President Donald Trump called attention Sunday to an old tweet from Michael Cohen to cast doubt on his former attorney’s allegations about the now-infamous June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower between Donald Trump Jr. and a group of Russians who promised dirt on former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
“Do you think the Fake News Media will ever report on this tweet from Michael?” Trump tweeted, linking to a July 11, 2017 tweet from Cohen.
In the tweet, Cohen praised Trump Jr. “for being open, honest and transparent to the American people” about the Trump Tower meeting.
Days earlier, The New York Times broke the story that Trump Jr., his brother-in-law Jared Kushner, and Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort met on June 9, 2016 with a group of Russians promising derogatory information on Clinton.
Trump Jr. released his emails scheduling the meeting on the morning of Cohen’s tweet. Cohen sent the tweet just after Trump Jr. told Fox News’ Sean Hannity that he did not tell his father about the Trump Tower meeting. (RELATED: FLASHBACK: Michael Cohen Praised Don Jr. For Being ‘Open, Honest And Transparent’ About Trump Tower Meeting)
Cohen is now reportedly singing a different tune about the Trump Tower tryst.
The longtime Trump fixer is willing to tell the special counsel’s office that he took part in a meeting in which Trump approved of his son hosting the Russian delegation, CNN reported Thursday.
Trump Jr. accepted the meeting after an acquaintance named Rob Goldstone emailed him to say that a Russian government attorney wanted to meet with the campaign to provide information on Hillary Clinton.
“If it is what you say I love it,” Trump Jr. replied.
Goldstone and the Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, showed up to the meeting with three other Russians. All of the participants have described the meeting as a waste of time, saying that Veselnitskaya offered nothing of substance about Clinton. Instead, she wanted to discuss the Magnitsky Act, a 2012 law that sanctions Russian human rights abusers.
The meeting attendees have all said that no follow up meetings took place.
The possibility that Trump and Trump Jr. have lied about Trump approving the meeting has reignited the debate over whether the Trump Tower conclave is evidence of a collusion conspiracy. Cohen’s claims could also cause legal problems for the Trumps. Trump Jr. told the Senate Judiciary Committee in September that he did not tell his father about the meeting before it occurred. Trump’s denials could also potentially be used against him in the special counsel’s investigation into possible obstruction of justice on Trump’s part.
Despite Trump’s suggestion that the Cohen tweet got no media coverage, The Daily Caller News Foundation did report about it, and CNN referred to it during a segment on Friday.
http://www.dailycaller.com/2018/07/29/trump-cohen-tweet-trump-tower/
http://www.dailycaller.com/2018/07/29/rudy-giuliani-michael-cohen/
No comments:
Post a Comment