Take it from a (former) Trumpworld insider: there’s something strange about Trump’s preference for Russian president Vladimir Putin.
“Was there something odd about the back and forth praise with President Putin?” former Trump attorney Michael Cohen asked rhetorically at a Wednesday hearing before the House Oversight Committee. “Yes.”
“There’s just so many dots that all seem to lead in the same direction,” Cohen added while answering a question about allegations of collusion between Trump and the Russian government during the 2016 presidential campaign.
The exchange came amid questions from Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-FL), who was head of the Democratic National Committee at the time of the alleged 2016 Russian hack.
Part of Wasserman-Schutlz’s questioning focused on whether members of the Trump family were aware of efforts to develop a Trump Tower Moscow during the presidential campaign.
“The company was involved in the deal, which meant that the family was involved in the deal,” Cohen said.
Wasserman-Schultz, who was forced out of her post as a result of emails released by Wikileaks, also asked about a July 2016 episode in which GOP operative Roger Stone allegedly told Trump that Wikileaks would release the DNC emails.
“He had advance notice that there was going to be a dump of emails,” Cohen said.
In his prepared remarks, Cohen had alleged that Trump expressed approval after Stone told him about the emails.
Cohen added that Stone had called Trump to tell him about the messages while acting as a “free agent.”
“He frequently reached out to Mr. Trump, and Mr. Trump was happy to take his calls,” Cohen said. “It was free service.”
Cohen added that during the second email leak — made half an hour after the Access Hollywood tape dropped in October 2016 — he was in London, visiting his daughter.
