President’s attorney, Rudy Giuliani, said it would have been ‘perfectly normal’ for Trump to discuss testimony with Cohen

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Donald Trump may have talked to Michael Cohen in advance about Cohen’s false testimony to Congress on their pursuit of a property deal in Russia, the president’s attorney said on Sunday.

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Rudy Giuliani said it would have been “perfectly normal” for Trump to discuss the testimony with Cohen, his former legal fixer who has admitted to lying to Congress about when the “Trump Tower Moscow” project ended.

“So what if he talked to him?” Giuliani said on CNN’s State of the Union, while insisting that Trump did not instruct Cohen to lie in the testimony.

Cohen initially told a congressional committee investigating Russia’s interference in the 2016 election that the Trump Organization’s pursuit of a property deal in Russia ended before the Republican primary began in January 2016.

But last November, Cohen pleaded guilty to lying to Congress and admitted discussions on the Moscow deal actually continued well into 2016. He said he had briefed Trump and members of Trump’s family extensively.

Special counsel Robert Mueller said in a court filing last month Cohen told investigators about “preparing and circulating his response to the congressional inquiries”, indicating that the White House may have been in the loop about his false testimony.

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Late on Friday, the office of the special counsel disputed an explosive BuzzFeed News report that said Trump personally directed Cohen to lie to Congress. BuzzFeed has said it stands by the story, which was sourced to unnamed federal law enforcement officials.

One of the story’s authors, Anthony Cormier, said on Sunday his sources maintained the information was accurate.

“I have further confirmation that this is right,” Cormier told CNN’s Reliable Sources. “We are being told to stand our ground.”

Giuliani said on Sunday Cohen had a clearer oversight of the Russia project than Trump, and that Trump had been too busy with his campaign to pay close attention.

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He said any advance discussion about Cohen’s testimony would have involved Cohen telling Trump what he intended to say and Trump trusting that it would be accurate.

“The guy driving this testimony was Michael Cohen,” Giuliani told CNN.

Giuliani also reiterated a past statement that the Trump Tower Moscow negotiations may have continued even beyond the June 2016 date given when Cohen admitted that his earlier testimony was false.

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On NBC’s Meet the Press, Giuliani said Trump’s team had told Mueller the discussions “went on throughout 2016” and continued “probably up to, could be up to, as far as October, November”.

This would mean Trump was pursuing a lucrative deal requiring Russian government approval right up until his election as president of the US. American intelligence agencies have concluded Russia’s interference in the campaign was aimed at boosting Trump and damaging Hillary Clinton, his Democratic opponent.

Mueller is investigating whether anyone from Trump’s campaign was involved in the Russian interference. Trump has repeatedly claimed there was “no collusion”.

Last week Giuliani conceded that Trump associates may have colluded with Russia. If they had, he said, Trump had not known.