MSNBC contributor: Cohen told me Trump knew ‘everything’ about Trump Jr. meeting with Russians

MSNBC’s Donny Deutsch said President Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen told him several months ago that Trump knew “everything” going on during his 2016 campaign, including about his son’s meeting with Russians inside Trump Tower.

A panel on Friday’s “Morning Joe” was discussing a new report that Cohen says Trump had prior knowledge of the June 2016 meeting with Donald Trump Jr., campaign officials and a Russian lawyer whom they’d been told could offer dirt on Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

“In my past conversation with Michael, what he’s made very clear to me is … nothing went on in this business without Don knowing about it, and he led me to believe that he could bring Trump back to Russia,” Deutsch said. 

{mosads}“What came out yesterday to me was not a surprise, based on conversations Michael and I had had,” he added. “I don’t want to use his exact words, but that everything that was going on, Trump knew about.”

“Did he reference this meeting in particular when you talked to him?” fellow “Morning Joe” contributor Willie Geist asked.

“Yes, he did,” Deutsch replied, adding that someone else was in the room when they discussed the meeting.

CNN reported Thursday that Cohen does not have evidence to back up his story, such as audio recordings he is known to produce, but that he is willing to discuss it with Robert Mueller in the special counsel’s investigation into Moscow’s election meddling and any possible coordination with the Trump campaign.

Trump Jr., along with then-Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and White House adviser Jared Kushner, met on June 9, 2016, with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya.

Music producer Rob Goldstone arranged the meeting, and told Trump Jr. in an email that a “Russian government lawyer” was offering information that “would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father.”

“If it what’s you say I love it especially later in the summer,” Trump Jr. replied.

Trump and his team have repeatedly said he did not have any advance knowledge of the meeting, and Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani questioned Cohen’s credibility on Friday. 

“He’s been lying all week. He’s been lying for years,” Giuliani said.

Trump defended himself in a series of early morning tweets on Friday.

….,the only Collusion with Russia was with the Democrats, so now they are looking at my Tweets (along with 53 million other people) – the rigged Witch Hunt continues! How stupid and unfair to our Country….And so the Fake News doesn’t waste my time with dumb questions, NO,….

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 27, 2018

…..I did NOT know of the meeting with my son, Don jr. Sounds to me like someone is trying to make up stories in order to get himself out of an unrelated jam (Taxi cabs maybe?). He even retained Bill and Crooked Hillary’s lawyer. Gee, I wonder if they helped him make the choice!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 27, 2018

Cohen is under investigation for possible bank fraud and campaign finance violations.

The reference to taxi cabs appears to be a jab at Cohen’s ownership of a number of taxi medallions, which are required to operate yellow taxis in New York City.

Federal agents are reportedly looking into the loans he took out against his taxi business.