US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin failed to meet a final congressional deadline on Tuesday for turning over President Donald Trump’s tax returns to lawmakers, setting the stage for a possible court battle between Congress and the administration.

The outcome, which was widely expected, could prompt House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal to subpoena Trump’s tax records as the opening salvo to a legal fight that may ultimately have to be settled by the US Supreme Court.

Neal set a final 5 p.m. (2100 GMT) deadline for the Internal Revenue Service and Treasury to provide six years of Trump’s individual and business tax records. But the deadline passed without the panel receiving the documents.

After the deadline lapsed, Mnuchin released a letter to Neal in which he pledged to make “a final decision” on whether to provide Trump’s tax records by May 6. It was the second time the administration had missed a House deadline for the tax returns since Neal requested them on April 3.

“Secretary Mnuchin notified me that once again, the IRS will miss the deadline for my … request. I plan to consult with counsel about my next steps,” Neal said in a statement.

In his letter, Mnuchin said he was still consulting with the Justice Department about Neal’s request, which he termed “unprecedented.”

“The department cannot act upon your request unless and until it is determined to be consistent with the law,” the Treasury secretary told Neal.

PressTV-White House: Dems won’t see Trump tax returns ‘ever’

The White House’s acting chief of staff says Donald Trump can keep withholding his tax returns.

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Democrats want Trump’s returns as part of their investigations of possible conflicts of interest posed by his continued ownership of extensive business interests, even as he serves the public as president.

Republicans have condemned the request as a political “fishing expedition” by Democrats.

Trump broke with a decades-old precedent by refusing to release his tax returns as a presidential candidate in 2016 or since being elected, saying he could not do so while his taxes were being audited.

But his former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, told a House panel in February that he did not believe Trump’s taxes were under audit. Cohen said the president feared that releasing his returns could lead to an audit and IRS tax penalties.

‘Not up to the president’

Earlier on Tuesday, the White House said Trump was unlikely to hand over his tax returns.

“As I understand it, the president’s pretty clear: Once he’s out of audit, he’ll think about doing it, but he’s not inclined to do so at this time,” White House spokesman Hogan Gidley told Fox News in an interview.

“This is not up to the president. We did not ask him,” said a Democratic committee aide, who cited a law saying the Treasury secretary “shall furnish” taxpayer data upon request from an authorized lawmaker.

Neal informed IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig earlier this month that failure to comply with the deadline would be viewed as a denial.

Legal experts said House Democrats could vote to hold Mnuchin or Rettig in contempt of Congress if they ignored a subpoena, as a pretext to suing in federal court to obtain Trump’s returns. Experts say administration officials could ultimately risk financial penalties and even jail time by defying the committee.

As Ways and Means chairman, Neal is the only lawmaker in the House of Representatives authorized to request taxpayer information under federal law. Democrats say they are confident of succeeding in any legal fight over Trump’s tax returns.

Trump has no plans to release tax returns

US President Donald Trump has no plans to release tax returns despite a recent investigation by the New York Times.

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“Secretary Mnuchin is again choosing to violate the law to keep Trump’s records hidden away. This administration’s contempt for rule of law is without peer,” Representative Bill Pascrell, who has been leading the Democratic push for Trump’s tax records, said in a statement on Twitter.

“I stand beside @RepRichardNeal as he continues the crusade to impose plain oversight on this corrupt administration.”

Despite the law’s clarity, Democrats have long acknowledged that the effort would likely result in a legal battle that could end up with the Supreme Court.

“If the IRS does not comply with the request, it is likely that Chairman Neal will subpoena the returns,” Representative Judy Chu, a Democratic member of the Ways and Means Committee, told Reuters.

“If they do not comply with that (subpoena), a legal battle will begin to defend the right of oversight in Congress,” she said.

(Source: Reuters)

Source: https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2019/04/24/594203/US-Treasury-Steven-Mnuchin-congressional-deadline-Donald-Trump-tax-returns-

The post US Treasury misses congressional deadline to hand over Trump tax returns first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

“BuzzFeed’s description of specific statements to the Special Counsel’s Office, and characterization of documents and testimony obtained by this office, regarding Michael Cohen’s Congressional testimony are not accurate,” Peter Carr, a spokesman for Mueller’s office, said.

