President Donald Trump said Thursday he was a "little impressed" that his former personal attorney told Congress there was "no collusion" between Trump's presidential campaign and Russia.
Michael Cohen, who previously pleaded guilty to lying to Congress, told the House Oversight Committee Wednesday that Trump had advance knowledge and embraced the news that emails damaging to Hillary Clinton would be released during the campaign. But he also said he had no "direct evidence" that Trump or his aides colluded with Russia to get him elected, the primary question of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation.
Cohen, however, said that he has "suspicions," including after a June 2016 meeting between the president's oldest son and a Kremlin-connected lawyer.
"I wouldn't use the word 'colluding.' Was there something odd about the back-and-forth praise with President Putin?" Cohen said. "Yes, but I'm not really sure I can answer that question in terms of collusion."
Trump, who was in Vietnam following his second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un Thursday, was asked about Cohen's other statements that Trump was a "liar," a "con man" and a "racist." Trump skimmed by those claims and mostly focused on the collusion segment of Cohen's testimony.
"He lied a lot, but it was very interesting because he didn't lie about one thing. He said 'no collusion' with the Russian hoax," Trump said. "And I said, 'I wonder why he didn't just lie about that too like he did about everything else."
Trump said the question about collusion was the most important one asked during Wednesday's hearing. He slammed the hearing as "fake" and said it was a "terrible thing" for Democrats to hold it during his summit.
Cohen is set to testify again Thursday in a closed session before the House Intelligence Committee, which likely will focus mainly on the collusion question. Cohen also spoke privately with the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday.