“It didn’t happen. It never happened.” Those are words to live by from the musical “Chicago.”
In real life they work, too. Donald Trump’s ex-lawyer and inveterate liar Michael Cohen claimed last year that he’d spent time in summer 2016 with rocker Steven van Zandt in Capri. It was his alibi for not being in Prague.
I wrote back in April that van Zandt and the E Street and Bruce Springsteen played Rome in summer 2016. But van Zandt’s wife assured me they did not go to Capri, and had never met Cohen.
On Christmas Eve, as stories about Cohen’s alleged trip to Prague came up again, Steve van Zandt weighed in on the story. He Tweeted: “Ran into him in the courtyard of our hotel in Rome. He wanted me to meet his wife. Which I did. Very nice. That was it. We’ve never gone anywhere together.”
Maureen was right not to remember the fleeting meeting. Her husband probably didn’t mention it. And she was right about Capri. All of which begs the question about the trip. BuzzFeed’s Anthony Cormier wrote: Cohen, 50, said he understands the scrutiny this will bring. He said credit card receipts would prove he stayed in Capri, an island off the Italian coast, but he declined to make those receipts available. Cohen was with family and friends, he said, including the musician and actor Steve Van Zandt.
This is how deft a liar Cohen is– that he could have combined details, inflated them to bigger meaning, and used them as a distraction. So we do know that Cohen was in Rome in the summer of 2016. And now reports are saying that he was also outside Prague later in the summer.
Haha not exactly. Ran into him in the courtyard of our hotel in Rome. He wanted me to meet his wife. Which I did. Very nice. That was it. We’ve never gone anywhere together. https://t.co/fU1ldFpunl
— Stevie Van Zandt (@StevieVanZandt) December 24, 2018
