Cohen admits lying to US Congress on Trumps business ties with Russia
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cohen said that in his statement to congress he claimed to have had limited contact with trump concerning the project when in fact it had been more extensive. cohen also said he falsely told congress he never took any steps toward traveling to russia when in fact he had discussed going there although he never went1 michael cohen president donald trumps former longtime personal lawyer pleaded guilty on thursday to lying to congress about a proposed trump organization skyscraper in moscow prompting the president to lash out at cohen as a liar and weak person1 cohen a former member of trumps inner circle who in the past called himself the presidents fixer described efforts to pursue trumps ambitious moscow real estate project deep into the 2016 u.s. presidential campaign later than previously disclosed1 he entered his guilty plea in federal court in manhattan to one count of making false statements to two congressional panels about the project1 according to a court document cohen briefed trump on the project more than three times as well as members of his family1 not long after cohen entered his plea trump abruptly canceled a meeting with russian president vladimir putin scheduled to take place during this weeks group of 20 industrialized nations summit in argentina citing the current ukraine crisis1 cohen had pleaded guilty in august to eight criminal charges including tax evasion bank fraud and campaign finance violations in a separate case brought by federal prosecutors in new york. his sentencing in that case is scheduled for dec. 121 cohen said in court on thursday that in 2017 he submitted a written statement to congress saying all efforts relating to the real estate project in moscow had ceased by january 2016. cohen said that in fact those efforts continued until june 2016 after trump had clinched the republican presidential nomination1 the proposal to build a tower bearing trumps name in the russian capital ultimately did not materialise. cohen provided false statements to both the senate and house intelligence committees to create the impression the project had ended by the time the political primary season began the charging document said1 trump on thursday distanced himself from cohen who last year told an interviewer he would take a bullet for the president1 hes a weak person and not a very smart person trump said to reporters. hes got himself a big prison sentence. and hes trying to get a much lesser prison sentence by making up this story1 u.s. president donald trumps former lawyer michael cohen exits federal court after entering a guilty plea in manhattan new york city u.s. november 29 2018. reutersandrew kelly trump who last week submitted written answers to questions posed in muellers investigation called the moscow project a deal that didnt happen mostly because he was busy running for president but defended its propriety.1 even if he was right it doesnt matter because i was allowed to do whatever i wanted during the campaign trump said. i was running my business a lot of different things during the campaign1 everybody knows about this deal. i wasnt trying to hide anything1 trump lawyer rudy giuliani said the president had provided written answers to questions from mueller on the moscow project. asked whether there was anything in those answers that contradicted cohen on the project giuliani told reuters not that i know of1 the unexpected plea stemmed from special counsel robert muellers intensifying investigation into russias role in the 2016 election and whether trumps campaign conspired with moscow to boost his chances and put new pressure on the president1 i made these misstatements to be consistent with individual 1s political messaging and out of loyalty to individual 1 cohen who previously identified individual 1 as trump said in court1 trump has called muellers investigation which has cast a cloud over his presidency a witch hunt. mueller also is looking into whether trump has sought to unlawfully obstruct the probe1 trump a wealthy real estate developer and reality television star before entering politics has flirted with building in moscow several times over the years. during a visit to russia in 2013 for the miss universe pageant he told journalists he was talking with potential russian partners for a moscow skyscraper modeled on new yorks trump tower1 the proposed moscow project also involved felix sater a russian-born property developer and former business associate of trump1 according to the charging documents cohen told an associate who matches the description of sater that he was willing to travel to moscow to pursue the project before the july 2016 republican national convention in cleveland and that trump could travel to moscow after the convention once he becomes the nominee of the republican party1 cohen in january 2016 spoke with an assistant to putins press secretary about the project and requested help in securing land and financing the charging documents said1 mueller who took over the russia investigation from the fbi in may 2017 has secured guilty pleas from several former trump aides and associates including former campaign chairman paul manafort and former national security adviser michael flynn and also has charged a series of russian individuals and entities1 after cohens guilty plea in august trump described cohen as one of many of his attorneys and as someone who did small deals and not somebody that was with me that much1 cohen told the court in august that trump had directed him to commit a crime by arranging payments to silence two women adult-film star stormy daniels and former playboy model karen mcdougal who said before the 2016 election that they had affairs with trump1 asked by reporters if she was concerned about cohens plea top house of representatives democrat nancy pelosi said of course. he lied to the american people1 muellers team said on monday manafort had breached his plea deal by lying to federal investigators. trump said on wednesday he had not ruled out granting a pardon to manafort1 joshua dressler an ohio state university law professor noted that cohens plea came after trump submitted his written responses to mueller1 if trump was asked anything relating to the matters about which cohen has now admitted he lied then the president could be found to have lied to the special prosecutor which is a crime and impeachable offense dressler said1 cohens lawyer lanny davis noted that trump called his client a liar. who do you believe davis asked on twitter1