EDITOR’S NOTE: Certain websites – including the Washington Post and the New York Post – have noted that Lanny Davis, Michael Cohen’s lawyer, confirmed anonymously that his client witnessed an exchange suggesting that Donald Trump knew ahead of time about the 2016 meeting with Russians at Trump Tower. Davis has since said he did not know this to be true. Neither CNN nor NBC have updated their stories. This story will continue to be updated when new information arises.
The U.S. president’s former attorney said Donald Trump knew ahead of time about a 2016 meeting that happened at Trump Tower with a Russian lawyer from whom they expected to learn information about then-Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, reports said Thursday.
CNN reported information from unnamed sources saying that Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer, has said that his ex-client knew the meeting would happen — despite assertions by the president and others that they didn’t know anything about it.
And that’s information that Cohen is willing to share with Robert Mueller, the special counsel looking into Russian interference in the 2016 election, NBC News reported, also citing an unnamed “knowledgable” source.
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Cohen has said he and a number of other people were present when Donald Trump Jr. informed his father about the offer from the Russians — adding that the then-Republican candidate approved the meet, according to CNN.
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That would contradict Trump Jr.’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee last year, in which he said his father didn’t know of the meeting.
But CNN’s sources said Cohen doesn’t have any evidence to back up his claims, though he is willing to stand by his remarks.
READ MORE: 2016 Trump Tower meeting between Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner and Russians under further scrutiny
The meeting in question happened at Trump Tower in June 2016, and included Trump Jr. as well as the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort, who was serving as campaign chairman at the time.
The Russians at the meeting included Moscow lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya; she had been put in touch with Trump Jr. through a go-between who said she could offer help to beat Hillary Clinton in the election.
The go-between was publicist Rob Goldstone, who told Trump Jr. that a Russian government lawyer had dirt on Clinton as “part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump.”
Veselnitskaya has denied acting on behalf of the Russian government.
“If it’s what you say I love it especially later in the summer,” Trump Jr. wrote to Goldstone.
READ MORE: Donald Trump Jr. tells lawmakers there was no collusion with Russians
Cohen’s lawyer Lanny Davis didn’t return CNN’s request for comment on the story.
But Trump Jr.’s lawyer Alan Futerfas said his client had been “professional and responsible throughout the Mueller and congressional investigations.”
Meanwhile, Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani told NBC News that Cohen is “not credible,” and that he can’t be believed “unless it’s corroborated five times.”
“I talked to the president about this at length before, as well as other witnesses, and it’s not true,” Giuliani said.
On CNN, Giuliani said that Cohen has been “lying all week, he’s been lying for years.”
“I don’t see how he’s got any credibility.”
— With files from The Associated Press
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