Donald Trump’s lawyer refuses to release documents to inquiry
President Donald Trump has reportedly returned home glum and downcast, as the probe into Russia’s election meddling and contacts with the Trump campaign continues.
Mr Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, has received and rejected a request for documents as part of Congress’s ongoing investigation into the Russia-Trump links.
Mr Cohen, who served as a cable television surrogate for the Mr Trump during the presidential campaign, remains a personal lawyer for the President.
The House intelligence committee’s request for information from Mr Cohen came as the investigators continued to scrutinise members of Mr Trump’s inner circle.
The President’s first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, has received subpoenas from the Senate intelligence committee regarding his Russian contacts and his business records.
A source has told CNN Mr Trump was already “in a pretty glum mood” when he left for Europe, with his reception on the continent and the overall mood of the visit unlikely to lighten that mood.
“He now lives within himself, which is a dangerous place for Donald Trump to be,” a source told CNN.
“I see him emotionally withdrawing. He’s gained weight. He doesn’t have anybody whom he trusts.”
CNN editorialised further: “So Trump returns to the White House this week just as he left – lonely, angry and not happy with much of anyone. The presidency, Donald Trump is discovering, is not an easy or natural fit.”
But an allied source said this could hopefully mean Mr Trump will not “be back to being arrogant and stubborn” through the Russian probe.
“He only really listens when he’s down in the dumps.”
President Donald Trump at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day on Monday. Photo: Getty
Mr Cohen on Tuesday said he rejected the request for documents.
“I declined the invitation to participate as the request was poorly phrased, overly broad and not capable of being answered,” he told The Associated Press.
“I find it irresponsible and improper that the request sent to me was leaked by those working on the committee.”
Mr Cohen told ABC News on Tuesday (US time) that he had been asked by both the House and Senate intelligence committees to provide information and testimony about contacts he had with Russian officials.
He told CNN he would comply if he is subpoenaed to testify, but said there was no evidence to “corroborate the Russian narrative”.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said the allegations of Moscow meddling in the US presidential election are “fiction” invented by the Democrats in order to explain their loss.
Mr Trump made a similar claim in a tweet early on Tuesday: “Russian officials must be laughing at the US & how a lame excuse for why the Dems lost the election has taken over the Fake News.”
Mr Cohen’s ties with Russian interests came up in February when the New York Times reported that Mr Cohen helped to broker a Ukraine peace plan that would call for Russian troops to withdraw from Ukraine and a referendum to let Ukrainians decide whether the part of the country seized by Russian in 2014 should be leased to Moscow.
Mr Cohen’s business associates in the taxi enterprise included a number of men from the former Soviet Union, including his Ukrainian-born father-in-law.
Mr Cohen has made his own unsuccessful attempts at public office, losing a city council race and briefly running for state assembly in New York.