President Donald Trump‘s personal lawyer and confidante Michael Cohen gave two contradictory answers to two different outlets when asked whether he delivered a back-channel document from Russian mob-connected businessman to then-Trump advisor General Michael Flynn.

The New York Times reported Sunday that a week before Flynn’s ouster, “a sealed proposal was hand-delivered to his office, outlining a way for President Trump to lift sanctions against Russia.” The proposal included a peace plan for settling the Ukraine crisis and was reportedly drafted by Cohen, Ukrainian politician Andrii V. Artemenko, and businessman Felix H. Sater. Sater and Artemenko have both been convicted of white-collar crimes; Sater in particular pleaded guilty to a stock manipulation scheme masterminded by the mafia.

When contacted by The Times, Cohen initially admitted he had delivered the secret document to Flynn’s office:

He said Mr. Sater had given him the written proposal in a sealed envelope. When Mr. Cohen met with Mr. Trump in the Oval Office in early February, he said, he left the proposal in Mr. Flynn’s office. Mr. Cohen said he was waiting for a response when Mr. Flynn was forced from his post. Now Mr. Cohen, Mr. Sater and Mr. Artemenko are hoping a new national security adviser will take up their cause. On Friday the president wrote on Twitter that he had four new candidates for the job.

But here’s what Cohen told Mediaite’s sister site LawNewz this morning:

I acknowledge that the brief meeting took place, but emphatically deny discussing this topic or delivering any documents to the White House and/or General Flynn; something I stated to [New York Times reporter Megan Twohey].

It’s hard to square Cohen’s claim that he told Twohey that he never delivered a document to Flynn with the Times‘ reporting that he admitted just that.

The Times defended their reporting in a statement to The Washington Post: “Mr. Cohen told The Times in no uncertain terms that he delivered the Ukraine proposal to Michael Flynn’s office at the White House. Mr. Sater told the Times that Mr. Cohen had told him the same thing,” said deputy managing editor Matt Purdy.

[image via screengrab]

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