TRUMP ATTORNEY DISMISSES REPORT ALLEGING PRESIDENT TOLD COHEN TO LIE TO CONGRESS

The statement is remarkable in that Mueller’s team rarely issues statements in response to news stories. But BuzzFeed’s story sparked immense interest from Democrats, who called for renewed investigations and even suggested the allegations could be a basis for impeachment proceedings.

Buzzfeed’s Editor-in-Chief Ben Smith tweeted after the release of the statement Friday: “In response to the statement tonight from the Special Counsel’s spokesman: We stand by our reporting and the sources who informed it, and we urge the Special Counsel to make clear what he’s disputing.”

BuzzFeed PR@BuzzFeedPR

Our response to CNN’s — and all other reports — questioning the integrity of the reporters behind @BuzzFeedNews‘ latest bombshell investigation:

“Remember it was Buzzfeed that released the totally discredited ‘Dossier,’ paid for by Crooked Hillary Clinton and the Democrats (as opposition research), on which the entire Russian probe is based,” Trump late Friday night. “A very sad day for journalism, but a great day for our Country!”

In a story published Thursday, BuzzFeed cited two unnamed federal law enforcement officials involved in an investigation on the matter who said Cohen acknowledged to Mueller’s office that he was instructed by Trump in 2017 to lie to Congress about the now-abandoned real estate deal to build a Trump Tower in Russia.

The report said Mueller’s office first learned of the directive from interviews with witnesses from the Trump Organization and internal company email, text messages and documents.

The report, which was not been confirmed by Fox News, was immediately dismissed by President Trump’s legal team.

“Any suggestion – from any source – that the president counseled Michael Cohen to lie is categorically false. Michael Cohen is a convicted criminal and a liar,” Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani said. “… Today’s claims are just more made-up lies born of Michael Cohen’s malice and desperation, in an effort to reduce his sentence.”

After the special counsel’s statement on Friday, Giuliani praised Mueller’s team “for correcting the BuzzFeed false story.”

“I ask the press to take heed that their hysterical desire to destroy this President has gone too far,” he wrote in a tweet. “They pursued this without critical analysis all day.”

Earlier Friday, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., whose committee is already investigating the president and his ties to Russia, called the allegations in the report “the most serious to date.”

“The allegation that the president of the United States may have suborned perjury before our committee in an effort to curtail the investigation and cover up his business dealings with Russia is among the most serious to date,” Schiff said in a statement. “We will do what’s necessary to find out if it’s true.”

Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., said the House should begin to “establish a record” of whether Trump “committed high crimes,” repeatedly hinting on Twitter at the potential for impeachment proceedings.

“Based on the Buzzfeed report and numerous other articles showing @realDonaldTrump committed Obstruction of Justice and other possible felonies, it is time for the House Judiciary Committee to start holding hearings to establish a record of whether @POTUS committed high crimes,” Lieu tweeted.

Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, called for Trump to leave office or face impeachment if the report is accurate.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“If the @BuzzFeed story is true, President Trump must resign or be impeached,” he said.

The BuzzFeed report claimed Trump directed Cohen to lie in his congressional testimony, though according to court documents and the statements Cohen made publicly, he has acknowledged that his actions were taken out of “loyalty” to the president.

In November, Cohen pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about the Trump real estate project in Russia as part of Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling and potential collusion with Trump campaign associates in the 2016 presidential election.

Cohen entered into a plea deal with the special counsel to cooperate on “any and all matters” deemed relevant. The maximum prison sentence for Cohen is five years, plus fines of up to $250,000.

In court in November, after entering his plea, Cohen acknowledged his work for Trump as counsel and adviser.

In a separate case brought by federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York, Cohen pleaded guilty to breaking campaign finance laws by helping orchestrate payments to former Playboy model Karen McDougal and adult film star Stormy Daniels in exchange for their silence about alleged sexual encounters with the president years before he took office. Prosecutors and Cohen himself said the former Trump fixer orchestrated those payments at Trump’s direction.

Cohen is slated to appear for public testimony before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Feb. 7.

Fox News’ Jake Gibson and Elizabeth Zwirz contributed to this report.

