nor would i accept a pardon from president trump. tuesday of this week we learned that cohen s former attorney ryan pictured on the left beside cohen had in fact approached trump s legal team including rudy giuliani about the possibility of a pardon. this was after the fbi raided cohen s home, offices, et cetera. and today this statement from cohen s spokesman lanny davis clarifying what cohen told the committee last week. prior to michael cohen s decision to leave the joint defense group and tell the truth on july 2nd, 2018, michael was open to the ongoing dangling of a possible pardon by trump representatives privately and in the media. during that time he directed his attorney, that would be steven ryan, to explore possibilities of a pardon at one point with trump lawyer rudy giuliani as well as other lawyers advising president trump. but after july 2nd, 2018 mr. cohen authorized me, as a new lawyer, to say
oversight hearing true. as you can imagine, the president s lawyer, rudy giuliani, pounced in a series of tweets today. among them, he said this. i have never asked for a pardon from mr. trump. as lawyer lanny davis has said he, cohen, directed his attorney to explore a pardon. you just heard me tell you that. never means never, ever, not after july 2nd, 2018, which is the latest deception. another perjury and more prison. giuliani added another tweet, what a tangled web we weave when he first practice to deceive. by his count their nursery perjury s but the real question remains, will come of t customer kennedy? kennedy: fantastic. the answer to your question earlier, cinnamon life. thank you very much. allie beth: that s where it s at. [laughter] kennedy: here s democratic star michael cohen. is he the best shot the democrats have for unseating the
publicly mr. cohen would never accept a pardon from president trump even if offered. that continues to be the case. and his statement at the oversight hearing was true and consistent with his post joint defense agreement commitment to tell the truth. rudy giuliani would not confirm whether steven ryan had approached him about a pardon but rudy did tell fox news that whenever they are asked about a pardon by any attorney or individual they give the following standard answer, quote: the president has said he will not consider any pardons now, of course, that doesn t mean that he in any way is diminishing his constitutional power to make those decisions in the future. i mean, clearly here, bill, there is a lot of parsing going on on the part of michael cohen s representatives. at no time during that congressional testimony last week now we do not know what he said in the closed hearings. in that open hearing at no time did he ever say i never asked for a pardon after july 2nd, 2018 but
michael cohen why when he said he had not asked for a pardon from the president? well, he said. in his testimony on capitol hill that the answer is no. but his lawyer, lanny davis, is making a bit of a clarification. the mission part of a statement as a sort of laid out a date that i think you will find a port for your discussion. he said prior to michael cohen s decision to leave the joint defense group and tell the truth, on july 2nd 2018, michael was open to the ongoing dangling of a possible pardon by trump representatives. privately and in the media. he said this. this is probably the key part of the statement. during that time period, he directed his attorney to destroy possibilities of a pardon at onr rudy giuliani as well as other lawyers advising president trum president trump. then he goes on to say, well, listen, after july 2nd, mr. cohen authorized him to say publicly that mr. cohen would never accept a pardon from the president even if it were offered. thus, began his
upon that. the president s lawyer and tv spokesman often is coming out with a new tweet today where he says never means never, not even after july 2nd, 2018, which is the latest deception, another perjury and more prison. trying to discredit cohen further, it plays into the president s argument that cohen cannot be trusted. and, therefore, even in his sort of finding truth moment where he s gone on capitol hill in a series of different appearances bri bringing documents, bringing his story, they are finding this big hole they claim of a pardon question and whether cohen wanted it, didn t want it, solicited it, did not. and there is a dividing line here and giuliani is trying to exploit that to say cohen cannot be believed. lonnie davis is trying to say there is a point in time that is an appropriate way to say before and after. it makes it murky. that does not help michael