Cohen Pleads Guilty To Lying To Congress – President Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen entered a guilty with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team for lying to Congress about negotiations for a Trump Tower in Moscow during the presidential campaign and Mr. Trump’s involvement with the plans. Cohen said he lied to Congressional investigators out of loyalty to Trump and to align with his political messaging. Mr. Cohen admitted in his guilty plea that discussion over a Trump Tower project in Moscow went on for at least six more months than he claimed. Trump repeatedly denied any financial dealings with Russia during the campaign. In a gaggle with reporters on the White House lawn, President Trump called Michael Cohen a “weak person” who was making false admissions in hopes of getting a lighter prison sentence for his other transgressions. Analysts say the guilty plea suggests that Michael Cohen has been sharing information with Robert Mueller regarding possible collusion with Russia during the 2016 campaign.
Mueller: Manafort Broke Plea Agreement – Special Counsel’s Robert Mueller’s team leveled accusations against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort of lying to federal investigators even after he entered a plea deal with them. Mueller’s team said they would bring up the allegations in front of a judge at a future date. Manafort denies having lied, saying he provided what he believed to be truthful information.
Guardian: Manafort Met Assange – The Guardian reported on Monday that Paul Manafort met with Wikileaks founder Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where Assange is currently holed up. The Guardian claims that the meeting took place in the weeks preceding Manafort being hired as Trump’s campaign manager. If accurate, it would be the first publicly known contact between the Trump campaign and Wikileaks, who released tens of thousands of emails from Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton during the 2016 campaign.
Papadopoulos Goes To Prison: Trump campaign advisor George Papadopoulos went to prison on Monday to begin serving a 14-day sentence for lying to investigators regarding his communications with Russian government intermediaries. Papadopoulos’ lawyers had requested a delay his imprisonment, but a federal judge rejected the request, ordering Papadopoulos to enter prison as originally scheduled.
Trump Cancels Meeting With Putin – In a tweet sent by President Trump on his way to the G20 summit in Argentina, he announced that he was cancelling his meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin over Russia’s seizure of Ukrainian ships. The move was applauded by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko who said “this is how great leaders act” in response to the news.
Republican Wins MS Runoff – Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith won a runoff election that pitted her against Democrat Mike Espy to secure another term in the US Senate. What was expected to be an easy Republican victory in the deep-red state of Mississippi became interesting after Ms. Hyde-Smith made remarks that Democrats said were an indication that she is a closeted racist. She ultimately beat Espy by a 54%-46% margin.
Anti-Semite CNN Contributor Fired – Following a speech at the United Nations where he called for a free Palestine “from the river to the sea”, CNN contributor Marc Lamont-Hill was fired. “From the river to the sea” is a term used to express Palestinian ideas of eradicating Israel completely. Hill denies that he is an anti-Semite, saying that critique of Israel and anti-Semitism are not one and the same.