President Donald Trump on Sunday tried to explain why he didn’t reach a deal with totalitarian nuclear power North Korea: It might have been in part because of the testimony from his estranged attorney and fixer Michael Cohen.
For the Democrats to interview in open hearings a convicted liar & fraudster, at the same time as the very important Nuclear Summit with North Korea, is perhaps a new low in American politics and may have contributed to the “walk.” Never done when a president is overseas. Shame!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2019
Cohen testified publicly before the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday, and privately before the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday. He is set to return to the latter next Wednesday. Cohen, a former private attorney for the president, claimed that Trump told him to lie to Congress about the timing of the real end of negotiations regarding a possible Trump Tower project in Moscow.
Meanwhile, Trump caught some PR flak this week for the results (or non-results) of a summit in Hanoi, Vietnam with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The president also claimed that he believed Kim, who insisted not to know anything about the nature of American Otto Warmbier‘s captivity. Warmbier was found to have been tortured while in North Korean custody. Injuries led to his death.
As for Cohen, he is–legally speaking–a liar. He admitted it. He’s going to prison for it. Now, however, he insists he’s telling the truth about his relationship and work with the president. In any case, it’s unclear how his testimony would’ve contributed to the “walk.”
“Sometimes you have to walk,” Trump said after the earlier-than-expected end of the summit.
The White House did not immediately respond to a Law&Crime request for comment.
National Security Adviser John Bolton denied that the North Korea summit was a missed opportunity.
“I don’t agree at all that it was a failed summit,” he told Fox News’ Chris Wallace on Saturday. “I think the obligation of the president of the United States is to defend and advance American national security interest. And I think he did that that by rejecting a bad deal and by trying again to persuade Kim Jong-un to take the big deal that really could make a difference for North Korea.”
[Image via Yana Paskova/Getty-Images]
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