US president Donald Trump has denied that he knew in advance about a Trump Tower meeting in June 2016 between a Russian lawyer, his eldest son and other aides which had been convened to uncover dirt on his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.
Mr Trump tweeted, “NO,” he “did NOT know of the meeting with my son, Don jr.”
….,the only Collusion with Russia was with the Democrats, so now they are looking at my Tweets (along with 53 million other people) – the rigged Witch Hunt continues! How stupid and unfair to our Country….And so the Fake News doesn’t waste my time with dumb questions, NO,….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 27, 2018
…..I did NOT know of the meeting with my son, Don jr. 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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 27, 2018
The US president’s campaign had been told the Russian lawyer had dirt on Mrs Clinton to share.
CNN reported that Mr Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, claims the then-Republican candidate knew in advance about the meeting.
CNN cited anonymous sources, saying Cohen was willing to share that information with special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating possible collusion between Mr Trump’s campaign and Russia.
Mr Cohen was not present at the Trump Tower meeting, and the lawyer has offered no evidence to support the claim that Mr Trump knew about the meeting.
He does not have any recordings of the meeting, sources said.
Mr Trump also tweeted: “Sounds to me like someone is trying to make up stories in order to get himself out of an unrelated jam.”
Mr Cohen is under federal investigation in New York.
The US justice department has been investigating Mr Cohen for months, having raided his home, office and hotel room in search of documents related to a 130,000 dollar (£99,000) payment the attorney facilitated before the 2016 election to Stormy Daniels. The adult film actress claims she had sex with Mr Trump in 2006.
In an interview with ABC News earlier this month, Mr Cohen declined to answer if Mr Trump knew about the Trump Tower meeting in advance, citing the advice of his lawyers and the ongoing investigation.
