Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
Michael Cohen, President Trump’s former personal attorney, claims that then-candidate Trump knew about the 2016 Trump Tower meeting between Donald Trump Jr. and Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya before the meeting took place, according to CNN. Cohen also says Don Jr. told the president himself about the purpose of the meeting, which was to obtain “dirt” on Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. Cohen reportedly says that he was in the room where Trump was informed and says he is willing to take the claim to special counsel Robert Mueller—although he has no audio recordings or any other way to corroborate his claim. Alan Futerfas, an attorney for Trump Jr., said he was “confident of the accuracy and reliability of the information that has been provided by Mr. Trump, Jr., and on his behalf.” Just after the story appeared, Lanny Davis, Cohen’s lawyer, told another reporter that he had “to wonder why the Trump people would put that out. It was not from us.”