President Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, said Sunday that talks to build a Trump Tower in Moscow may have lasted until the 2016 election.
Giuliani said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Trump remembers having conversations about the real estate project with his former attorney, Michael Cohen, “throughout 2016” and “as far as October, November.”
{mosads}”Well, it’s our understanding that they went on throughout 2016. Weren’t a lot of them, but there were conversations. Can’t be sure of the exact date. But the president can remember having conversations with him about it,” Giuliani said.
“The president also remembers … could be up to as far as October, November. Our answers cover until the election,” he added, referring to written answers submitted by Trump’s lawyers to special counsel Robert Mueller’s team.
Mueller is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election as well as any links between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Cohen last year pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about the project after he originally testified that the proposal was dropped before the 2016 primaries. Trump maintained during his presidential campaign that he had no business dealings in Russia.
Cohen said while pleading guilty that efforts to build a Trump Tower in Moscow lasted until June 2016. Giuliani’s comments Sunday indicate that those efforts may have continued for several more months.
Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the ranking member on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Giuliani’s revelation that conversations about the project lasted as late as November 2016 was “news to me.”
“And that is big news. Why, two years after the fact, are we just learning this fact now, when there’s been this much inquiry? … I think that’s a relevant fact for voters to know. And I think it’s remarkable that we’re two years after the fact and just discovering it today,” he added.