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/mueller-team-disputes-buzzfeed-report-claiming-trump-told-cohen-to-lie

The post Mueller team disputes BuzzFeed report claiming Trump told Cohen to lie first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

The post Trump Reacts To Cohen Bombshell: He’s ‘Lying To Reduce His Jail Time!’ first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

A top House Democratic lawmaker is vowing to look into new allegations that President Donald Trump directed his former lawyer Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about negotiations to build a Trump Tower in Moscow.BuzzFeed Newson Thursday evening reported that Cohen told special counsel Robert Mueller the president personally instructed him to lie to Congressional investigators in order to minimize links between Trump and his Moscow building project, citing two federal law enforcement officials involved in an investigation of the matter. The report also alleged that Cohen was directed to give a false impression that the project had ended before it actually did.NBC News has not independently confirmed this report.Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., the chairman of the House Intelligence committee, called the allegation the “most serious to date” Thursday evening and said that his committee would look into the matter.

“The allegation that the President of the United States may have suborned perjury before our committee in an effort to curtail the investigation and cover up his business dealings with Russia is among the most serious to date,” Schiff said in a tweet. “We will do what’s necessary to find out if it’s true.”Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer said in a statement to NBC News on Friday that, “If you believe Cohen I can get you a great deal on the Brooklyn Bridge.”BuzzFeed News reported that the special counsel’s office learned about Trump directing Cohen to lie through interviews with multiple witnesses from the Trump Organization. The special counsel also obtained internal company emails, text messages and other documents, the report said.Cohen, 52, pleaded guilty in federal court in November to a single count of making false statements to Congress about the project. He admitted to making several significant lies to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence last year about Trump’s Moscow project, including testimony that the project had ended in January 2016 because of “business reasons.”Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Fla., the chairman of the House Ethics Committee, on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” sidestepped questions about whether the allegation would lead to impeachment, but said “this is as serious as it gets.””This is more evidence that the president has violated his oath of office,” he said. “If he told Michael Cohen to lie Congress, if he suborned perjury, this is as serious as it gets.”Other Democratic lawmakers pounced on the report, with some calling for Trump’s impeachment.”If the @BuzzFeed story is true, President Trump must resign or be impeached,” Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, tweeted Thursday evening.Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said on Thursday that Mueller should not end his Russian investigation and to also brief Congress on its progress.”Listen, if Mueller does have multiple sources confirming Trump directed Cohen to lie to Congress, then we need to know this ASAP. Mueller shouldn’t end his inquiry, but it’s about time for him to show Congress his cards before it’s too late for us to act,” he said.”If the President directed Cohen to lie to Congress, that is obstruction of justice. Period. Full stop,” Rep. David Cicilline, D-Rhode Island, said in a tweet on Thursday.

Source: https://www.euronews.com/2019/01/18/dems-vow-action-after-report-trump-directed-cohen-lie-about-n960156?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3a+euronews%2fen%2fnews+(euronews+-+news+-+en)

The post Dems vow action after report Trump directed Cohen to lie about Russia dealings first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Yahoo News’ Michael Isikoff, an early public conduit for Christopher Steele’s anti-Trump dossier, now says the former British spy’s sensational Russia collusion charges lack apparent evidence and are “likely false.”

As Election Day loomed in September 2016, Mr. Isikoff was the first Washington journalist to write about Mr. Steele’s memos. He focused on Mr. Steele’s contention that Trump campaign volunteer Carter Page met with nefarious operatives of Russian President Vladimir Putin during a publicly announced trip to Moscow in July 2016.

As reported by the Daily Caller, Mr. Isikoff this month told Mediaite columnist John Ziegler: “When you actually get into the details of the Steele dossier, the specific allegations, we have not seen the evidence to support them, and in fact, there is good grounds to think that some of the more sensational allegations will never be proven and are likely false.”

Mr. Isikoff is best friends with Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson, who hired Mr. Steele in May and June 2016 with money funneled through a law firm from the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee. Mr. Isikoff was one of a handful of mainstream journalists who met with Mr. Steele in Washington as arranged by Mr. Simpson.

Mother Jones magazine’s David Corn wrote the second Washington dossier story based on an interview with Mr. Steele, who acknowledged he was desperate to stop the Trump campaign and prompt the FBI to ratchet up its investigation.

