President Trump insisted this week that "everybody" knew his organization spent months during the 2016 election negotiating a "very cool" deal with Russia to build a Trump Tower in Moscow.

But Trump has repeatedly downplayed his business relationship with Russia, which explains why his former attorney Michael Cohen said he felt he had to lie to Congress in order to "be consistent" with Trump's "political messaging." Here's an incomplete look at just some of those denials.

1. July 26, 2016: "I mean, I have nothing to do with Russia. I don't have any jobs in Russia. I'm all over the world but we're not involved in Russia," Trump tells CBS4.

2. July 26, 2016: "For the record, I have ZERO investments in Russia," Trump tweets.

3. Oct. 6, 2016: During the second presidential debate, Hillary Clinton says Russia is trying to help elect Trump, "maybe because he wants to do business in Moscow." Trump calls this assessment "so ridiculous," adding, "I know nothing about Russia ... I don't deal there."

4. Oct. 24, 2016: "I have nothing to do with Russia folks, I'll give you a written statement," Trump says at a campaign rally.

5. Jan. 11, 2017: Trump tells reporters that he has "no deals that could happen in Russia because we've stayed away," adding that he could "make deals in Russia very easily" but "I just don't want to because I think that would be a conflict."

6. Jan. 11, 2017: "Russia has never tried to use leverage over me. I HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH RUSSIA - NO DEALS, NO LOANS, NO NOTHING!," Trump tweets.

7. Feb. 7, 2017: Trump tweets, "I don't know Putin, have no deals in Russia, and the haters are going crazy."

8. May 11, 2017: Trump tells NBC News that he has "nothing to do with Russia," other than the fact that he "sold a house to a very wealthy Russian many years ago" and hosted the Miss Universe pageant there once. Brendan Morrow

Iceland's Mount Fagradalsfjall started erupting on Friday evening for the first time in about 800 years, and lots of people traveled the roughly 20 miles from Reykjavik, the capital, to enjoy the view. The site was shut down to visitors on Monday due to high levels of noxious gas, but drone operator Bjorn Steinbekk captured some stunning footage of a lava river on Sunday.

You can also watch his drone footage on YouTube, though Steinbekk added music that may not be to everyone's taste. The drone's fine, by the way, he told Britain's Channel 5 News on Monday.

"The eruption is considered to be small and due to its location, there is no threat to any populated areas or critical infrastructure," Iceland's government said in a statement. In fact, scientists used the heat from the molten rock to cook hot dogs.

"It's absolutely breath-taking," Ulvar Kari Johannsson, a 21-year-old engineer, told AFP. "It smells pretty bad. For me what was surprising was the colors of the orange — much, much deeper than what one would expect." The eruption is expected to last a few weeks at most. Peter Weber

In an unusual statement issued after midnight on Tuesday, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said an independent monitoring board overseeing AstraZeneca's U.S. COVID-19 vaccine trial told the NIAID and the drugmaker late Monday "it was concerned by information released by AstraZeneca on initial data from its COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial." The NIAID, a unit of the National Institutes of Health, is led by Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Biden's top medical adviser.

AstraZeneca reported early Monday that its vaccine had proved to be 79 percent effective against symptomatic COVID-19 in a large U.S. trial, 100 percent effective against serious illness or hospitalization, and carried no increased risk of blood clots. The results were seen as a shot in the arm for the beleaguered vaccine.

But the Data and Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) "expressed concern that AstraZeneca may have included outdated information from that trial, which may have provided an incomplete view of the efficacy data," the NIAID said. The Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will ultimately conduct a thorough review of the data before approving AstraZeneca's vaccine for use in the U.S., the agency said, but AstraZeneca should "work with the DSMB to review the efficacy data and ensure the most accurate, up-to-date efficacy data be made public as quickly as possible."

The DSMB's analysis of AstraZeneca's U.S.-based trial was "delayed several times because the board had to ask AstraZeneca for revised reports from those handling trial data on behalf of the company," The New York Times reports, citing a person familiar with the matter.

Friction between a safety monitoring board and a study sponsor is "highly irregular," and the NIAID's post-midnight statement is "so, so troubling," clinical trials expert Dr. Eric Topol told the Times. "I've never seen anything like this." AstraZeneca had yet to respond to the statement early Tuesday. Peter Weber

In a phone interview with former President Donald Trump on Monday, Fox News host Harris Faulkner broke some news. Unfortunately for her, it was literally fake news. "This has just happened now, and I want to double-check this with our producers," Faulkner said. "The DHS secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, has resigned, Mr. President. Your thoughts?" Trump said he wasn't surprised at the resignation of the newly confirmed Homeland Security secretary. "It's a big victory for our country," he said.

