Cohen claims Trump lawyer shaped false statement to Congress

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's former fixer, Michael Cohen, told Congress it was Trump's personal attorney, Jay Sekulow, who suggested he tell lawmakers that the negotiations for Trump Tower Moscow ended in January 2016, even though they continued for months after that.

The House Intelligence Committee on Monday released two transcripts of closed-door interviews with Cohen from earlier this year, along with some exhibits from the testimony. Cohen, who is serving a three-year prison sentence, pleaded guilty last year and admitted that he misled Congress by saying he had abandoned the Trump Tower Moscow project months earlier than he actually did.

During the interviews, legislators repeatedly pressed Cohen for details on his false statement to Congress and tried to nail down whether he was directly told by Trump's legal team to mislead the committee, but the transcripts provide no slam-dunk evidence.

Cohen offered no direct proof that Sekulow knew the January 2016 date we false, but Cohen claims Sekulow should have known because he had access to relevant emails and other communications as part of an agreement between defense attorneys to share documents.

Attorneys for Sekulow said Cohen's testimony is not credible.

"Michael Cohen's alleged statements are more of the same from him and confirm the observations of prosecutors in the Southern District of New York that Cohen's 'instinct to blame others is strong,'" Sekulow's lawyers, Jane Serene Raskin and Patrick Strawbridge, said in a statement. "That this or any Committee would rely on the word of Michael Cohen for any purpose - much less to try and pierce the attorney-client privilege and discover confidential communications of four respected lawyers - defies logic, well-established law and common sense."

Cohen said Trump also knew the negotiations had...