Political strategist Roger Stone said Friday he doesn't believe President Donald Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen's comments that the president knew in advance about a meeting held at Trump Tower between Donald Trump Jr. and campaign officials with Russians saying they had dirt on Hillary Clinton — but he does believe the president's son.
"I believe the president and I believe Don Jr.," Stone told Stone told Newsmax TV's "Newsmax Now." "But what's more outrageous about this whole thing is the fact that we're talking about the meeting Don Jr. had as if he did something illegal, but we're not addressing the fact that the woman who came to see him, the woman Russian lawyer, appears in the country with a visa that we're still not told how it was approved."
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The attorney, Natalia Veselnitskaya, who has ties with the Kremlin, was denied a visa to come to the United States, said Stone.
"She meets with Glenn Simpson's Fusion GPS head, before and after the Trump Tower meeting," said Stone. "I call that briefing, debriefing, and we're not supposed to...the meeting is perfectly legal."
Fusion GPS is the company that had been retained by Democratic operatives to develop opposition research on President Trump, and had also commissioned Christopher Steele's dossier on the then-candidate. The company has denied any involvement in the Trump Tower meeting, but noted it did work on a lawsuit involving Veselnitskaya for more than two years, the Washington Post reported in 2017.
Stone said Trump Jr. did nothing illegal, but was disappointed that there was no information being given about Clinton.
"He pays for nothing, he gets nothing of value," said Stone. "He's done nothing wrong."
He noted that Trump Jr. was approached by an English entrepreneur he'd worked with before, and as it was in the heat of the 2016, he'd believed he'd get information he thought would be of value.
"It's a setup, [in order] to say you had the meeting," said Stone. "I think that's clearer and clearer, so that part is outrageous as well."
Meanwhile, the president is being criticized for his memory of a meeting that turned out to be "perfectly legal, but the Left wants to turn into World War 3," said Stone.
Trump's current personal attorney, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, has branded Cohen as a liar, and Stone said Friday he has the "highest regard" for Giuliani.
"I think he's brought stability, ironically, to the president's campaign but more importantly he's exposed the partisan exploits and excesses of [special counsel Robert] Mueller and [former FBI director James] Comey," said Stone.
Stone also called into question the fact that former President Bill Clinton's attorney is now representing Cohen, pro bono.
He said he understands Davis as a "fine gentleman and a very fine lawyer" so he's happy Cohen has a good lawyer, but he's concerned about the Clinton connection.
"The problem here, without anybody taking care of his legal fees, he falls into the clutches of Lanny Davis and the Clinton machine," said Stone. "Now they're trying to use Michael as an instrument to torture Donald Trump."
Stone is author of "Stone's Rules: How to Win at Politics, Business, and Style." It is available on Amazon.