“President Trump’s recollection of discussions about building a Trump Tower in Moscow aligned with those of his longtime fixer Michael Cohen, the president’s lawyers said on Thursday after Mr. Cohen admitted in court that he had pursued the project as Mr. Trump secured the Republican nomination for president,” the New York Times reports.

“The president knew about the deal and discussed it with Mr. Cohen before it fell apart, Mr. Trump’s lawyers said. Mr. Trump detailed those conversations last week in written responses to investigators for the special counsel investigating Russia’s 2016 election interference, Robert Mueller. Prosecutors had sought to question Mr. Trump for months and eventually agreed to accept written answers for some queries.”

Michael Cohen’s plea deal with special counsel Robert Mueller indicates the the last known discussion about the Trump Tower Moscow deal was “on or about June 14,” 2016, when Cohen told a Russian associate, Felix Sater, that he was canceling plans to travel to Russia, the Washington Post reports.

“Why is that date significant? It happens to be the day The Washington Post broke a big story that Russia had hacked the Democratic National Committee.”

First Read notes that President Trump tweet attacks on special counsel Robert Mueller — and there are more this morning — “are just the tip of the iceberg of the ways in which the president of the United States has intervened in, criticized, thwarted, and potentially obstructed an investigation that involves him, his family and his 2016 presidential campaign.”

Consider:

• He’s once again dangling a pardon to former campaign chairman Paul Manafort;
• Manafort’s lawyer was cooperating with Trump’s legal defense team – after Manafort struck a plea agreement with special counsel Robert Mueller;
• Trump dumped his attorney general (because he recused himself from the Russia probe) and inserted a Mueller critic to be acting attorney general;
• When asked why he retweeted an image of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein behind bars, Trump replied, “He should have never picked a special counsel”;
• He admitted firing former FBI Director James Comey over the Russia investigation (“When I decided to [fire Comey], I said to myself, I said you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made up story,” he told NBC’s Lester Holt);
• And Trump dictated the misleading statement on his son’s Trump Tower meeting with Russians.

“Add up all of these actions — and they’re not an exhaustive list — and you see a president who’s actively intervening in an investigation that involves him.”

Eric Knowles and Sarah DiMuccio: “From boasting about the size of his penis on national television to releasing records of his high testosterone levels, President Trump’s rhetoric and behavior exude machismo. His behavior also seems to have struck a chord with some male voters. See, for example, the ‘Donald Trump: Finally Someone With Balls’ T-shirts common at Trump rallies.”

“But our research suggests that Trump is not necessarily attracting male supporters who are as confidently masculine as the president presents himself to be. Instead, Trump appears to appeal more to men who are secretly insecure about their manhood.”