Tuesday, Intelligence Committee chairman Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) said former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen had confirmed his testimony to his committee that he was unaware of the meeting in Trump Tower in June 2016 between Donald Trump Jr., Paul Manafort, Jared Kushner and a Russian attorney.
Cohen later claimed that President Donald Trump knew about the meeting beforehand.
Today Cohen pleaded guilty to five counts of tax evasion, two counts of campaign contribution violations, and one count of bank fraud.
Burr said, “What we can say is that we recently re-engaged Mr. Cohen and his team following press reports that suggested he had advance knowledge of a June 16th meeting between campaign officials and Russian lawyer at the Trump Tower. Mr. Cohen had testified before the Committee that he was not aware of any meeting prior to its disclosure in the press last summer. As such, the Committee inquired of Mr. Cohen’s legal team as to whether Mr. Cohen stood by his testimony. They responded that he did stand by his testimony.”
He added, “We hope that today’s developments and Mr. Cohen’s plea agreement will not preclude his appearance before our Committee as needed for our ongoing investigation.”
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