President Trump said Friday that his former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, perjured himself last week when he testified before Congress that he never sought a pardon.
“Michael Cohen lied about the pardon. It was a stone cold lie,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
“He’s lied about a lot of things, but when he lied about the pardon, that really was a lie,” Trump said. “He knew all about pardons. His lawyers said they went to my lawyers and asked for pardons.”
Trump cryptically added: “And I can go a step above that, but I won’t go do it now.”
Cohen made a series of allegations against Trump last week, telling the House Oversight Committee that his former boss was a racist who may have committed crimes, including fraud on bank loan applications.
Cohen denied that he was embittered against Trump after being passed over for a White House job and adamantly said, “I have never asked for nor would I accept a pardon.”
After his testimony, Cohen attorney Lanny Davis issued a statement saying that Cohen did, in fact, seek a pardon.
“Prior to Michael Cohen’s decision to leave the ‘Joint Defense Group’ and tell the truth on July 2, 2018, Michael was open to the ongoing ‘dangling’ of a possible pardon by Trump representatives privately and in the media,” Davis said in a statement. “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.”
Cohen will report for a three-year prison sentence in May after pleading guilty to bank and tax fraud, a campaign finance violation, and lying to Congress about 2016 talks to build a Trump skyscraper in Russia.
[Opinion: Michael Cohen can’t wait for prison so he’s rejecting pardons he was never offered]
