Trump says Michael Cohen lied about not requesting a pardon

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump declared Friday that he rejected a personal appeal from his former lawyer Michael Cohen for a pardon, the strongest assertion yet that Cohen may have lied under oath.

Trump tweeted his claim after days of swirling questions about Cohen over the issue of pardons. It has emerged as a key line of inquiry for Democrats launching a series of sweeping investigations into Trump’s political and personal dealings.

“Bad lawyer and fraudster Michael Cohen said under sworn testimony that he never asked for a Pardon. His lawyers totally contradicted him. He lied!” Trump tweeted aboard Air Force One while en route to inspect damage from deadly tornados in Alabama. “Additionally, he directly asked me for a pardon. I said NO. He lied again! He also badly wanted to work at the White House. He lied!”

Cohen took to Twitter minutes later to deny the accusation.

“Just another set of lies by @POTUS @realdonaldtrump. Mr. President” he wrote, before invoking the women whose hush-money payments he helped facilitate. “Let me remind you that today is #InternationalWomensDay. You may want use today to apologize for your own #lies and #DirtyDeeds to women like Karen McDougal and Stephanie Clifford.”

Lanny Davis, Cohen’s lawyer, said in a written statement Thursday that his client was “open to the ongoing ‘dangling’ of a possible pardon by Trump representatives privately and in the media” in the months after the FBI raided Cohen’s home, office and hotel room in April 2018.

Davis, who was not Cohen’s lawyer at the time, said Cohen “directed his attorney” to explore a possible pardon with Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani and others on Trump’s legal team. The statement appears to contradict Cohen’s sworn testimony last week at a House Oversight Committee hearing that he had never asked for, and would not accept, a pardon from Trump.

Davis’ comment raises questions about whether Cohen — who is slated to begin a threeyear prison sentence in May for crimes including lying to Congress — lied to Congress again last week. Cohen’s legal team argued that his statement was correct because Cohen never asked the president himself for a pardon.