by Chuck Ross
California Rep. Eric Swalwell falsely claimed on Thursday that former Trump attorney Michael Cohen has information that President Trump had foreknowledge of the Trump Tower meeting with Russians in June 2016.
In an interview with MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace, Swalwell appeared to cite a CNN report from last month that Cohen was present at a meeting when President Trump approved the meeting between his son and a group of Russians offering dirt on Hillary Clinton.
“It is clear that Michael Cohen was not truthful with the House Intelligence Committee, which is all the more reason that we never should have ended our investigation. It now sounds like, listening to Mr. Davis, that Mr. Cohen does have information about what candidate Trump knew about the Russians offering dirt on Hillary Clinton in the meeting they set up at Trump Tower,” said Swalwell, a Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee.
The only problem with Swalwell’s claim is that Cohen’s attorney, Lanny Davis, debunked the CNN report on Wednesday.
Davis said in an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper that the July 27 CNN report was “mixed up” and that Cohen did not know about the Trump Tower meeting before it occurred. Davis also said that Cohen did not know whether Trump knew about the meeting.
“So Michael Cohen does not have information that President Trump knew about the Trump Tower meeting with the Russians beforehand or even after?” CNN’s Anderson Cooper asked Davis in an interview.
“No, he does not,” replied Davis.
“We were not the source of the story. And the question of a criminal investigation, the advice we were given, those of us dealing with the media is that we could not do anything other than stay silent,” said Davis, a longtime ally of Bill and Hillary Clinton.
Wallace did not correct Swalwell’s false claim.
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