And there it is. . .
Lanny Davis, attorney for Michael Cohen, confirmed to the WSJ last night that his client DID direct his previous attorneys to ask President Donald Trump for a pardon, contradicting his sworn testimony to the House Oversight Committee last week:
NEWS: Michael Cohen *directed* his attorney last spring to inquire with Trump's lawyers about the possibility of a presidential pardon.
Cohen told the Oversight Committee last week: “I have never asked for, nor would I accept, a pardon from Mr. Trump.” https://t.co/CUJfnugHhI
— Rebecca Ballhaus (@rebeccaballhaus) March 7, 2019
From the WSJ:
Lanny Davis, a lawyer for Mr. Cohen, said Wednesday that in the months after the FBI raid, Mr. Cohen was open to a pardon from the president.
“During that time period, he directed his attorney to explore possibilities of a pardon at one point with Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani as well as other lawyers advising President Trump,” Mr. Davis said. He referred to the discussions with the president’s lawyers as the “ongoing ‘dangling’ of a possible pardon by Trump representatives privately and in the media.”
Yes, this is “significant”:
Lanny Davis’s statement to the WSJ seems to be in significant tension with Cohen’s testimony before the House Oversight Committee. https://t.co/ICA3QgtFrs
— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) March 7, 2019
And by “Surprise!” everyone really means, “NOT SURPRISED!”
Surprise! The guy convicted of lying to Congress lied to Congress again! https://t.co/TAVjw9QYOE
— Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) March 7, 2019
Can’t stop the perjury, won’t stop the perjury:
I suppose once you perjure yourself a few times, it just kinda rolls. https://t.co/OLDB9Uh8ho
— David Martosko (@dmartosko) March 7, 2019
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Davis claims this doesn’t contradict his testimony:
Davis says this isn't the direct contradiction of Cohen's testimony it appears to be because he was referring to post-July, when he left the joint defense agreement with Trump team https://t.co/55obKLfXh8
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) March 7, 2019
But not getting a pardon does explain why he turned, even though the president could never have just made it all go away:
It was the fact that he wasn't getting pardoned that pissed off Cohen and led him to turn on Trump.
Last spring a Trump associate told me that Cohen was yelling into the phone saying "he's the president, he can make this all go away tomorrow." https://t.co/I5YGnVz8Uo
— Yashar Ali ? (@yashar) March 7, 2019
The Washington Post’s Robert Costa confirmed the WSJ report with Davis, so there will be no walk back now:
Just spoke with Lanny Davis, who says the @rebeccaballhaus story has it right. In his words to Post tonight: “During the period of the joint defense agreement, Michael was certainly open to the possibility of a pardon and it was dangled” by Trump legal team.
— Robert Costa (@costareports) March 7, 2019
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