U.S. President Donald Trump described as a “fake hearing” testimony by his former lawyer Michael Cohen before the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday — though he also said he was “impressed” his ex-fixer said there was “no collusion” with the Russians, even if he didn’t say that.
At a news conference following the conclusion of a summit in Hanoi with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un — which produced no agreement on denuclearization — Trump said Cohen “lied a lot” in the congressional hearing.
WATCH: Michael Cohen evasive on Russian collusion question
But he added, “it was very interesting, because he didn’t lie about one thing, he said no collusion with the Russian hoax.”
“He lied about so many different things, I was actually impressed he didn’t say, ‘I think there was collusion.’
“He said there was no collusion and I was a little impressed by that, frankly, he only went about 95 per cent instead of 100 per cent.”
READ MORE: Michael Cohen says he fears what will happen if Trump loses 2020 election
That’s not quite what Cohen said.
In his opening testimony, Cohen said, “questions have been raised about whether I know of direct evidence that Mr. Trump or his campaign colluded with Russia. I do not. I want to be clear. But, I have my suspicions.”
He went on to say that he learned in the summer of 2017 that there had been a meeting which included Donald Trump Jr. and other members of the Trump campaign with Russians, including a representative of the Russian government, which took place at Trump Tower in June 2016.
WATCH: Cohen — President Trump is a racist, liar, cheat, conman
Cohen then testified that he recalled being in a room with Trump, perhaps in early June 2016, when Trump Jr. entered the room, leaned to his father and said in a low voice, “the meeting is all set.”
Cohen recalled Trump responding, “OK good… let me know.”
“I concluded that Don Jr. was referring to that June 2016 Trump Tower meeting about dirt on Hillary with the Russian representative when he walked behind his dad’s desk that day — and that Mr. Trump knew that was the meeting Don Jr. was talking about when he said, ‘that’s good… let me know.'”
READ MORE: Read Michael Cohen’s opening statement accusing Trump of knowing about bribes, meetings
Cohen also testified that he never travelled to Prague in order to collude with Russians in 2016, as was alleged in a dossier of intelligence memos that had been gathered by a former spy from the U.K., CNN reported.
“I’ve never been to Prague… I’ve never been to the Czech Republic,” Cohen said.
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