Democratic lawmaker zeroes in on how the Trump team's party-line criminal lies tied back to the Kremlin
Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives covered a lot of ground when they questioned former Special Counsel Robert Mueller on Wednesday, asking the former FBI director about everything from Russian interference in the 2016 election to former Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ decision to recuse himself from Mueller’s investigation. And Rep. Joaquin Castro of Texas opted to zero in on the aborted Trump Tower Moscow project of 2015 and 2016 when speaking to Mueller.
The Texas Democrat (who is the twin brother of former Obama Administration official and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Julián Castro) noted former Trump Organization attorney Michael Cohen’s involvement in the Trump Tower Moscow deal, which Mueller’s final report for the Russia investigation described as “highly lucrative.”
Castro told Mueller, “Your office prosecuted Michael Cohen — and Michael Cohen was Donald Trump’s lawyer — for lying to this committee about several aspects of the Trump Organization’s pursuit of the Trump Tower Moscow deal…. According to your report, Cohen lied to, quote, ‘minimize links between the project and Trump,’ unquote, and to, quote, ‘stick to the party line,’ unquote, in order not to contradict Trump’s public message that no connection existed between Trump and Russia.”
Castro went on to say that the Trumpian “party line” was that the Trump Tower Moscow deal “ended in January 2016,” which the congressman noted was “before the Republican primaries. In truth, though, the deal extended to June 2016, when Donald Trump was already the presumptive Republican nominee.”
The Texan added that the Trumpian “party line” was also that Cohen “discussed the deal with Trump only three times when in truth, they discussed it multiple times” — and that “Cohen and Trump never discussed traveling to Russia during the campaign, when in truth, they did discuss it.”
The “party line,” Castro added, included a claim that “Cohen never received a response from the Kremlin to his inquiries about the Trump Tower Moscow deal. In fact, Cohen not only received a response from the Kremlin to his e-mail, but also, had a lengthy conversation with a Kremlin representative who had a detailed understanding of the project.”
Castro continued, “Not only was Cohen lying on Trump’s behalf, but so was the Kremlin.”
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