Getty Michael Cohen
Former Trump confidant and lawyer Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to lying to Congress Thursday in a New York court.
The man who said he’d take a bullet for Trump did a 180 earlier this year when he pleaded guilty to eight federal charges and admitted his guilt in the stripper and porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal hush-money payments in 2016, done to interfere with the election.
Thursday’s plea was to charges brought by special counsel Robert Mueller for false statements the New York taxi magnate and Trump fixer made to the House Intelligence Committee in August of 2017 when he emphatically denied he colluded with Russia to disrupt the 2016 election. The charge reflects statements Cohen made in reference to a Trump Tower in Moscow project wherein he denied involvement.
Cohen has been depicted as a key actor in a Trump-Russia conspiracy to subvert the presidential election as outlined in the Steele dossier.
Cohen, 51, could have faced a five-year maximum sentence and $250,000 fine but in the plea deal, he may be looking at no time and a significantly reduced fine. See the plea deal below.
Cohen lied when he wrote in a letter to Congress that one, the “Moscow Project ended in January 2016 and was not
discussed extensively with others in the Company” and two, “COHEN never agreed to travel to Russia in connection
with the Moscow Project and ‘never considered’ asking Individual 1 to travel for the project.”
Wow. Cohen plea indicates that he successfully reached an aide to President Putin in January 2016 after he emailed Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov for help on a Trump Tower Moscow deal. He had insisted he emailed a general address and never heard back.
Individual 1 is Trump, it’s reported.
Read the criminal information and charges here:
Here’s the plea deal Cohen cut with Mueller:
Meanwhile, Trump told NBC News it never happened but even if it did, it was all perfectly legal.
LIVE: @NBCNews Special Report: President Trump speaks after Michael Cohen pleads guilty to lying about Trump Tower project in Moscow.
“He’s lying about a project everyone knew about. We were very open about,” Trump said. “I decided ultimately not to do it (but) there would have been nothing wrong if I did do it.”
Trump said Cohen is “lying” and a “weak person” trying to get a reduced sentence.