BFF-01 Trump says congress grilling of Cohen contributed to summit ‘walk’

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Trump says congress grilling of Cohen contributed to summit ‘walk’

WASHINGTON, March 4, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – President Donald Trump said Sunday that
a US congressional committee’s questioning last week of his former lawyer
Michael Cohen may have contributed to the failure of his summit with North
Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

In a series of late-night tweets, Trump labelled Cohen a “liar &
fraudster,” but also slammed the Democrat-led House Oversight Committee for
ordering him to testify at the same time as Trump’s summit with Kim in
Vietnam.

The summit ended abruptly and ahead of schedule on Thursday, without
agreement, despite hopes both sides might make progress on North Korea’s
denuclearization and the easing of sanctions on Pyongyang.

“Sometimes you have to walk and this was just one of those times,” Trump
said at the time.

On Sunday, he said the hearing may have contributed to the breakdown.

“For the Democrats to interview in open hearings a convicted liar &
fraudster, at the same time as the very important Nuclear Summit with North
Korea, is perhaps a new low in American politics and may have contributed to
the “walk,'” he tweeted.

“Never done when a president is overseas. Shame!”

In his testimony, Cohen — who is to report to prison on May 6 to begin
serving a three-year sentence for fraud, tax evasion, illegal campaign
contributions and lying to Congress — expressed regret for his years of
devoted service to Trump.

“He is a racist. He is a conman. He is a cheat,” Cohen said of his former
boss.

BSS/AFP/MSY/0821 hrs