The testimony from Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former lawyer, was released Monday, only to reveal that Donald Trump Jr. knew about the Trump Tower Moscow negotiations and mislead Congress. The information also revealed that Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow was well aware that he was asking Cohen to commit perjury and allegedly instructed him to do it.
But biographer and Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter David Cay Johnston predicted the president's namesake will likely get away with it.
"Well, Michael Cohen says quite clearly that he gave false testimony and that Jay Sekulow, who is currently the president’s lawyer, knew about it and advised him to do it," Johnston recounted. "His law license may be in jeopardy. It certainly says Congress needs to be asking more about what exactly went on with the Trump Tower deal and why they were so desperate to tell so many different stories in an effort to make it go away."
Cuomo read directly from the transcript released by Congress:
The Chairman: So (Donald Trump Jr.) had more than a passing familiarity that you were working on the project?Mr. Cohen: Yes, because we talked about if the project got going it would be a fun place for us to go.
"Nothing can be built on the exchange to implicate Don Jr.’s legal liability," said Michael Zeldin.
When asked about the project, Trump Jr. said that he was "peripherally aware of it."
"I didn’t dismiss it nor did Trump Jr.," said legal analyst Harry Litman. "He thought he was going to be indicted over this and he has avoided testifying about it since. But Mueller already saw it and decided to pass and if Congress wants to go after Trump Jr. for this, they’re going to have to go through the Justice Department and likely they’re going to get a stone wall saying, 'been there and done that. Move along.'"
Johnston went on to say that Sekulow was aware that what he was suggesting was illegal. Litman cut in to say that this could be a "crime/fraud exception" to the attorney-client privilege.
Watch below:
