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President Donald Trump wants Congress to demand a manuscript by his ex-lawyer Michael Cohen.
Back in Washington after his summit with Kim Jong Un, President Donald Trump on Friday said he had good ties with the North Korean leader despite the breakdown of talks, and urged Congress to demand a manuscript of a book by his ex-lawyer Michael Cohen.
TRUMP SAYS COHEN BOOK WOULD PROVE HIM A LIAR
Trump in a series of tweets said it was “just revealed” that Cohen — who called his former boss a “con man” at a congressional hearing — had written a manuscript that was the “exact opposite of his fake testimony.” The president dubbed it a “ ‘love letter to Trump’ manuscript.”
Last May, the Daily Beast reported a proposed book by Cohen was scrapped amid the former Trump fixer’s legal woes. Then on Thursday, the Daily Mail reported it had reviewed a copy of Cohen’s book proposal and that it began by saying the president wasn’t “crazy, dumb, paranoid, in over his head or a liar.”
Cohen’s attorney Lanny Davis said his client was offered an advance for a book proposal but “ultimately elected not to proceed,” adding that Trump had “lied yet again.”
Cohen’s daylong testimony on Wednesday before the House Oversight Committee included accusations of lying, racism and possible criminal conduct.
Now read: Highlights of the explosive Michael Cohen hearing on Capitol Hill.
“Michael Cohen’s book manuscript shows that he committed perjury on a scale not seen before,” Trump said in a tweet. “He must have forgotten about his book when he testified.” Trump’s charge of perjury echoed a request by two of his congressional allies — Reps. Jim Jordan and Mark Meadows — for Attorney General William Barr to investigate Cohen for the same thing.
POST-SUMMIT KIM COMMENTS
With the U.S. and North Korea trading blame for the failed Trump-Kim summit in Hanoi, Vietnam, Trump tweeted that negotiations were “very substantive” and that the two sides understood each other’s positions.
“We know what they want and they know what we must have. Relationship very good, let’s see what happens!” Trump said.
U.S. officials said the talks broke down over North Korea’s refusal to freeze all of its weapons programs, and that Pyongyang sought billions of dollars in sanctions relief. North Korea’s foreign minister, however, said his country had made reasonable sanctions-relief proposals that the U.S. rejected.
Some policy experts have expressed optimism that Trump and Kim will meet for a third summit.
See: Third time’s a charm? Trump and Kim could meet again as experts divided on whether Vietnam summit was ‘total failure.’
Separately, after the parents of Otto Warmbier responded to Trump’s comments about taking Kim “at his word” that he didn’t know about the death of the American student, the president tweeted, “of course I hold North Korea responsible for Otto’s mistreatment and death.”
Speaking in Hanoi on Thursday, Trump said Kim told him “he didn’t know about it.” Warmbier’s parents in their statement said it was Kim specifically “and his evil regime” that were responsible for the death of their son, a University of Virginia student who died shortly after being returned to the U.S. from North Korean custody.
Now read: Otto Warmbier’s parents respond publicly to Trump’s statement that he takes North Korea’s Kim ‘at his word.’
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