NPR breathlessly published a report today asserting Donald Trump Jr.’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee about efforts to build a Trump Tower in Moscow were inconsistent with Michael Cohen’s claims.
NPR reported that a transcript from Trump Jr.’s September 2017 testimony showed that he claimed the Trump Organization ceased its proposed Moscow operation in late 2014/early 2015 from failed negotiations. (The Daily Caller)
“But not in 2015 or 2016?” Trump Jr. was asked.
“Certainly not ’16,” the president’s son replied. “There was never a definitive end to it. It just died of deal fatigue.”
NPR asserted that the testimony would pose a problem for Trump Jr. since attorney Cohen said in his plea agreement with the special counsel’s office that he continued negotiating the building through June 2016. He also said he briefed President Donald Trump and his children that year before the deal fell through.
But as The Federalist’s Sean Davis noted on Twitter, NPR left out parts of Trump Jr.’s testimony where the real estate executive acknowledged that Trump Tower Moscow was being discussed into 2016.
Trump Jr.’s testimony about work on a Moscow Trump Tower that ended around late 2014 referred to the Trump Organization’s negotiations with Aras Agalarov, a Russian billionaire and former Trump business partner.
Felix Sater, a businessman connected to Cohen and Russian officials tried to resurrect the project in 2015, which Sater and Cohen toiled on through June 2016.
Cohen pleaded guilty to lying to Congress in his own testimony given at the same time as Trump Jr., where he claimed he stopped collaborating with Sater in January 2016. He also lied about the extent of his partnership with Sater to Trump and his children.
This is not the first time Donald Trump Jr. has fallen victim to careless reporting.
AAN Staff
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