Mr. Isikoff and Mr. Corn would team up on a March 2018 best-selling book, “Russian Roulette.” It told Mr. Steele’s story in a favorable light amid a narrative on Moscow’s direct election interference by hacking Democratic Party computers.

The book helped Mr. Steele attract a large liberal following on social media that loyally attested to the dossier’s accuracy.

Mr. Steele also had a big fan in Rep. Adam B. Schiff, California Democrat, who read his charges at a March 2017 hearing of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Mr. Schiff assumes the committee’s chairmanship in January. Republicans speculate that he will continue to collect and research Fusion GPS’s anti-Trump memos.

It has been 31 months since Mr. Steele submitted his first dossier memo in June 2106 to Fusion GPS; 30 months since the FBI opened an investigation that came to rely heavily on his work; 27 months since Mr. Isikoff wrote the first dossier story; 24 months since BuzzFeed posted the entire dossier; 24 months since the House and Senate intelligence committees opened their separate probes; and 19 months since special counsel Robert Mueller took charge of the Trump-Russia investigation.

The Washington Times looked at Mr. Steele’s core collusion charges to see how they have stood up:

⦁ Accusation: The Trump campaign was a partner in an “extensive conspiracy” with the Kremlin to interfere in the 2016 election.

Today: There is no confirmed public evidence. No Trump person has been charged in such a conspiracy. Mr. Mueller’s office informed President Trump that he isn’t a target.

⦁ Accusation: Then-Trump attorney Michael Cohen secretly traveled to Prague in August 2016 and met with Putin aides to organize cash payments to hush up hackers who infiltrated Democratic Party computers.

Today: There is no confirmed public evidence. Cohen, who has pleaded guilty to tax evasion charges and is cooperating with Mr. Mueller, still vehemently denies he ever went to Prague. No court filings indicate he has any knowledge of Trump collusion, and he has said he doesn’t.

McClatchy news service has published two stories asserting that Mr. Mueller has evidence Cohen went to Prague.

Fusion’s Mr. Simpson told Congress that Cohen could have traveled to Prague by way of a yacht and Russian aircraft.

Daniel Jones, a former Senate Democratic aide, told the FBI in 2017 that he had amassed $50 million from wealthy donors to keep investigating Mr. Trump. He said he hired Fusion GPS and Mr. Steele.

⦁ Accusation: Carter Page met with two Putin operatives and discussed a brokerage fee in return for pushing an end to U.S. sanctions on wealthy Russians and businesses.

Today: Pro-Russia energy investor Mr. Page embarked on perhaps the most suspicious course of action when he traveled to Moscow to deliver a public college speech in July 2106. He once worked in Moscow as a Merrill Lynch banker.

The FBI wiretapped him for one year based largely on the dossier. No evidence has emerged publicly that he ever met with Putin people or discussed bribes. He has told the FBI and Congress that he didn’t. He has not been charged.

⦁ Accusation: Mr. Page and campaign chairman Paul Manafort worked as a team to coordinate election interference with the Kremlin.

Today: No public evidence to support this scenario. The two say they don’t know each other and have never spoken. Manafort stands convicted of tax fraud and other charges. Mr. Mueller has made no court filing that indicates he is involved in a Russian election conspiracy.

Manafort attorney Kevin Downing filed a court paper saying he asked Mr. Mueller for any evidence of his client talking to Russian government officials. There was none, the attorney said.

⦁ Accusation: Mr. Trump actively supported ongoing computer hacking.

Today: No public evidence.

⦁ Accusation: The Trump “team” paid Russian hackers.

Today: No public evidence. Mr. Mueller brought indictments against the Russian intelligence officers who did the hacking and stole emails released by WikiLeaks. There is no indication that the funding came from Trump people.

⦁ Accusation: Mr. Trump maintained an eight-year relationship with Kremlin operatives in quid pro quo intelligence-sharing.

Today: No public evidence.

⦁ Accusation: Russian entrepreneur Aleksej Gubarev, owner of computer server provider XBT Holding, hacked the Democrats under pressure from Moscow intelligence.

Today: No public evidence. Mr. Gubarev’s attorneys say no U.S. authority has asked to interview him. The Mueller indictment against Russian hackers doesn’t mention XBT.

