Cohen lawyer backs off Trump claims
An attorney for Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s former lawyer, is backing away from confident assertions he made that Cohen has information to share with investigators that shows Trump knew in 2016 of Russian efforts to undermine Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
Lanny Davis, a spokesman and attorney for Cohen, said in an interview this weekend that he is no longer certain about claims he made to reporters on background and on the record in recent weeks about what Cohen knows about Trump’s awareness of the Russian efforts.
Davis did not rule out that his claims were correct but expressed regret that he did not explain that he could not independently corroborate them, saying that he now believes he “should have been more clear.”
Neither Cohen nor his lead defense attorney, Guy Petrillo, responded to requests for comment.
The prospect that Cohen could be a potential witness against the president in the special counsel’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election has dominated the news, particularly since Cohen pleaded guilty Tuesday to tax evasion, bank fraud and campaign finance crimes.
Davis’s latest comments cast doubt on what Cohen may know, including about a June 2016 meeting in New York’s Trump Tower attended by Trump’s eldest son and a Russian lawyer.
Trump and his allies seized on the erosion of those claims.
“Michaels Cohen’s attorney clarified the record, saying his client does not know if President Trump knew about the Trump Tower meeting (out of which came nothing!),” Trump tweeted Saturday. “The answer is that I did NOT know about the meeting. Just another phony story by the Fake News Media!”
Davis told The Washington Post that he cannot confirm media reports that Cohen is prepared to tell Special Counsel Robert Mueller that Trump had advance knowledge of the 2016 Trump Tower meeting, where Donald Trump Jr. expected to receive damaging information about Clinton from a Russian lawyer.
CNN reported last month that Cohen was claiming to have witnessed Trump being informed of the Russians’ offer by Trump Jr. and that the then-candidate approved the meeting.