President Trump returned from an across-the-world summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un by picking up Friday where he left off — blasting the lengthy probe into his 2016 campaign and new claims from his former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, who used testimony before Congress while Mr. Trump was in Vietnam to paint the president as a no-good cheat.
Mr. Trump referred to news reports that, despite his bombshell testimony to House lawmakers, Mr. Cohen once shopped a book about his time with the president that amounted to “a love letter to Trump.”
“Your heads will spin when you see the lies, misrepresentations and contradictions against his Thursday testimony. Like a different person! He is totally discredited!” Mr. Trump tweeted early Friday.
Mr. Cohen’s main performance was before the House Oversight and Reform Committee on Wednesday, though he has been meeting with other panels behind closed doors throughout the week.
The president said Congress should seek out a manuscript from Mr. Cohen, though Democrats who now control the House are looking for potentially incriminating information — not to protect him.
Mr. Trump also renewed calls to drop investigations into him and his family, saying political opponents are digging into his business and family because special counsel Robert Mueller has been unable to tie his campaign to Russian meddling in the 2016 race.
“They say, ’Gee, I have an idea, let’s look at Trump’s finances and every deal he has ever done. Let’s follow discredited Michael Cohen and the fraudulent and dishonest statements he made on Wednesday,’ ” he said in a series of tweets. “No way, it’s time to stop this corrupt and illegally brought Witch Hunt.”
The tweets marked a return to form for Mr. Trump, who was more subdued during high-stakes talks with Mr. Kim in Hanoi.
Mr. Trump and Mr. Kim agreed to walk away from talks without a deal after Washington and Pyongyang couldn’t agree on the degree of sanctions relief in exchange for dismantling North Korea’s weapons capability.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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