Giuliani Walks Back Statements About Trump-Cohen Discussions
WHOOPS
He said his remarks about Moscow Trump Tower talks did not “represent the actual timing or circumstances of any such discussions.”
Leah Millis/Reuters
Rudy Giuliani, President Trump's attorney, walked back his statements regarding conversations President Trump and his former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, may have had during the 2016 election about the Moscow Trump Tower project. Giuliani said last week that Trump was in discussions to build a skyscraper in Moscow for the entirety of the 2016 campaign, "to the day [he] won." But in a statement on Monday, Giuliani said, "my recent statements about discussions during the 2016 campaign between Michael Cohen and then-candidate Donald Trump about a potential Trump Moscow 'project' were hypothetical and not based on conversations I had with the President." He also said his remarks did not “represent the actual timing or circumstances of any such discussions.” “The point is that the [Moscow tower] proposal was in the earliest stage and did not advance beyond a free non-binding letter of intent,” Giuliani wrote. A BuzzFeed News report last week claimed Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office had evidence and Cohen's claim that Trump told him to lie to Congress about the Moscow tower. The report has since been refuted by Mueller's office, who said the “characterization” of the evidence they reportedly possessed was “not accurate.” Giuliani told Sunday show hosts that Trump did speak with Cohen before his testimony before Congress but that he never instructed Cohen to lie to Congress about the project.
