MUELLER'S COHEN REPORT JUST DEBUNKED A KEY CLAIM IN THE "TRUMP-RUSSIA DOSSIER"
Media reports from as far back as 2 years ago, stated special counsel Robert Mueller
obtained evidence of a Prague trip involving Michael Cohen and Kremlin officials, that
reportedly "confirmed" secret meetings proving collusion.
However, a flurry of court filings by Mueller last week suggests the story is fake.
Real Clear Politics reported last summer that Lanny Davis, attorney for Michael Cohen, trashed
the infamous Trump dossier, a document put together by former British spy Christopher
Steele, in an interview with NBC's Chuck Todd on Wednesday.
Davis said the part about Cohen visiting Prague to meet with Russians in 2016 "never"
happened."
He called it the "so-called dossier" and said it mentions his client in a "false"
manner.
On Tuesday, a superior court judge threw out a defamation lawsuit against Steele for failing
to provide evidence that information in the dossier was knowingly falsified.
"Can you say definitively whether you know if Michael Cohen was ever in Prague in 2016?"
Todd on Wednesday's edition of Meet the Press Daily on MSNBC.
"Never, never in Prague," Davis sternly said.
"Never ever?"
Todd pressed.
"Never ever in Prague," Davis answered.
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Rep. Steven Smith ???? @RepStevenSmith
Jim Comey relied on Hillary's bought and purchased Steele Dossier to get a FISA warrant and spy
on Trump, and then NEVER VERIFIED the contents.
Steele was so lazy that he didn't even get the CORRECT LOCATION of meetings, and was
wrong about Michael Cohen EVER being in Prague.
51 6:44 AM - Dec 9, 2018
30 people are talking about this Twitter Ads info and privacy
From Real Clear Investigations
It was one of the most incendiary allegations included in the Clinton-financed opposition
research known as the Steele dossier – that Donald Trump's fixer Michael Cohen met with
"Kremlin officials" in Prague in 2016 to arrange payments to operatives hacking
Hillary Clinton's campaign.
Despite strong denials from Cohen, the claim has shadowed the president, inspiring and
coloring the Russia investigation ever since.
McClatchy reported in April that Special Counsel Robert Mueller had obtained evidence of the
Prague trip and likely confirmed the secret meeting.
But a flurry of court filings by Mueller last week suggests that this story is false, a
damaging piece of disinformation that has roiled the nation for two years.
Officials familiar with the case said the proof is in the lack of evidence in the 25
pages of court papers Mueller has filed on Cohen over the past two weeks.
The alleged Prague visit is not evident in the plea agreement, the criminal information
statement or the sentencing memorandum, none of which contain redactions.
In fact, language in the filings strongly indicates prosecutors have not found evidence
to authenticate the Prague rumor, according to people familiar with the case, who spoke
on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information.
They point to the sentencing memo filed Friday, for starters.
On page 5, Mueller stated that Cohen "has provided relevant and truthful information"
about "his own contacts with Russian interests during the campaign" to prosecutors in their
investigation of Russian election interference.
Though Mueller details contacts Cohen made with various Russians, he offers no evidence
he contacted Kremlin officials in Prague, as described in the dossier.
The Czech city, in fact, is not cited in any of his filings, though Moscow, St. Petersburg,
Davos and other cities are.
Prosecutors corroborated the information Cohen provided about his Russia contacts with evidence
— including travel records — they seized from him.
In addition, Cohen pleaded guilty last month to a single count of providing false testimony
to Congress related to a Moscow real estate venture – which suggests there was no reason
for him to correct his September 2017 statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee claiming,
"I have never in my life been to Prague or to anywhere in the Czech Republic."
In that same sworn testimony, Cohen also categorically denied plotting with Russian officials to
hack the election.
"I have never engaged with, been paid by, paid for, or conversed with any member of
the Russian Federation or anyone else to hack or interfere with the election," Cohen told
the Senate.
"I emphatically state that I had nothing to do with any Russian involvement in our
electoral process."
He added that he saw "not a hint of anything" that demonstrated Trump's involvement in
Russian interference in the election, either.
The Prague allegation is one of the most specific claims in the Steele dossier, a piece of opposition
research compiled by former British intelligence agent Christopher Steele and paid for by the
Clinton campaign.
Although former FBI Director James Comey has called the dossier "salacious and unverified,"
Mueller's team has relied on it as a road map in its investigation, and even traveled
to London to debrief its author.
The Prague claim was cited in three unconfirmed, hearsay reports written by Steele between
October and December 2016.
They alleged that Cohen visited the Czech capital to clandestinely meet with "Kremlin
officials" and hackers in August 2016 to arrange "deniable cash payments to hackers
who had worked in Europe under Kremlin direction against the Clinton campaign."
The reports further state that "three colleagues" accompanied Cohen to Prague.
Cohen has offered his passport to show he has never traveled to Prague – nor even
left
the country
during
the time alleged.
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