US Democrats to investigate report that Donald Trump directed lawyer Michael Cohen to lie to congress

US Democrats will investigate whether Donald Trump asked his lawyer to commit perjury but Robert Mueller’s office has denied a report about it.

Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer, and Mr Trump. Pictures: AFP/Getty Images

Investigators in the US Senate and House of Representatives say they plan to examine whether President Donald Trump directed his former lawyer to lie to congress, prompted by a report by BuzzFeed News.

Leading Democrats in the house said they would seek to verify the story, saying that if true it would be evidence of criminal activity by the President.

Citing unnamed law enforcement sources, Buzzfeed reported that Mr Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen told investigators working for Special Counsel Robert Mueller that Mr Trump had directed him to lie about efforts to build a skyscraper in Moscow while he was running for president.

But Mr Mueller’s office denied the report in a rare public statement, without giving examples.

“BuzzFeed’s description of specific statements to the Special Counsel’s Office, and characterisation of documents and testimony obtained by this office, regarding Michael Cohen’s congressional testimony are not accurate,” Peter Carr, a spokesman for Mr Mueller’s office, said in a statement late on Friday US time.

The White House also said the story was false. “Look, that’s absolutely ridiculous,” spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters.

The report said Mr Mueller’s office learned of Mr Trump’s instructions to Mr Cohen through internal Trump Organisation emails, witness interviews, text messages and other documents, and that Mr Cohen told prosecutors about the directive in an interview.

Representatives for the Trump Organisation did not respond to a request for comment on the BuzzFeed report.

Mr Cohen, who once said he was so loyal to Trump that he would “take a bullet” for him, is scheduled to begin a three-year prison sentence in March after pleading guilty to charges including campaign finance violations, tax evasion and lying to congress.

The chairmen of two house investigative panels, now controlled by Democrats, said on Friday local time they would probe the report’s allegations.

Adam Schiff (Democrat, Calif), who leads the house intelligence committee, said the panel would “do what’s necessary to find out if it is true”.

“The allegation that the President of the United States may have suborned perjury before our committee in an effort to curtail the investigation and cover up his business dealings with Russia is among the most serious to date,” he tweeted.

Jerry Nadler (Democrat, NY), chairman of the house judiciary committee, tweeted that the panel’s “job is to get to the bottom of it, and we will do that work”.

He added: “We know that the President has engaged in a long pattern of obstruction.”

Mr Trump in a tweet Friday morning suggested Mr Cohen was “lying to reduce his jail time” but didn’t specify what he believed his former lawyer was lying about. Mr Cohen was already sentenced last month to three years in prison.

Responding to the reported allegation, Rudy Giuliani, a lawyer for Mr Trump, questioned Mr Cohen’s credibility. “Haven’t checked it out but if you believe Cohen I can get you a good all-cash deal on the Brooklyn Bridge,” Mr Giuliani said via text message.

On Friday US time, Mr Giuliani said in a statement: “Any suggestion — from any source — that the President counselled Michael Cohen to lie is categorically false.”

He called the allegation that Mr Trump had directed Mr Cohen to lie to Congress “just more made-up lies born of Michael Cohen’s malice and desperation”.

The President has repeatedly denied any collusion with Russia or obstruction of justice.

Other Democratic members of the panel called for severe consequences if Mr. Trump is found to have directed his lawyer to lie to Congress. “If the @BuzzFeed story is true, President Trump must resign or be impeached,” Joaquin Castro (Democrat, Texas) said on Twitter.

Ted Lieu (Democrat, Calif.), a member of the house judiciary committee, said in a tweet that the report “establishes a clear case of obstruction of justice” and said: “It is time for the House Judiciary Committee to start holding hearings to establish a record of whether @POTUS committed high crimes.”

He added: “Oh, fyi the first Article of Impeachment for Richard Nixon was Obstruction of Justice.”

The house judiciary committee is the panel charged with initiating impeachment proceedings if there is enough support in the chamber to do so.

Buzzfeed News reported late on Thursday, citing two law-enforcement officials, that Mr Cohen had told Mr Mueller that the President had directed him to tell congress in his 2017 testimony that negotiations for a Trump Tower in Moscow had ended in January 2016, when in fact they had continued through June of that year — a month after Mr Trump effectively won the Republican Party presidential nomination.

Buzzfeed also reported that Mr Mueller had evidence corroborating Mr Trump’s direction of Mr Cohen, including interviews and documents.

Mr Cohen is scheduled to testify before the house oversight committee on February 7, though his testimony is not expected to focus on what he has discussed with Mr Mueller, according to a person close to Mr Cohen.

In a December court filing in which they recommended no jail time for their client, Mr Cohen’s lawyers said that in the weeks that his written response was being prepared for congress, Mr Cohen “remained in close and regular contact with White House-based staff and legal counsel” to Mr Trump, referred to as “Client-1”.

Suborning perjury is a crime that constitutes obstruction of justice. William Barr, Mr Trump’s attorney-general nominee, said in his confirmation hearing earlier this week that “a president persuading a person to commit perjury” was obstruction.

Mr Mueller, as part of his investigation into whether Trump associates colluded with Russia’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 US election, is probing whether the President obstructed justice, including by firing then FBI director James Comey while the agency’s Russia investigation was under way. Mr Trump has denied collusion and obstruction, and Russia has denied election interference.

Lanny Davis, a spokesman for Mr Cohen, declined to comment on the Buzzfeed report. A spokesman for Mr Mueller didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Democratic representatives who have thus far not sought to rush Mr Mueller’s investigation called for an immediate release of details to congress.

“Listen, if Mueller does have multiple sources confirming Trump directed Cohen to lie to Congress, then we need to know this ASAP. Mueller shouldn’t end his inquiry, but it is about time for him to show Congress his cards before it is too late for us to act,” Chris Murphy (Democrat, Conn) tweeted.

Aides to Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell (Republican, Ky.) declined to comment on the report. A spokesman for house minority leader Kevin McCarthy (Republican, Calif) didn’t return a request for comment.

AP/The Wall Street Journal