It is possible President Trump knew after the fact that Donald Trump Jr. and officials from his 2016 campaign met with Russians in the hope of obtaining political dirt on Hillary Clinton, according to former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci.
[Darrell Issa: ‘Nobody’s going to be surprised’ if Trump lied about Trump Tower meeting]
“Well, I think, could he have known after the fact? I think that’s possible,” Scaramucci said during an interview with CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday.
But Scaramucci said it was also plausible that President Trump was not advised of the June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower between Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, Paul Manafort, and Kremlin-linked lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya given he encouraged his aides to exercise autonomy.
Scaramucci’s comments contradict President Trump’s longtime personal lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen, who reportedly claimed this week that he was present when Trump was told about the Russian’s offer to meet with the campaign and the then-candidate approved of the meeting before it took place.
Trump has repeatedly denied having prior knowledge of the meeting.
Cohen’s remarks come as he floated the idea of making statements regarding the meeting as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s federal Russia investigation, despite not having any proof, per a report from CNN on Thursday.
