Signals from a mobile phone connected to Michael Cohen pinged off of cell towers near Prague amid the 2016 presidential campaign, according to a report.
McClatchy also reported Thursday that “an Eastern European intelligence agency” in the summer of 2016 intercepted conversations between Russians, during which one placed Cohen, President Trump’s former lawyer, in the Czech capital.
Special counsel Robert Mueller has had access to both the phone and surveillance information, the outlet reported.
McClatchy reported in April that Mueller had evidence of Cohen traveling to Prague from Germany sometime between late August and early September 2016, substantiating claims made in the Trump-Russia dossier. In the series of memos, ex-British spy Christopher Steele said Cohen went to or near the European city to meet with Kremlin officials to discuss ways to conceal the “liaison” between the Trump campaign and Moscow. No other outlet has yet verified McClatchy’s story.
Although the intercepts do not prove any contact between Cohen and Russian nationals, they contradict Cohen’s repeated denials: Trump’s ex-fixer has claimed he has never been to Prague “in his life.” Trump has additionally denied any collusion between his campaign and Russia.
Cohen pleaded guilty last month to lying to Congress about a Trump Organization real estate deal as part of Mueller’s federal Russia probe. He was sentenced to two months in prison for the charge, which will be served concurrently with the three years he received through the case he faced in New York for campaign finance violations, and tax and bank fraud. He pleaded guilty to those counts in August and has since been cooperating with Mueller’s team, including sitting down with investigators for more than 70 hours of interviews.
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