President Donald Trump “flat-out” lied about his business links with Russia as a candidate in the 2016 election, Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said Friday.
Trump’s former longtime personal lawyer Michael Cohen plead guilty to lying to Congress about the president’s dealings on a Trump Tower in Moscow. Cohen told Congress that talks about the building ended in January 2016, the month Trump took office, but has since admitted that the talks continued into summer of that year.
“First that makes it clear that now President Trump was flat-out lying as Candidate Trump when he said and tweeted repeatedly I have no business interests in Russia,” Coons said on CNN’s “New Day” Friday morning. “He did not say I just wrapped up a business deal and he didn’t say just a few days ago I stopped communicating with the Kremlin and he said categorically I have no business with Russia.”
As a candidate, Trump frequently denied that he had business ties to Russia or Russian citizens, but he confirmed this week that he continued to conduct business while running for president.
“That’s not illegal but it says something about the character of then-candidate Donald Trump,” Coons continued. “But it’s complicated and has legal consequences for individuals like Michael Cohen who came before committees of Congress and submitted spoken and written testimony and then agreed to cooperate with Mueller, and special counsel Mueller charged him and he has pleaded guilty to additional lies to Congress and that puts him in legal jeopardy.”
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