In yet another shift of Donald Trump’s position, Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani (pictured) has said his client knew about negotiations for a Moscow Trump Tower throughout the 2016 campaign.
Trump falsely said during the campaign that he had no business interests in Russia. Trump’s long-time lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen initially told a Congressional committee that talks lasted from November 2015 until January 2016. However, as he pleaded guilty to lying to Congress, he said the negotiations were until June 2016, when Trump was on the brink of the Republican nomination and as Trump’s senior advisors — son Donald Jr.; son-in-law Jared Kushner; and campaign manager Paul Manafort — met three Kremlin-linked envoys about provision of material damaging Democrat nominee Hillary Clinton.
Last week BuzzFeed, from two officials, that Trump personally directed Cohen to lie to Congress. In an unprecedented statement, Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office said the article was inaccurate.
Giuliani said in a Sunday interview that, according to Trump, the Moscow Trump Tower discussions were “going on from the day I announced [candidacy] to the day I won”.
The lawyer said Trump might have talked to Cohen before the Congressional testimony but maintained Trump never instructed Cohen to lie.
Trump, pushing aside his previous statements, acknowledged discussing the Moscow project with Cohen in written responses given to Mueller’s team.
Later in the day, Giuliani said he was allowing for the possibility that Trump and Cohen may have discussed the Moscow Trump Tower through November 2016 but that no notes or call logs pointed to specific conversations about Russia.
“We’re at Cohen’s mercy for the dates,” Giuliani said, asserting that Trump “doesn’t remember the dates. He does remember conversations about Moscow. He does remember the letter of intent. He does remember, after that, fleeting conversations.”