"Trump knew about meeting the Russians"

US President Trump would have known of a meeting between his campaign team and a Russian delegation. That's what his former lawyer Michael Cohen claims on the basis of anonymous sources, writes Friday CNN. The meeting took place in 2016 at Trump Tower where Russia reportedly offered incriminating information about Hillary Clinton to Trumps Jr., Trump Jr.

According to the news website, Cohen is ready to explain this to the special prosecutor Robert Mueller, who is investigating the Russian influence in the US presidential election. According to Cohen, he was present when Trump was informed of the offer of the Russians and he would also have gone into that. Trump has always denied such a meeting and said that he knew nothing of Russian intervention in his campaign. Only when The New York Times discovered the disclosure in 2017, Trump would have been informed.

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CNN writes that Cohen has no audio-visual evidence to support his accusation, but that he nevertheless wants to testify. According to Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, Cohen lies, according to the Reuters news agency: "We can not trust this man". If the former lawyer Mueller Trump has already called to testify is still not clear. Cohen's lawyers did not want to say anything on Friday.

Apart from the investigation of Russian interference, the state of New York investigates Cohen, suspected of tax evasion. He also reportedly violated campaign rules by paying porn actress Stephanie Clifford, better known as Stormy Daniels, at about $ 130,000 (converted to about $ 111,000) to calm the money. The AP News Agency writes Friday that recordings have been made by Cohen and Trump on which they discuss the former Playboy model Karen McDougal. She allegedly had an affair with Trump and would have been paid in that context.