Trump was aware of hacked emails before their release, and Michael Cohen knew it: lawyer

If U.S. President Donald Trump‘s former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen ends up speaking with special counsel Robert Mueller, he may have some information that would be pertinent to his investigation into allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

That information pertains to thousands of emails that were hacked from the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and released by Wikileaks.

Trump knew about these emails before they were released, and Cohen knew he knew, his lawyer Lanny Davis told CNN Wednesday.

Coverage of Michael Cohen on Globalnews.ca:

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Davis had earlier said that Cohen would be willing to cooperate with the Russia probe, and that he’d refuse any pardon from the president.

Speaking to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Wednesday, Davis said, “I don’t know if it’s a smoking gun or how decisive it is, what I’m suggesting is that Mr. Cohen was an observer and was a witness to Mr. Trump’s awareness of those emails before they were dropped, and it would pertain to the hacking of the email account.”

Davis also said that the emails “could only have been derived through illegal hacking from a Russian agency called Wikileaks.”

READ MORE: Michael Cohen willing to cooperate with Russia probe, would refuse Trump’s pardon — lawyer

In the interview with CNN, Davis also responded to Trump’s claim to Fox News that the campaign charges to which Cohen pleaded guilty were not violations because they came from his own funds.

“It’s an incorrect understanding of the law,” Davis said.

“What the prosecutors found is that the money was paid two weeks from the election, motivated by a fear and a threat from [Stormy] Daniels that she was going to go public right before the election.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "What the prosecutors found is that the money was paid two weeks from the election, motivated by a fear and a threat from [Stormy] Daniels that she was going to go public right before the election.

“So the finding of the prosecutors, subject to a jury and a trial, is that the motivation as a principal political purpose, made that donation illegal and a felony.”

Davis then repeated a point he made on Tuesday, the day Cohen pleaded guilty.

“If it’s a felony for my client Michael Cohen, it’s certainly a felony for the man who, according to the prosecutors, directed and coordinated the payment of that illegal campaign contribution.”

Blitzer asked Davis whether anyone heard Trump coordinate Cohen’s actions when it came to buying the silence of the two women who had said they would go public with claims about affairs with the then-candidate.

“The answer is not explicitly named in the information filed by the prosecutors,” Davis said.

“But the prosecutors leave anonymous the individuals from the campaign, and the individuals from the organization who would have been aware of Mr. Trump’s knowledge if not direction and making it illegal, his distinction between personal and campaign funds.”

READ MORE: Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to 8 criminal charges. Here’s what they are

Davis was also asked whether knew about a meeting that took place at Trump Tower in 2016, in which his son Donald Trump Jr., son-in-law Jared Kushner and then-campaign chair Paul Manafort met with Russians including a Moscow lawyer who said she had information to offer that would help the candidate beat Hillary Clinton.

“At this juncture, I can only say that he was present during a discussion with Jr. and dad, and beyond that, his testimony to the Senate Intelligence and House Intelligence Committees was accurate,” Davis said.

Cohen told the Senate Intelligence Committee last year that he “never saw anything — not a hint of anything — that demonstrated his involvement in Russian interference in our election or any form of Russian collusion.”

He also denied that he had anything to do with Russian involvement in the election.

Reports emerged last month suggesting Cohen knew his former client knew about the Trump Tower meeting ahead of time.

That, too, is information he’d be willing to share with Mueller, reports said.