Kremlin says it saw email from Trump lawyer, but didn't respond

Aug. 30 (UPI) -- The Russian government acknowledged Wednesday that it received an email from a Trump Organization lawyer -- which sought help with a project to build a Trump Tower in Moscow last year -- but said it never answered the inquiry.

A representative of Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters about the email in a conference call Wednesday.

"Yes, indeed, there was an email, we have even found its copy," spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. "They were asking [for assistance] with some kind of recommendation and with advancing the issue. But as we do not react to such business issues -- it's not our job -- we left it unanswered."

Peskov added that he has never met attorney Michael Cohen, a private attorney for President Donald Trump, in person.

"No, we never met, sadly or thankfully," Peskov said Wednesday.

Peskov also said he didn't know Felix Sater, an associate of Trump's who Cohen purportedly recommended contact the Kremlin.

"Our boy can become president of the USA and we can engineer it," Sater wrote in a 2015 email to Cohen. "I will get all of Putin's team to buy in on this, I will manage this process."

Sater told the Trump Organization he could get financing with VTB Bank, a Russian bank sanctioned by the United States for its involvement with Moscow's attempts to seize Crimea.

Cohen sent his message to the Kremlin press service's general email address, which receives "thousands of messages" and "that aren't in our area of competence," Peskov said.

At the time, Trump was campaigning for president.

Cohen, in a statement to the House intelligence committee, wrote that the Trump Organization considered the "Trump Tower Moscow" proposal from September 2015 to January 2016. The project, though, was ultimately scrapped.

Trump has denied having any business interests in Russia and last year posted on Twitter: "for the record, I have ZERO investments in Russia."

Special counsel Robert Mueller and several congressional committees are investigating possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.