A U.S. District judge dismissed Mr. Gubarev’s libel lawsuit against BuzzFeed but not because the dossier is true. The judge ruled that BuzzFeed, which had published the unverified memos, was protected from libel because the FBI and intelligence agencies were using the dossier in their probes.

Mr. Gubarev is suing Mr. Steele for defamation in a London court. Mr. Steele has signed declarations saying his allegations needed to be investigated further.

‘Absolute dynamite’

In “Russian Roulette,” Mr. Isikoff and Mr. Corn paint a favorable portrait of Mr. Steele and his Orbis Business Intelligence in London.

“Steele was the heart of the operation. … Steele, who possessed a phenomenal memory, was a master of vacuuming up huge amounts of information and analyzing material,” they wrote.

The book says Mr. Steele relied heavily on a Russian “collector” who traveled to Moscow and learned supposed dirt on candidate Trump.

“Two weeks or so later, Steele flew to meet his chief collector in a European city,” the book says. “As Steele listened and took notes, he could scarcely believe what he was hearing. His collector, relaying what he had been told by his contacts, informed Steele that the Russians had been targeting and cultivating Trump for years and had even gathered kompromat on him, specifically tales of weird sexual indiscretions that the collector said ‘were an open secret’ in Moscow.

“Steele was horrified. ‘I thought I had heard and seen everything in my career,’ he told associates. Steele immediately notified Simpson. He had ‘absolute dynamite,’ Steele said, mentioning the sexual kompromat,” the book says.

Mr. Steele would include in the dossier’s June 20 memo a tale of Mr. Trump engaging in sex with Russian prostitutes at Moscow’s Ritz-Carlton hotel. Mr. Trump has denied this and told The Washington Times in April 2017 that the FBI’s reliance on Mr. Steele was a “disgrace.”

“Russian Roulette” was somewhat guarded in endorsing Mr. Steele’s sex charge: “As with Steele’s first report, none of the sources in the memos were identified. Steele later told associates one of the sources for the information was the paramour of a Kremlin insider. In short, it was pillow talk.”

In an interview this month, Mediaite’s Mr. Ziegler asked Mr. Isikoff whether the Steele dossier “has been somewhat vindicated.” Mr. Isikoff said, “No.”

The Times asked Mr. Isikoff which Steele allegation he has come to doubt. He declined to answer, saying he was waiting for Mr. Mueller’s report “like everybody else.”

Mr. Trump tweeted: “Michael Isikoff was the first to report Dossier allegations and now seriously doubts the Dossier claims. The whole Russian Collusion thing was a HOAX, but who is going to restore the good name of so many people whose reputations have been destroyed?”

Five Trump campaign figures have been convicted of crimes not directly related to any Russia election collusion, which was Mr. Mueller’s main task assigned by the Justice Department. Each report of a plea deal has spurred speculation among liberal pundits and politicians that Mr. Trump is doomed.

⦁ George Papadopoulos, a Trump campaign volunteer, pleaded guilty to lying to FBI agents about when he joined the campaign and met with a Maltese professor in London. The professor told him he heard that Moscow owned thousands of Hillary Clinton emails. It may have been a reference to 30,000 emails during her tenure as secretary of state that she ordered destroyed.

Papadopoulos has said he never acted on the gossip and never met any Russians. He said he believes the FBI wiretapped him and assigned at least one spy to try to entrap him.

⦁ Paul Manafort was convicted in a federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, of tax fraud, bank fraud and failure to disclose foreign bank accounts. He pleaded guilty in a D.C. federal court to witness tampering and conspiracy to defraud the United States.

⦁ Rick Gates, Manafort’s onetime business partner, pleaded guilty to making false statements and conspiracy against the United States.

⦁ Retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about intercepted phone calls he conducted with the Russian ambassador during the Trump transition.

⦁ Cohen pleaded guilty to tax evasion on income from a taxicab business, lying to a bank and campaign finance offenses. He later said he lied to Congress about when negotiations ended with the Kremlin on building a Trumphotel.

No court filings indicate that any of the five participated in or witnessed collusion with Russia.

