Rudy Giuliani has called Michael Cohen a ‘pathological liar’ after Donald Trump’s former lawyer claimed the president approved a meeting with Kremlin informants.
‘He’s been lying all week, for two weeks, he’s been lying for years,’ Giuliani said on CNN as he went on the defensive for Trump.
Giuliani’s attack comes as it was revealed Cohen is planning to tell special counsel Robert Mueller that Trump approved the June 2016 Trump Tower with Russians offering dirt on Hillary Clinton.
‘The tapes we have demonstrate any number of very serious lies by him back a year and a half ago,’ Giuliani claimed as he spoke to Chris Cuomo.
Rudy Giuliani has claimed Michael Cohen is a ‘pathological liar’ after Donald Trump’s former lawyer claimed the president approved a meeting with Kremlin informants
Cohen is planning to tell special counsel Robert Mueller that Trump approved the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between Russians, his son Donald Trump Jr, and campaign staffers
But it appears the lies that Giuliani is talking about were the fact that Cohen didn’t divulge he recorded certain conversations.
‘Fooling people, hiding tape recordings, telling they weren’t recorded, lying to their face, breaking faith with them,’ he continued.
‘Taping a client, which is a disbarrable offense. I don’t see how he has any credibility.’
Earlier this week CNN leaked a tape from Cohen in which he and Trump seemingly discuss payment to Playboy model Karen McDougal.
‘He’s been lying all week, for two weeks, he’s been lying for years,’ Giuliani said on CNN as he went on the defensive for Trump
‘If he had a trial you’d say, which lie do you wanna pick? You wanna pick the first lie, the second lie, or maybe some new lie?’ Giuliani continued to rant.
‘There’s nobody I know that knows him that hasn’t warned me that if his back is up against the wall he’ll like like crazy, cause he’s lied all his life.’
Cohen has alleged that Donald Trump Jr was the one who informed him that the meeting would take place.
During the meeting, the Russians were expected to dish out dirt on Trump’s Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton.
Don Jr, his brother-in-law Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort, who was Trump’s campaign chairman at the time, were all at the meeting.
Cohen, Trump’s former personal attorney, alleged that Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr (pictured Thursday), was the one who informed him that the meeting would take place
There were four Russians in the room, including Natalia Veselnitskaya – who reportedly has Kremlin ties.
According to CNN, sources claim that Cohen is willing to make that assertion to Mueller, but he doesn’t have evidence – such as audio recordings – to corroborate his claim.
‘He’s certainly a source that is not credible,’ Giuliani continued. ‘Michael Cohen can’t be believed unless it’s corroborated five times.’
‘I talked to the president about this at length before as well as other witnesses and it’s not true. Why would you expect it would be true from someone like Cohen? A lawyer who would tape their own client is a lawyer without any character,’ he added.
Cuomo then questioned how Trump, who has always said he ‘has the best people around him’, could put his trust in Cohen if his lawyer was so ‘uncredible’.
‘He put his trust in this man for years,’ Cuomo continued. ‘He entrusted him with his most sensitive matters and said I gave him full discretion to do things I didn’t need to know – it’s a fundamental aspect of the president’s narrative on what happened with [Stormy Daniels and McDougal].’
‘Benedict Arnold was disloyal to George Washington,’ Giuliani shot back. ‘You can go back to ancient literature and find people who you think you trust and they turn out to be scoundrels.’
‘I saw the president when the president first found out that he had been taped, and the president was completely shocked.’
During the meeting, the Russians were expected to dish out dirt on Trump’s Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. There were four Russians in the room, including Natalia Veselnitskaya who reportedly has Kremlin ties
‘He wasn’t angry, he was disappointed, almost like a father who had been betrayed by his son.’
The president has previously denied knowing in advance that the meeting was going to take place, and he has denied that there was any collusion between his campaign and Russia. Moscow has also denied meddling in the election.
Don Jr told investigators from the Senate Judiciary Committee in September 2017 that he did not tell his father about the meeting beforehand, according to documents released by the committee.
Alan Futerfas, a lawyer for the Trump Organization and Don Jr, told Reuters: ‘Donald Trump Jr has been professional and responsible throughout the Mueller and Congressional investigations.’
‘We are very confident of the accuracy and reliability of the information that has been provided by Mr Trump, Jr, and on his behalf.’
For months the president’s legal team, the White House press secretary, and others in Trump’s orbit said he did not dictate or help draft a June 2017 statement trying to explain the Trump Tower meeting between his eldest son and a Russian lawyer.
Turns out, that wasn’t true.
‘He’s certainly a source that is not credible,’ Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, told Chris Cuomo on CNN’s Cuomo Prime Time
‘Michael Cohen can’t be believed unless it’s corroborated five times,’ Giuliani added
In a January letter to Mueller, Trump’s lawyers said the president ‘dictated a short but accurate response’ to the first report that his son, Don Jr, and others had met with the Russian lawyer during the 2016 presidential election.
The New York Times revealed the existence of the letter last month. The Trump Tower meeting – and the White House’s initial response to the first reports of the meeting – has been a key moment in Mueller’s investigation into whether anyone on the campaign colluded with Russia and whether Trump obstructed justice.
In the initial written statement from Don Jr on June 8, 2017, he said the Trump Tower gathering was a ‘short introductory meeting’ focused on a disbanded program that had allowed American adoptions of Russian children.
Moscow ended the adoptions in response to Magnitsky Act sanctions created in response to alleged human rights violations in Russia.
While the Magnitsky Act was discussed, it was later revealed that the meeting was held on the promise of damaging information about Clinton.
Don Jr did not mention the promise of dirt on Clinton until a statement the next day.