- Michael Cohen’s lawyer, Lanny Davis, dropped a bombshell claim on Tuesday night, saying that his client might have information about election-related hacking
- Davis told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow that Cohen is willing to talk to special counsel Robert Mueller
- Cohen pleaded guilty in New York on tax evasion, bank fraud and campaign finance charges
Lanny Davis, a lawyer for Michael Cohen, said Tuesday that the former Trump attorney may have information showing that President Donald Trump had foreknowledge about “the computer crime of hacking” during the 2016 presidential campaign.
“I can tell you that Mr. Cohen has knowledge on certain subjects that should be of interest to the special counsel and is more than happy to tell special counsel all that he knows,” Davis told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow.
“Not just about the obvious possibility of a conspiracy to collude and corrupt the American democracy system in the 2016 election — which the Trump Tower meeting was all about — but also, knowledge about the computer crime of hacking and whether or not Mr. Trump knew ahead of time about that crime and even cheered it on.”
“We know that he publicly cheered it on. Did he also have private information?” Davis continued.
WATCH:
Cohen, 52, pleaded guilty in a federal court in Manhattan on Tuesday to tax evasion, bank fraud and campaign finance violations. Cohen said during his arraignment that Trump, who he did not identify by name, directed him to make payments to two women who claimed they had affairs with the Republican. (RELATED: Cohen Says He Violated Campaign Finance Law At Trump’s Direction)
Cohen arranged a $150,000 payment prior to the 2016 election to former Playboy playmate Karen McDougal. The payment was arranged through American Media, Inc., the parent company of National Enquirer. Cohen also paid adult film star Stormy Daniels $130,000 on Oct. 27, 2016.
The tax evasion and bank fraud charges stem from a taxi medallion business that Cohen operates with his family.
Mueller’s office referred the Cohen case to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York.
Cohen’s plea deal did not address allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian government, but a charging document issued against Cohen does refer to a $50,000 reimbursement for unspecified “tech services” that Cohen sought from the Trump Organization in January 2017.
The payment “related to work COHEN had solicited from a technology company during and in connection with the campaign,” the charging document reads.
Cohen, who has been described as Trump’s “fixer,” is accused in the infamous Steele dossier of helping Trump negotiate with Russian government officials in order to help the campaign. He is accused in the Democrat-funded document of traveling to Prague in August 2016 to meet with Kremlin insiders as part of the collusion conspiracy.
Cohen has vehemently denied the allegation since the dossier was published in January 2017. His most recent comment on the matter came on June 28.
“Dossier misreports 15 allegations about me,” he wrote on Twitter. “I had nothing to do with Russian collusion or meddling!”
Earlier this month, sources close to Cohen told CNN that he would be willing to speak to Mueller’s team about the June 2016 meeting between Donald Trump Jr. and a group of Russians who offered dirt on Hillary Clinton.
According to the CNN report, Cohen claimed that Trump knew about the meeting before it occurred. That would contradict Trump and Trump Jr.’s statements that Trump did not know about the meeting until it was reported in the press in July 2017. (RELATED: Trump Accuses Michael Cohen Of Lying About Trump Tower Meeting)
“From this point on, you’re going to see liberated Michael Cohen speaking truth to power,” Davis told Maddow.
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