Washington – Congress To Probe Report That Trump Directed Lawyer To Lie About Moscow Project

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    FILE - In this Dec. 7, 2018 file photo, Michael Cohen, former lawyer to President Donald Trump, leaves his apartment building in New York. A report by BuzzFeed News, citing two unnamed law enforcement officials, says that Trump directed Cohen to lie to Congress and that Cohen regularly briefed Trump on the project. The Associated Press has not independently confirmed the report. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)Washington – The Democratic chairmen of two House committees pledged Friday to investigate a report that President Donald Trump directed his personal attorney to lie to Congress about negotiations over a real estate project in Moscow during the 2016 election.

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    House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said “we will do what’s necessary to find out if it’s true.” He said the allegation that Trump directed Michael Cohen to lie in his 2017 testimony to Congress “in an effort to curtail the investigation and cover up his business dealings with Russia is among the most serious to date.”

    The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York, said directing a subordinate to lie to Congress is a federal crime.

    “The @HouseJudiciary Committee’s job is to get to the bottom of it, and we will do that work,” Nadler tweeted.

    The report by BuzzFeed News, citing two unnamed law enforcement officials, says that Trump directed Cohen to lie to Congress and that Cohen regularly briefed Trump and his family on the Moscow project — even as Trump said he had no business dealings with Russia.

    The Associated Press has not independently confirmed the BuzzFeed report.

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

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

    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 Trump’s behalf during the heat of his presidential campaign. The charge was brought by Mueller and was the result of his cooperation 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 Feb. 7.

    The report comes as House Democrats have promised a thorough look into Trump’s ties to Russia. Though House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has discouraged any talk of impeachment in the early days of her new majority, some senior Democrats said that if the BuzzFeed report is true, Trump’s actions could rise to that level.

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

    Rhode Island Rep. David Cicilline, a member of the House Judiciary Committee, tweeted that if Trump directed Cohen to lie, “that is obstruction of justice. Period. Full stop.”

    William Barr, Trump’s nominee for attorney general, said at his Senate confirmation hearing Tuesday that a president or anyone else who directs a witness to lie is illegally obstructing an investigation. That statement attracted attention given Barr’s expansive views of presidential powers and his belief that presidents can’t be scrutinized by prosecutors for acts the Constitution allows them to take.


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    28 Comments
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    Phineas
    Phineas
    5 years ago

    Is buzzfeed a reputable publication? Don’t know much about it.

    Phineas
    Phineas
    5 years ago

    According yo Pew Research Buzzfeed is not known to be reliable although it did win a Pulitzer Prize and a Polk Award. Until this story is verified, it really should be treated as a maybe.

    qazxc
    qazxc
    5 years ago

    Drudge is repeating it too.

    5 years ago

    Lets say he did so what? Its not collusion. Let congress impeach him. Good luck you losers

    5 years ago

    Knowing how Agent Orange operates, this would definitely be within his modus operandi.

    puppydogs
    puppydogs
    5 years ago

    Thanks Sexy Michael Cohen

    yaakov doe
    Member
    yaakov doe
    5 years ago

    If Trump actually asked his lawyer to commit perjury that’s an impeachable offense. Mueller has all the evidence and if Pence was also involved in the high crimes and misdemeanors, we will have our first female President, Nancy Pelosi.

    AmYisroel
    AmYisroel
    5 years ago

    This report not only uses anonymous sources the author admits that he didn’t see the purported evidence he claims there is, so all we have is one reporters claim that 2 law enforcement people told him this so it’s unconfirmed by anyone at all

    takeittothem
    takeittothem
    5 years ago

    The putz-in-chief has consistently surrounded himself with sleaze.
    Feh !

    hashomer
    hashomer
    5 years ago

    This, and the news that Crazy Uncle Rudy admitted that people in trumpie’s administration COLLUDED W RUSSIA and that for over a year trumpie tried to pull us out of NATO as a gift to Tsar Pootin (!).
    The DRIP DRIP DRIP IS NOW A TIDAL WAVE.

    AmYisroel
    AmYisroel
    5 years ago

    More fake news from the leftist lying media
    Mueller just put out a statement call it a pack of lies