The victory did not last long, as Faulkner pretty quickly learned through her earpiece that Mayorkas had not, in fact, resigned.

Trump had called for Mayorkas to step down in a statement Sunday night, citing the increase in migrants trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border. Faulkner told Trump later in the interview that it's unusual for former presidents to "weigh in at this level" and asked why he felt the need to break protocol. "Well, you called me, I didn't call you, in all fairness," Trump said.

Touché. Peter Weber

Sidney Powell, a onetime high-profile member of former President Donald Trump's legal team, asked a federal court on Monday to dismiss Dominion Voting System's $1.3 billion defamation lawsuit against her, arguing that "no reasonable person" would mistake her baseless accusations of an elaborate multinational, communist election-rigging scheme as "truly statements of fact."

In fact, Powell's claims were just "opinions and legal theories," her lawyers argued, as well as constitutionally protected "political speech" and "hyperbole." At the same time, the motion contends, Dominion won't be able to prove any "actual malice" on Powell's part because "she believed the allegations then and she believes them now."

"Powell's attempt to dismiss the case contradicts her claim that she wants to present her evidence in court," responded Tom Clare, an attorney for Dominion. "Dominion Voting Systems is eager for the case to move forward and intends to hold Powell accountable." Dominion says Powell's false, disproven claims about vote rigging harmed its reputation and business.

Powell's accusations about Dominion "stealing" the election were also cited by some of the people arrested after storming the Capitol on May 6 to stop the formal counting of President Biden's electoral win. If the federal court declines to dismiss Dominion's suit, Powell asked that the trial be moved from Washington, D.C., to Texas, where she is licensed to practice law. She is also fighting a defamation lawsuit by a second voting technology company, Smartmatic. Peter Weber

The Senate on Monday voted 68 to 29 to confirm Boston Mayor Marty Walsh as labor secretary, making him the first person from a union background to lead the Labor Department in nearly 50 years. With Walsh's confirmation, President Biden now has all 15 Cabinet secretaries in place at the top of major executive departments. It also makes Biden "the first president in more than 30 years to have all of his original Cabinet secretary nominees confirmed to their posts," CNN notes.

Despite a late start to the confirmation process, high partisan polarization in Congress, and an impeachment trial, Biden won confirmation for all his major Cabinet secretaries faster than either of his two predecessors, Donald Trump and Barack Obama — partly because they had to pull nominees who faced defeat in the Senate.

The last president to get his original major Cabinet picks confirmed was Ronald Reagan. Former President George H.W. Bush was the last president to watch a nominee go down to defeat, CNN reports. Every president since, until Biden, has withdrawn at least one nominee. Biden did pull the nomination of Neera Tanden as head of the Office of Management and Budget, but OMB isn't considered a standalone agency.

Walsh, 53, "rose to prominence in Boston through the building-trades unions after dropping out of college early to work in construction," The Washington Post reports. He resigned as mayor on Monday night, leaving Boston in the hands of Boston City Council President Kim Janey, now acting mayor. She is the first Black person to lead Boston. Peter Weber

A Colorado judge blocked Boulder from enforcing its two-year-old assault rifle ban on March 12, ruling it violated a 2003 state law prohibiting municipalities from enacting their own firearms regulations. Boulder city spokeswoman Shannon Aulabaugh said city attorneys would meet to decide on whether to appeal the ruling by Boulder County District Court Judge Andrew Hartman, The Denver Post reported March 18, but in the meantime, the Boulder Police Department wouldn't enforce the ban on AR-15-style rifles and large-capacity magazines.

The National Rifle Association celebrated the ruling last Tuesday, noting its supporting role in striking down the ban. A week later, a gunman opened fire in a Boulder supermarket, killing 10 people, including a Boulder Police officer.

Police have not yet publicly identified the suspected shooter or the type of weapon used. But "one senior law enforcement source told CNN the weapon used in the shooting was an AR-15-style rifle," CNN reports. Boulder enacted its ban in response to the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, carried out — like many mass shootings — with an AR-15. Peter Weber