According to a new Axios report Michael Cohen told congressional investigators he didn’t know if Trump knew about the Trump Tower meeting.
Michael Cohen told lawmakers last year, in sworn testimony, that he didn’t know whether then-candidate Donald Trump had foreknowledge of the 2016 Trump Tower meeting with Russians, three sources with knowledge of Cohen’s testimony tell Axios.
The big picture: And Cohen still doesn’t know whether Trump knew about the infamous meeting, according to Cohen’s lawyer, Lanny Davis. “Nothing has changed,” he told Axios. News reports last month said Cohen was willing to assert to special counsel Robert Mueller that Trump did know about the meeting in advance.
This comes after a joint statement from Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr and Vice Chair Sen. Mark Warner
- “[W]e recently re-engaged with Mr. Cohen and his team following press reports that suggested he had advance knowledge of the June 2016 meeting between campaign officials and Russian lawyers at Trump Tower,” the statement says.
- “Mr. Cohen had testified before the Committee that he was not aware of the meeting prior to its disclosure in the press last summer.”
- “[T]he Committee inquired of Mr. Cohen’s legal team as to whether Mr. Cohen stood by his testimony. They responded that he did stand by his testimony.”
- “We hope … Mr. Cohen’s plea agreement will not preclude his appearance before our Committee as needed for our ongoing investigation.â€
This further pushes back on the damage Cohen can do to Trump. If Cohen didn’t flip on Trump during his testimony with the House intelligence committee then it is unlikely he’ll be able to harm him in at all.
