Donald Trump's former lawyer/fixer Michael Cohen told lawmakers Wednesday that Trump's personal lawyers "reviewed and edited" his original testimony to Congress in 2017 regarding "the timing of the Moscow Tower negotiations." Cohen later pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about the deal, and it's part of the reason why he was invited back by congressional Democrats to testify again this week. Cohen had originally testified to the House and Senate Intelligence committees that negotiations on the Moscow deal ended in January 2016, but he later admitted in his guilty plea that they extended into June of that year.
In particular on Wednesday, Cohen said Trump attorney Jay Sekulow made "several changes" to the fraudulent 2017 statement that he originally submitted to Congress.
"There were several changes that were made, including how we were going to handle that message—the message of course being how long the Trump Tower Moscow project stayed and remained alive," Cohen testified, at the end of one member's five minutes.
Cohen also testified that Trump summoned him and Sekulow to the White House in May 2017 to discuss the testimony he would be giving before Congress.
The White House meeting was revealed after Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) mentioned a May 16 email from a special assistant to the president to a deputy White House attorney questioning why the President had “requested a meeting” with Sekulow and Cohen.
Although Cohen said Trump never directed him to lie about the Moscow deal, he added that Trump’s implicit desire was unmistakable.
"Mr. Trump did not directly tell me to lie to Congress. That's not how he operates," Cohen said during his opening remarks. "In conversations we had during the campaign, at the same time I was actively negotiating in Russia for him, he would look me in the eye and tell me there’s no business in Russia and then go out and lie to the American people by saying the same thing. In his way, he was telling me to lie," Cohen said.
Listen to Cohen testify about Sekulow's changes below.