Michael Cohen, president Trump’s personal lawyer, again on Saturday denied that he ever traveled to Prague during the 2016 election, as alleged in ex-British spy Christopher Steele’s dossier funded by the Democratic Party.
Mr. Cohen tweeted in response to a McClatchy News story that said specialcounsel Robert Mueller has evidence that he traveled to Prague in August 2016. The dossier said he went there to meet with Vladimir Putin aides to supposedly discuss covering up Russian-Trump hacking into Democratic Party computers.
Mr. Cohen has testified repeatedly under oath, and thus under the penalty of perjury, that he never made such a trip. He has filed a libel suit against BuzzFeed, which published the dossier.
He tweeted on Saturday: “Bad reporting, bad information and bad story by same reporter Peter Stone @McClatchyDC. No matter how many times or ways they write it, I have never been to Prague. I was in LA with my son. Proven!”
Mr. Cohen has other mounting problems. U.S. prosecutors filed documents on Friday in federal court saying he is under criminal investigation for his business deals. He has arranged hush money through a non-disclosure agreement with a porn star who says she had sexual relations with Mr. Trump in 2006. The FBI raided his office, home and hotel room on April 9.
The McClatchy story was quickly cited by liberal news organs determined to prove that the discredited dossier, and all its Russia collusion charges against Mr. Trump, are true.
Mr. Steele’s paymaster was Fusion GPS, which tried to use the dossier to destroy the Trump candidacy. Mr. Cohen has also filed a libel suit against Fusion.
The McClatchy story was written by the same reporters who earlier wrote that a Russian lawyer is under FBI investigation for funneling millions of dollars in illegal foreign campaign contributions into the National Rifle Association. That story recited fundraising numbers as evidence of Russia money, but provided no proof.
The NRA says the story is wrong. It says it conducted an exhaustive review and told Congress that it accepted no foreign money.
Fusion GPS is also promoting anti-NRA stories, alleging the group was “infiltrated” by Moscow.
There has been no independent confirmation of the McClatchy NRA story.
• Rowan Scarborough can be reached at rscarborough@washingtontimes.com.
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