Trump Lawyer Michael Cohen Pleads Guilty To Lying To Congress About Trump/Russia Deal

Former Donald Trump lawyer, Michael Cohen

Donald Trump's former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty this morning in a New York court to lying to Congress regarding a Moscow real estate project that Trump and his company pursued during the months he was running for president.

Trump repeatedly said during the 2016 campaign he had no deals, interests or financial ties in or to Russia.

From The Washington Post:

In a nine-page filing, prosecutors laid out a litany of lies that Cohen admitted he told to congressional lawmakers about the Moscow project — an attempt, Cohen said, to minimize links between the proposed development and Trump as his presidential bid was taking off.

Cohen falsely said efforts to build a Trump-branded tower in Moscow ended in January 2016, when in fact discussions continued through that year, the filing said. Among the people Cohen briefed on the status of the project was Trump himself, on more than three occasions, according to the document.

Trump has repeatedly said that he had no business dealings in Russia, tweeting in July 2016, “For the record, I have ZERO investments in Russia” and telling reporters in January 2017 that he had no deals there because he had “stayed away.”

Tom Winter of NBC News was in the court room and reports on what Cohen testified to:

BREAKING: Michael Cohen names the president in court involving Moscow project, and discussions that he alleges continued into 2017. @Tom_Winter explains after attending the court hearing this morning. https://t.co/6VteqRXgoD pic.twitter.com/iw9Mld32KV

— NBC News (@NBCNews) November 29, 2018

Trump immediately told reporters that he could have pursued the deal in Russia and there would have been nothing wrong with that, but he didn't.

He went on to say the man who was his personal lawyer for years and years is "a weak person."

TRUMP, speaking to reporters outside the White House, says Michael Cohen is "a weak person. And by being weak, unlike other people that you watch, he's a weak person, and what he's trying to do is get a reduced sentence. So he is lying about a project everybody knew about." pic.twitter.com/QVSGJcoRa6

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 29, 2018

Trump has suddenly decided to cancel meetings with Russian President Putin at the G20 summit. Coincidence? Or just avoiding bad optics?

NEW: Trump cancels his G-20 meeting with Putin hours after Cohen Moscow Project news breaks. Trump blames Ukraine Russia tensions. https://t.co/QUMI6fyR3Z

— Christina Wilkie (@christinawilkie) November 29, 2018

Trump less than an hour ago: "I will probably be meeting with President Putin. We haven’t terminated that meeting. I was thinking about it, but they’d like to have it. I think it's a very good time to have the meeting. " https://t.co/iikpOXs7xQ

— Christina Wilkie (@christinawilkie) November 29, 2018

One more thing - don't forget this email from Felix Sater to Michael Cohen in 2015 saying, "Buddy, our boy can become president of the USA and we can engineer it."

Reminder of a Felix Sater email sent to Michael Cohen in 2015:

"Buddy our boy can become president of the USA and we can engineer it," Sater wrote. "I will get all of Putins team to buy in on this, I will manage this process." https://t.co/4fbCWHQpN9

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) November 29, 2018