Source: https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/dec/30/michael-steeles-russia-dossier-donald-trump-fails-/

The post Dossier fails the test of time; Trump-Russia collusion claims now called ‘likely false’ first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

It would be the height of hypocrisy if Democrats tried to remove the president over allegations of illegality relating to extramarital affairs. During the Monica Lewinsky scandal, congressional Democrats told us the private sexual conduct of a president does not matter, and that lying under oath to cover up a “consensual relationship” is not an impeachable offense. Then-Rep. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., said President Bill Clinton’s lies under oath about his sexual relationship with a White House intern might have been illegal, but declared the scandal “a tawdry but not impeachable affair” — right before heading off to a fundraiser with Clinton. At the time, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., declared that the Starr investigation “vindicates President Clinton in the conduct of his public life because we’re only left with this personal stuff” and that Founding Fathers “would say it was not for the investigation of a president’s personal life that we risked our life, our liberty, and our sacred honor.”

But now that a Republican president is accused of covering up an affair, suddenly Democrats are channeling their inner Kenneth W. Starr.

Today, Democrats are outraged and appalled when Trump attacks special counsel Robert S. Mueller III and calls his inquiry a “witch hunt.” But back then, then-Sen. Joe Biden called the Starr investigation … wait for it … a “witch hunt.” Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt., declared Starr was “out of control” and accused him of having a “fixation of trying to topple the president of the United States.” Rahm Emanuel, then a White House senior adviser, accused Starr of engaging in “a partisan political pursuit of the president” while White House special counsel Lanny Davis (who is now representing Cohen) said Starr was a “desperate prosecutor who can’t make a case on Whitewater” and who should face “possible removal because of his conduct.”

The fact is, Democrats were not alone in their concern that an investigation into Whitewater morphed into a perjury probe against Clinton for lying about his relationship with Lewinsky. Many Republicans agreed that independent counsels had too much power. So in 1999, the GOP-controlled Congress, in its wisdom, let the independent counsel law expire. We were promised that investigators answerable to the Justice Department would be more focused on their original purpose.

Well, it seems like we’re right back where we started. Federal prosecutors were supposed to be investigating Russian collusion. Instead, we have an inquiry into the Trump Organization’s finances and whether Trump’s payments to Stormy Daniels violated campaign-finance laws. Both might be worthy of scrutiny but at least under the precedent Democrats set during the 1990s, they are not grounds for impeachment.

If Democrats do try to impeach Trump over anything but a criminal conspiracy with Russia, they will regret it. The president was legitimately elected by Americans who knew about his lecherous past and supported him anyway. Indeed, Trump’s election was a direct result of the Democrats’ victory in the culture war of the 1990s. Republicans are now simply playing by the rules Democrats established. Millions of Americans absorbed the lesson that Clinton and his Democratic enablers taught us — that a president’s “personal stuff,” as Pelosi put it, does not matter — and chose Trump. They will consider any effort to impeach him over it an effort to invalidate their votes. And the blow back will be tremendous. If you thought the “deplorables” were mad in 2016, just wait until 2020.

This does not mean Trump is out of the woods legally. Once he leaves office, Trump may have to face consequences for anything illegal he might have done. When Clinton left office, he was forced to give up his Arkansas law license for five years and paid a $25,000 fine as part of a deal with the independent counsel to avoid a perjury prosecution — which resulted in him being disbarred from practicing law before the Supreme Court.

If Mueller finds conclusive evidence that Trump entered into a criminal conspiracy with Russia, then by all means impeach away. But absent such evidence, the idea that Stormy Daniels is going to bring down Trump is a liberal fantasy. If Democrats are upset that they cannot remove Trump over this, well, sorry — they set the precedent.

The post Marc Thiessen: Why Trump impeachment dreams are just a liberal fantasy first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Lanny Davis, a longtime Clinton confidant who now represents the ex-Trump attorney, had been a source for reports saying his client had information that the president knew in advance about the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting involving Donald Trump Jr. and Russian attorney Natalia Veselnitskaya. Davis also suggested that Cohen had “direct knowledge” of Russia hacking into emails of Democratic power players.

But now, Davis is walking back his statements, telling The Washington Post that he “should have been more clear” that he “could not independently confirm what happened.”

He said in a separate statement Monday to Fox News: “I take the responsibility for not communicating more clearly my uncertainty. I regret the error.”

Trump’s alleged knowledge of the Trump Tower meeting was first reported by CNN on July 27. The outlet reported that Cohen was present for a conversation informing Trump of the Russians’ offer to provide “dirt” on Hillary Clinton. Cohen witnessed Trump approve the meeting, CNN reported.

