Did Trump Know About the Trump Tower Meeting in Advance? Of Course He Did — But a Story Saying So Is Being Retracted
About a month ago, I passed along a CNN story claiming that Michael Cohen had information that Donald Trump knew about the infamous Trump Tower meeting in advance. I included a note of caution in the post:
Cohen is hardly Mr. Credibility, and the “sources” relied upon say he doesn’t have evidence.
But, I stated (and still believe — see below) that of course Trump knew about the meeting in advance.
It’s now being reported that the source for the stories, Lanny Davis, is recanting:
CNN reported last month that Cohen was claiming to have witnessed Trump being informed of the Russians’ offer by Trump Jr. and that the then-candidate approved the meeting.
The following day, The Post reported that Cohen had told associates that he witnessed an exchange in which Trump Jr. told his father about an upcoming gathering in which he expected to get information about Clinton. The Post did not report that Trump Jr. told his father that the information was coming from Russians.
The information in the Post story, which was attributed to one person familiar with discussions among Cohen’s friends, came from Davis, who is now acknowledging his role on the record.
Davis said he should not have expressed such confidence in his information.
“I should have been more clear — including with you — that I could not independently confirm what happened,” Davis said, adding: “I regret my error.”
Having passed along the original story — even with the cautionary language — I think it’s incumbent on me to pass along this retraction.
That said:
Did Trump know about the meeting in advance?
Well of course he did.
You don’t need a questionable anonymously sourced news story to know that. All you need is your common sense.
[Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.]