Michael Cohen Says Russia Probe Designed To ‘Discredit’ Trump

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By Reuters September 19, 2017

Trump’s lawyer on Tuesday denied that he or Trump colluded with Russia to interfere in last year’s presidential election, and said such charges were meant to discredit Trump’s presidency.

“I emphatically state that I had nothing to do with any Russian involvement in our electoral process,” Michael Cohen said in a statement prepared for a scheduled meeting with Senate Intelligence Committee investigators that was ultimately postponed.

“Given my own proximity to the president of the United States as a candidate, let me also say that I never saw anything – not a hint of anything – that demonstrated his involvement in Russian interference in our election or any form of Russia collusion,” Cohen said.

After the statement was reported by media organizations on Tuesday morning, Cohen and his attorney, Stephen Ryan, traveled to Capitol Hill for a closed-door interview with Intelligence Committee investigators – but were told that the committee had decided to postpone the meeting.

The Senate committee, as well as other congressional panels and special counsel Robert Mueller, are investigating Russia’s reported interference in the 2016 election and whether Trump or his top aides colluded with Moscow.

Cohen’s name surfaced in a dossier that reported Cohen played an important role in liaison with the Russian government and secretly met with Kremlin officials in Prague in August 2016.

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