The following day, the Post also reported that Cohen witnessed Trump Jr. informing his father about the meeting where they expected to receive information on Clinton; the Post did not confirm that Trump was told the information would come from the Russians.

Trump, following the publication of the CNN report, fired back.

“I did NOT know of the meeting with my son, Don jr. Sounds to me like someone is trying to make up stories in order to get himself out of an unrelated jam (Taxi cabs maybe?). He even retained Bill and Crooked Hillary’s lawyer. Gee, I wonder if they helped him make the choice!” Trump tweeted on July 27.

TRUMP FIRES BROADSIDE AT MICHAEL COHEN, DENIES CLAIM ON MEETING WITH RUSSIAN LAWYER 

Over the weekend, Davis clarified his claims.

“I should have been more clear—including with you—that I could not independently confirm what happened,” Davis told the Post this weekend.

Davis began walking back the allegations days earlier, when during an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, he was asked whether there was evidence that Trump knew about the meeting before it happened.

“No, there’s not,” Davis said.

Trump, again, maintained that he knew nothing of the meeting beforehand, and blasted the reports as “fake news.”

“Michael Cohen’s attorney clarified the record, saying his client does not know if President Trump knew about the Trump Tower meeting (out of which came nothing!). The answer is that I did NOT know about the meeting. Just another phony story by the Fake News Media!” Trump tweeted Saturday.

The Post revealed in its latest report that the anonymous source in its July 28 story was Davis. CNN, meanwhile, released a statement standing by its report, saying the outlet was “confident” in its reporting.

On Sunday, Trump Jr. blasted CNN as “literal fake news,” saying it was “Comical” to watch CNN “covering” for its reporters who “obviously got [the] story wrong.”

Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee Richard Burr, R-N.C., and Ranking Member Mark Warner, D-Va., also put out a statement last week that challenged Davis’ earlier comments.

“Mr. Cohen had testified before the Committee that he was not aware of the meeting prior to its disclosure in the press last summer,” Burr and Warner said in a joint statement. “As such, the Committee inquired of Mr. Cohen’s legal team as to whether Mr. Cohen stood by his testimony. They responded that he did stand by his testimony.”

Last week, Cohen pleaded guilty to five counts of tax evasion, one count of making false statements to a financial institution, one count of willfully causing an unlawful corporate contribution and one count of making an excessive campaign contribution. The latter counts pertain to hush-money payments Cohen says Trump was aware of. Cohen could have received up to 65 years in prison if convicted of all charges. However, as part of his plea deal, Cohen agreed not to challenge any sentence between 46 and 63 months.

MICHAEL COHEN ADMITS VIOLATING CAMPAIGN FINANCE LAWS IN PLEA DEAL, AGREES TO 3-5 YEAR SENTENCE 

After the plea deal was struck, Davis also suggested that Cohen would be willing to interview with Special Counsel Robert Mueller as part of his investigation into Russian meddling and potential collusion with Trump campaign associates in the 2016 presidential election.

Further, Davis suggested that Cohen, a former Trump Organization attorney for over a decade, knew about Russian hacking of Democratic emails.

“I believe that Mr. Cohen has direct knowledge that would be of interest to Mr. Mueller that suggests—I’m not sure it proves—that Mr. Trump was aware of Russian government agents hacking illegally, committing computer crimes, to the detriment of the candidate who he was running against, Hillary Clinton,” Davis said last Wednesday on PBS’ “News Hour.”

But over the weekend, Davis told the Post that he is “not sure. There’s a possibility that is the case. But I am not sure.”

“I was giving an instinct that he might have something to say of interest to the special counsel [about hacking],” Davis told the Post, but acknowledged “I am just not sure.”

Davis also told Bloomberg last week that his client had never been to Prague, countering one of many assertions in the unverified anti-Trump “dossier,” this one pertaining to a supposed meeting with Russian officials that Cohen himself has long denied.

Fox News’ Bill Mears contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/08/27/cohen-lawyer-backpedals-on-trump-russia-claims-as-bombshell-reports-called-into-question.html

The post Cohen lawyer backpedals on Trump-Russia claims, as bombshell reports called into question first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.