US prosecutors have revealed that a Russian offered cooperation to US President Donald Trump’s election campaign as early as 2015, declaring that the US president’s former lawyer Michael Cohen had provided “relevant” and “substantial” help to the Russia investigation.
Around November 2015, about five months after Trump launched his bid for the presidency and well before previously reported contacts, Cohen spoke to a purported “trusted person” in the Russian Federation who offered the campaign “political synergy” and “synergy on a government level,” special council Robert Mueller said in a filing.
Cohen said the unidentified person “repeatedly proposed” a meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, claiming it could have a “phenomenal” impact “not only in political, but in a business dimension as well,” the filing said.
Photo: Reuters
“Cohen, however, did not follow up on this invitation,” it added.
The former fixer last week pleaded guilty to lying to the US Congress in connection with a Moscow real-estate deal, which was being pursued as late as one month before Trump officially became the Republican nominee for US president.
Due to his help, Mueller declined to recommend additional jail time for Cohen for lying to Congress.
Recent filings in the Mueller probe have suggested that the White House knew that Cohen planned to lie to lawmakers about his contacts with Russians.
They also suggest that Trump and his family were in the loop on discussions with Russians on a Moscow project, even after the real-estate tycoon secured the Republican nomination in the middle of 2016.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders dismissed the latest filings in Cohen’s case, saying they “tell us nothing of value that wasn’t already known.”
“Mr Cohen has repeatedly lied and as the prosecution has pointed out to the court, Mr Cohen is no hero,” she said.
However, Mueller has been inching ever closer to the White House, and early on Friday Trump fired off a feverish volley of tweets against a probe he dubs a “witch hunt,” accusing Mueller of “big time conflicts of interest” and alleging the prosecutor coerced false testimony from witnesses.
Trump vowed that his lawyers would produce a “major Counter Report” to rebut Mueller’s findings.
US Representative John Garamendi, a Democrat, said these might be “the opening days of an impeachment.”
Trump is a president “that clearly has surrounded himself with criminals,” he told CNN.
“During the campaign, laws were broken... And now we have the president implicated in that,” he said.
Trump on Friday announced his intention to nominate William Barr as his new attorney general — succeeding former US attorney general Jeff Sessions, whom he sacked last month.
Sessions had angered the US president by recusing himself from overseeing the Mueller probe because of his own contacts with Russian officials.
Barr — a former US attorney general under former US president George H.W. Bush — is considered something of a consensus candidate for the sensitive post.
A magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck off the southern coast of Mindanao in the Philippines at 7:38am today, prompting the US Tsunami Warning System to issue an alert for neighboring countries, including Taiwan. The system issued a purple alert indicating a "tsunami threat." The potential threat zone includes Taiwan, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Yap and Palau. Philippine authorities were assessing the damage from the quake, with the office of civil defense seeking to verifying initial reports that 15 people had been killed and 129 injured in the region, mostly from falling debris. Arlene Hollero, disaster chief of Maasim town in the Philippines' Sarangani Province,
RESILIENCE: Taiwan plays a key role in semiconductors, energy, information infrastructure and advanced manufacturing, AIT Director Raymond Greene said Taiwan’s continued investment in deterrence and resilience remains vital, especially in uncrewed systems and other emerging technologies, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Raymond Greene said yesterday. Greene made the remarks at the annual National Strategic Summit on Supply Chain Resilience held by the Research Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET), a government-backed think tank. As Taiwan last year became the US’ fourth-largest trading partner and supply chain security is becoming more important, cooperation in emerging technologies continues to deepen between the two countries, he said. The US is committed to accelerating innovation, building key infrastructure, strengthening cooperation
‘GRAY ZONE’ PRESSURE: Beijing’s activities are intended to create the deceitful impression that China has jurisdiction over the area around Taiwan, the CGA said Taiwan’s rights over its territorial waters and exclusive economic zone must not be violated by any country, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday, adding that it will not accept any unprovoked actions. The council issued the remarks in response to the China Coast Guard conducting maritime enforcement drills near eastern Taiwan and claiming to fully exercise China’s maritime administrative law enforcement authority. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) has been closely monitoring the situation and is taking concrete steps to defend the nation’s sovereignty and secure its waters, the council said. China has no sovereign rights over the waters off eastern
The National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology yesterday showcased its locally developed variants of the Vision 60 robotic patrol dog, which it plans to deploy on the nation’s outlying territories in the South China Sea. The variants were produced under the Joint Lab project — created by the institute and domestic companies — and assembled with domestically produced motors, lenses and artificial intelligence (AI) systems alongside licensed tech from the US, Missile and Rocket Systems Research Division deputy director Jen Kuo-kang (任國光) told the media event at a military base in Taipei’s Dazhi (大直) area. Taiwan has built up its strengths
RSS