment was made just weeks before the 2016 election, in an illegal attempt to influence the outcome by preventing women from coming forward with damaging stories about having sexual affairs with Trump.
On Wednesday, Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison for violating campaign finance laws by making the hush money payments. Trump was directly implicated in the crimes Cohen is going to jail for.
Now, Trump may be implicated in yet another crime — and Cohen isn’t even done talking yet.
Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.
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