Probe into claim Trump ‘instructed lawyer to lie’

“The @HouseJudiciary Committee’s job is to get to the bottom of it, and we will do that work,” Mr Nadler tweeted. The report by BuzzFeed News, citing two unnamed law enforcement officials, said Mr Trump directed Cohen to lie to Congress and Cohen regularly briefed Mr Trump and his family on the Moscow project – even as Mr Trump said he had no business dealings with Russia.

An adviser to Mr Cohen, Lanny Davis, declined to comment, saying that he and Mr Cohen would not answer questions out of respect for special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe. Mr Mueller is investigating Russian meddling in the election and contacts with the Trump campaign.

The BuzzFeed story says Cohen told Mr Mueller that Mr Trump personally instructed him to lie about the timing of the project in order to obscure Mr involvement.

Mr Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, scoffed at the report, saying in a statement: “If you believe Cohen I can get you a good all-cash deal on the Brooklyn Bridge.”

Cohen pleaded guilty in November to lying to Congress in 2017 to cover up that he was negotiating the real estate deal in Moscow on Mr Trump’s behalf during the heat of his presidential campaign. The charge was brought by Mr Mueller and was the result of his co-operation with that probe.

Cohen was recently sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to tax crimes, bank fraud and campaign violations. He is scheduled to testify before the House oversight and reform committee on February 7.

The report comes as House Democrats have promised a thorough

Trump’s look into Mr Trump’s ties to Russia. Although House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has discouraged any talk of impeachment, some senior Democrats said if the BuzzFeed report is true, Mr Trump’s actions could rise to that level.

“If the @BuzzFeed story is true, President Trump must resign or be impeached,” tweeted Texas representative Joaquin Castro, a member of the House intelligence panel.

William Barr, Mr Trump’s nominee for attorney general, said at his Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday that a president or anyone else who directed a witness to lie was illegally obstructing an investigation.

That statement attracted attention given Mr Barr’s expansive views of presidential powers and his belief that presidents cannot be scrutinised by prosecutors for acts the constitution allows them to take.