--- title: President Trump Denies He Knew About Trump Tower Meeting description: President Donald Trump denied a new report that he knew about a 2016 meeting at Trump Tower with a Russian lawyer. canonical: https://time.com/5351036/donald-trump-denies-knowing-trump-tower-meeting/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-07-27T13:25:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T20:58:53.315Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Trump Denies He Knew About Trump Tower Meeting With Russian og:description: Michael Cohen claims Trump knew about the meeting, according to a CNN report og:url: https://time.com/5351036/donald-trump-denies-knowing-trump-tower-meeting/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt501cc53c1221e2e4/6989367e97cdff3e546b5dbc/trump-russia-denial-tweet.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: United States president Donald J. Trump returns to the White House in Washington, DC after a trip with events in Iowa and Illinois og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Trump Denies He Knew About Trump Tower Meeting With Russian twitter:description: Michael Cohen claims Trump knew about the meeting, according to a CNN report twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt501cc53c1221e2e4/6989367e97cdff3e546b5dbc/trump-russia-denial-tweet.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Denies Michael Cohen's Claim He Knew About Trump Tower Meeting With Russian Lawyer ## Video: Lawyer Who Met With Donald Trump Jr. Has Ties to Russian Officials, Emails Show [Watch (HLS stream): Lawyer Who Met With Donald Trump Jr. Has Ties to Russian Officials, Emails Show](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/GDeA8NxD.m3u8) (1:05)  _Published 2018-07-27. The Moscow lawyer said to have promised Donald Trump’s presidential campaign dirt on his Democratic opponent worked more closely with senior Russian government officials than she previously let on_ by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Jul 27, 2018 1:25 PM UTC  President Donald J. Trump returns to the White House on July 26, 2018 in Washington, DC. President Donald J. Trump returns to the White House on July 26, 2018 in Washington, DC.Pool—Getty Images by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Jul 27, 2018 1:25 PM UTC President Donald Trump denied a new report that he knew about a 2016 [meeting at Trump Tower](http://time.com/5279127/donald-trump-jr-tower-meeting-senate-judiciary-committee/) with a Russian lawyer who promised to give his campaign dirt on Hillary Clinton. The accusation reportedly comes from Trump’s former attorney and confidant, Michael Cohen – who now says he was present when Trump was told about the meeting, multiple media outlets are reporting. [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/26/politics/michael-cohen-donald-trump-june-2016-meeting-knowledge/index.html) first reported the news Thursday night. “I did NOT know of the meeting with my son, Don jr.,” Trump tweeted Friday. Trump, his son Donald Trump Jr. and their lawyer have repeatedly denied that Trump knew about the May 2016 meeting between Donald Trump Jr. and Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya. The meeting was also attended by Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Jared Kushner, the President’s son-in-law. [Newly uncovered emails show](http://time.com/5350768/natalia-veselnitskaya-trump-meeting-russia-ties/) Veselnitskaya had close ties to senior officials in the Russian government. The President also attacked Cohen, claiming he is “trying to make up stories” because of his legal trouble. Cohen is facing a federal criminal investigation as well as legal scrutiny for [New York taxicab companies he owns](http://time.com/5261234/trump-lawyer-michael-cohen-taxes-taxi-business/). “Sounds to me like someone is trying to make up stories in order to get himself out of an unrelated jam (Taxi cabs maybe?)” Trump tweeted. > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1022812910702215169) Trump also took aim at Cohen for hiring Lanny Davis, a high-profile lawyer perhaps best known for working for Bill and Hillary Clinton. Davis did not immediately return a message seeking comment about Trump’s claims. On Thursday night, Trump’s current lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, called Cohen a “liar” in response to the report. “He’s been lying all week, he’s been lying for years,” Giuliani said on CNN. He added that Cohen’s secret recording of him and Trump talking about a hush payment to a former Playboy model further shows he’s told “serious lies.” “I don’t see how he has any credibility,” Giuliani said. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5351036/donald-trump-denies-knowing-trump-tower-meeting/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5351036/donald-trump-denies-knowing-trump-tower-meeting/"},"headline":"President Trump Denies Michael Cohen's Claim He Knew About Trump Tower Meeting With Russian Lawyer","datePublished":"2018-07-27T13:25:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T20:58:53.315Z","description":"Michael Cohen claims Trump knew about the meeting, according to a CNN report","url":"https://time.com/5351036/donald-trump-denies-knowing-trump-tower-meeting/","keywords":["Donald Trump","White House","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt501cc53c1221e2e4/6989367e97cdff3e546b5dbc/trump-russia-denial-tweet.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt501cc53c1221e2e4/6989367e97cdff3e546b5dbc/trump-russia-denial-tweet.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"United States president Donald J. 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