President Donald Trump on Friday denied that he knew in advance about a meeting at Trump Tower in June 2016 between his son, Donald Trump Jr., and a Russian lawyer, and he slammed his former personal attorney’s claims to the contrary.
Trump, in a three-part Twitter message, said he “did NOT know of the meeting” with Trump Jr., adding that it “sounds to me like someone is trying to make up stories in order to get himself out of an unrelated jam (Taxi cabs maybe?).”
“He even retained Bill and Crooked Hillary’s lawyer. Gee, I wonder if they helped him make the choice!” Trump added.
The posts refer to news reports that Michael Cohen had asserted that Trump knew in advance about that meeting, which contradicts Trump Jr.'s congressional testimony in May 2017. Trump Jr. has said he took the meeting because he was promised dirt on Hillary Clinton.
A knowledgeable source told NBC News on Thursday night that Cohen is willing to inform Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign, that Trump Jr. told his father about the meeting.
Trump Jr.'s attorney, Alan Futerfas, indicated that the report was false, while the president's attorney, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, also dismissed the report, saying, "Michael Cohen is not credible."
Trump’s mention of “taxi cabs” refers to Cohen’s beleaguered dealings in the taxi industry. The reference to Cohen’s lawyer is about Lanny Davis, whom Cohen hired earlier this month as his attorney. Davis had earlier worked as a spokesman and as special counsel to Bill Clinton.
Davis declined comment Friday morning in response to the president's tweets.
Meanwhile, Trump, in his tweets Friday morning, also referred to a New York Times report alleging that Mueller was looking at the president’s tweets about Attorney General Jeff Sessions and former FBI Director James Comey as part of a broad obstruction-of-justice probe.
“Now they are looking at my Tweets (along with 53 million other people) — the rigged Witch Hunt continues!” Trump wrote. “How stupid and unfair to our Country.”