Senator Chris Coons: Trump Was ‘Flat Out Lying’ When He Claimed ‘No Business Interests in Russia’
President Donald Trump’s frequent use of rhetorical exaggeration and hyperbole have long been noted by nearly everyone in political media. But when he verges into mistruths and falsehoods — which is also a common practice — many in the media refrain from calling it out in the plainest of terms.
Enter Senator Chris Coons, who during a visit to CNN’s New Day called out Trump’s repeating of no business interests in Russia while on the campaign trail in 2016 the most basic way possible.
Regarding the recent bombshell news that Trump’s former corporate lawyer Michael Cohen had pleaded guilty to lying to Congress and the revelation that the Trump Organization was actively pursuing the development of a Trump Tower Hotel in Moscow, Coons did not hold back.
“First that makes it clear that now President Trump was flat outlying as candidate trump when he said and tweeted repeatedly I have no business interests in Russia,” the Democratic Senator from Delaware said. “He did not say I just wrapped up a business deal and he didn’t say just a few days ago I stopped communicating with the Kremlin and he said categorically I have no business with Russia.”
Coons then offered a bit of nuance in his assessment, adding “That’s not illegal but it says something about the character of then-candidate Donald Trump. But it’s complicated and has legal consequences for individuals like Michael Cohen who came before committees of Congress and submitted spoken and written testimony and then agreed to cooperate with Mueller, and special counsel Mueller charged him and he has pleaded guilty to additional lies to Congress and that puts him in legal jeopardy.”
Watch the clip above, courtesy of CNN.
