Live updates: Cohen testimony - CNN

Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly said committee staff uncovered an email the White House had mistakenly released to lawmakers that revealed a meeting President Trump had requested in May of 2017 with Michael Cohen and Jay Sekulow, a member of the president’s legal team.

Cohen could not remember the meeting "off the top" of his head, but said, “I recall being in the White House with Jay Sekulow and it was in regard to the document production as well as my appearance before the House Select Intel but I’m not sure if that specifically is what you’re referring.”

Cohen said in that trip to the White House he had a conversation with Trump about his impending testimony.

“He wanted me to cooperate, he also wanted just to ensure I’m making the statement, and I said it in my testimony, ‘There is no Russia, there is no collusion, there is no deal,’ he goes, ‘It’s all a witch hunt,’ he goes, ‘This stuff has to end.’”

“At the end of the day I knew exactly what he wanted me to say,” Cohen said.

He said he would check his documents and get a more fulsome answer for Connolly. 

Cohen said he thought Sekulow was in the meeting as a hand-off, “because he was going to be representing Mr. Trump going forward as one of his personal attorneys in this matter.”

Asked by Connolly if he was “coached” by the President on how he should testify before the Intelligence Committee, Cohen said “it’s difficult to answer” and repeated his previous testimony about the way Trump had back-handedly discussed Russia with him.

“He doesn’t tell you what he wants. What he does is again, ‘Michael, there’s no Russia, there’s no collusion, there’s no involvement, there’s no interference.’ I know what he means because I’ve been around him for so long. So if you’re asking me whether or not that’s the message, that’s staying on point, that’s the party line that he created that so many others are now touting, yes, that’s the message that he wanted to reinforce.”

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https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/michael-cohen-testimony/index.html

2019-02-27 18:14:00Z