The question of Michael Cohen’s lie to Congress gets more complex: He blames Trump’s attorneys

WaPo ^ | 27 Feb 2019 | Philip Bump

[blueplum]

According to documents associated with a plea agreement reached with the office of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, it was on Aug. 28, 2017, that Michael Cohen sent a letter to the House and Senate Intelligence committees about his interactions with his former legal client President Trump. Among the claims in that letter, Cohen asserted that conversations about a prospective real estate development in Moscow ended in January 2016, before the Republican primaries began. “By the end of January 2016, I determined that the proposal was not feasible for a variety of business reasons,” his statement read, “and should not be pursued further.” This was a lie. As Cohen later admitted, conversations continued until June of that year. Presented with this conflict by Mueller, Cohen agreed to plead guilty...(snip)

...In his prepared remarks, Cohen said that Trump never told him specifically to lie about the proposed Moscow deal but that Trump “in his way” indicated that he wanted Cohen to be dishonest about it. But in the statement, he also offered a more tantalizing explanation: “Mr. Trump’s personal lawyers reviewed and edited my statement to Congress about the timing of the Moscow Tower negotiations ...

[blueplum]

Update: In a statement provided to The Post, Sekulow denied having changed Cohen’s statement. “Today’s testimony by Michael Cohen that attorneys for the President edited or changed his statement to Congress to alter the duration of the Trump Tower Moscow negotiations is completely false,” Sekulow wrote.

[del griffith]

Sekulow should be put under oath.

[gov_bean_ counter]

I bet his dog ate his homework a lot too...

[gov_bean_ counter]

Who to believe, Sekulow or Cohen???

[Ann Archy]

What a SCUM BUCKET Cohen is.

[del griffith]

That’s a great question of which there is no easy answer.

[Alberta's Child]

Sekulow was not Trump's attorney when the events described in Cohen's testimony to Congress took place.

Between Cohen and Sekulow, Cohen is the only one who knew whether his testimony was true or false.

What's interesting here is that Cohen's pathological lying is giving all of these other players on Trump's team a very high degree of plausible deniability. Every one of them could plausibly claim that the statements they made based on anything Cohen told them were either true, or they were false only because Cohen was lying to them.

[a fool in paradise]

>>Sekulow should be put under oath.

Must see tv to watch Ellijah C-stain’s head cave in.

[Maskot]

Cohen: “I lied, but I’m not a liar”

[pepsionice]

This continual demonstration of pathological lying...gets to the point where nothing that Cohen says...can be 100-percent true. His entire life, successes, and failure...all could be just one big huge fabrication.

I didn’t realize until the other day that for two or three decades...he’d been registered as a Democrat, and only around 2015, did he register himself as a Republican.

[AndyJackson]

My head is spinning. Now he is lying about lying about lying about lying about lying to whom Congress? The “Special” prosecutor? To whom and about what is self-confessed liar lying? This time, I mean.

[norwaypinesavage]

There was some discussion several months ago that Trump decided to end the deal, but Cohen kept some discussions open to try to rescue it. He would then become the hero who "saved" the deal.

So then, what is the exact end? Is it when Trump decided to end it? Is it when some formal document was presented? Was it when Cohen decided to end discussions? Etc. Other than Cohen's lies, this whole issue is a meaningless fly speck on the wall of world events. Or should I say meaningless Democrat specks.

[neverevergiveup]

“I lied, but I’m not a liar”

I could see a whole line of tee shirts and logo attire exploiting this:

"I stole, but I'm not a thief" "I said FU, but I don't swear" "I cheat, but I'm honest"

[redshawk]

Release the names of all congress rats that used tax dollars to pay hush money to cover up their sex crimes. Just do it now. Guaranteed to stop all this witch hunt nonsense. Over 17mil if I recall.

Release the FISA stuff too. All unredacted.

[PghBaldy]

Cohen is very odd. He determined business decisions for Trump? Really?

[saywhatagain]

How can you not come prepared to fully answer a "critical" question? Specially knowing it was going to be asked.

Creating ambiguity was the goal to the answer given

Obviously the purpose is to implicate one level closer to the President (Sekulow).

Its a win-win for Mueller, Schi** head and the others

[From The Deer Stand]

How did Cohen ever pass the bar exam?

[banyanroot]

It depends on what the definition of “liar” is.

[del griffith]

Are you sure? Sekulow was on board by June of 2017. Wasn’t Cohen’s testimony in the fall of that year?

[Alberta's Child]

I’m talking about the Trump real estate deal in Moscow that was under discussion in 2016 before the election. Cohen was Trump’s lawyer in 2016. Sekulow was not.