Trump denies he knew about Russia meeting

US president was aware of rendezvous in advance, says his embattled former fixer Michael Cohen

DONALD TRUMP yesterday denied explosive claims by his former lawyer that he knew about a meeting between his son and a Russian promising to share damaging information about his rival candidate Hillary Clinton before the 2016 US election.

In a tweet yesterday, the US president accused Michael Cohen, his onetime fixer who is now under federal investigation, of deciding to “make up stories” to get himself out of trouble.

Rudy Giuliani, Mr Trump’s lawyer, used a broadcast interview to paint Mr Cohen as a “pathological liar” who does not have “any credibility”.

The rebuttals came after a CNN report, widely followed by US media outlets, that Mr Cohen is prepared to claim that the president knew about a nowinfamous meeting in Trump Tower before the presidential election.

Mr Trump’s son Donald Trump Jnr, his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and his then-campaign manager, Paul Manafort, attended the meeting in New York on June 9 2016 with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya.

Earlier Mr Trump Jnr had been approached by Rob Goldstone, a British music promoter, who claimed to have “official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father”.

Emails leaked by Mr Trump Jnr show that he responded “If it’s what you say, I love it” when first offered the “dirt” on Mrs Clinton before the meeting was arranged.

The Trump Tower chat has come under scrutiny by investigators looking into alleged ties between Mr Trump’s campaign and the Kremlin.

Mr Trump has always denied knowing about the meeting before it took place. However, Mr Cohen, his personal attorney at the time, will reportedly claim that he was present when Mr Trump was told about the event.

Mr Cohen does not have a recording of the incident, according to CNN, but is prepared to give evidence on the matter to Robert Mueller, the independent “special counsel” leading the Russian election meddling investigation. Mr Trump tweeted yesterday: “I did NOT know of the meeting with my son, Don Jr. Sounds to me like someone is trying to make up stories in order to get himself out of an unrelated jam”.

Mr Trump added, in apparent reference to Mr Cohen: “He even retained Bill and Crooked Hillary’s lawyer. Gee, I wonder if they helped him make the choice!”

The row completes the spectacular fallout between Mr Cohen – once a Trump ultra-loyalist who said he would “take a bullet” for the president and who often defended him fiercely – and the man he worked with for a decade.

Mr Cohen’s offices were raided by the FBI in April and he is under federal investigation. US newspapers have reported that Mr Cohen is alarmed by the lack of support from the president over his plight.

Mr Cohen has hired Lanny Davis, a lawyer renowned for his close ties to the Clintons, and the leaks have come to light through CNN, the cable news channel that Mr Trump most dislikes.

Earlier this week a recording of Mr Trump appearing to discuss with Mr Cohen how to buy the rights to the story of Karen Mcdougal, the Playboy model who alleges an affair with the president before he took office, was made public.

Mr Trump has denied the affair.