The comments further extended an already growing timeline for the discussions. Mr. Cohen had told Congress that the negotiations ended in January 2016, before the first presidential primaries, but later in a plea agreement, he said they continued as late as June 2016, after Mr. Trump was the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. Mr. Giuliani had then indicated in an interview with ABC News last month that the talks had lasted possibly until Election Day, although he was less specific than he was on Sunday. Mr. Giuliani denied that claim, and a spokesman for the special counsel investigating possible campaign collusion between Mr. Trump’s team and Russian officials, Robert S. Mueller III, called the report “inaccurate.”Mr. Giuliani acknowledged that Mr. Trump might have talked to Mr. Cohen before his congressional testimony, but he said his client had never instructed Mr. Cohen to lie. Mr. Giuliani said that when Mr. Cohen testified to Congress that the project had ended in January 2016, Mr. Trump simply “accepted” that answer.

Source: New York Times January 20, 2019 18:38 UTC