It’s getting hot in here.
Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s former lawyer, plead guilty today to lying to Congress about a Trump real estate project in Russia. Cohen has secured a new plea deal with special counsel Robert Mueller.
From CNN:
According to the info being read out, Cohen made a false statement regarding Trump Tower deal in Moscow that he was working on in 2015 & 2016. He had discussion about the project even later. Cohen previously said the deal was stopped in January 2016.
BOOMhttps://t.co/5FU94PFZri pic.twitter.com/HZTNmFTl4l
— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) November 29, 2018
From ABC News, earlier this morning:
Cohen is scheduled to appear in federal court in Manhattan on Thursday where he is expected to enter a guilty plea for misstatements to Congress in closed-door testimony last year about his contacts with Russians during the presidential campaign.
Once among the president’s most loyal and zealous defenders in business and politics, Cohen has now promised to “put family and country first” by cooperating with prosecutors, becoming perhaps the most pivotal public witness against his former boss.
Cohen’s earlier plea deal with federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York implicated President Trump in campaign finance felonies. Since then, Cohen has spent more than 70 hours in interviews with Mueller’s team. The questioning has focused on contacts with Russians by Trump associates during the campaign, Trump’s business ties to Russia, obstruction of justice and talk of possible pardons, sources familiar with the discussions have told ABC News.
Trump February 2017: “no deals in Russia…” https://t.co/CduR2DgbxD
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) November 29, 2018
President Donald Trump appears as "Individual 1" in the criminal information on Michael Cohen's lie to Congress, reports @vicbekiempis
— Jon Swaine (@jonswaine) November 29, 2018
"This was solely a real estate deal and nothing more." Was that the lie? If so, what more was there to the deal? https://t.co/oyMWuC7GL4
— Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) November 29, 2018
Will we finally learn whether Michael Cohen has ever been to Prague?
— Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) November 29, 2018
Flashback to our scoop from May – Michael Cohen worked on the Trump Tower Moscow deal for longer than he told Congress https://t.co/RMkq8ZP3Uq
— Hunter Walker (@hunterw) November 29, 2018
I did find one false statement in his testimony ?️♂️ pic.twitter.com/JVSE3gRSen
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) November 29, 2018
Deutschebank has been implicated in Russian money laundering AND big loans to Trump (who owed almost half a billion dollars to the bank as of 2018) and Kushner – who got his $$ just before election day. #Russia #Mueller https://t.co/MG2CqKYe3v
— Nina Burleigh (@ninaburleigh) November 29, 2018
No Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under the United States shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.
— Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) November 29, 2018
The new plea concerns Michael Cohen’s statements to Congress about Trump’s business dealings in Moscow before Trump ran for president, @ChrisDolmetsch reports.
Cohen has been cooperating with federal prosecutors, including Mueller, as well as state investigators in New York.— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) November 29, 2018
This is a good time to remind people of @a_cormier_ and @JasonLeopold’s incredible work on Trump Tower Moscow. https://t.co/77qJtmBozs
— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) November 29, 2018
The expected new guilty plea in Federal District Court marks the first time the office of the special counsel, Robert Mueller, has charged Michael Cohen https://t.co/ja1gUuiIU9
— The New York Times (@nytimes) November 29, 2018
Trump 2017: "I have no deals that could happen in Russia"
Michael Cohen now says he made a false statement to Congress about a deal in Moscow that he was working on in 2016. He had discussions about the project even later. https://t.co/IcbFxrUOpU
— David P Gelles (@gelles) November 29, 2018
Michael Cohen was lying pretty regularly – and publicly – about Trump Organization activity in Russia. As we reported in May, Cohen told Hannity in January 2017 they had no business in Russia since Miss Universe. https://t.co/hGihutdFSY pic.twitter.com/C0RmIc7vNP
— andrew kaczynski (@KFILE) November 29, 2018
This is exactly my theory — Mueller didn't rock the boat until he had the answers in hand. Now, though….. https://t.co/tHxEPMfNoi
— Garrett M. Graff (@vermontgmg) November 29, 2018
April 27, 2011:
Michael Cohen and Donald Trump, Portsmouth, New Hampshirehttps://t.co/0A5yC0GPo2 pic.twitter.com/IWkcHKnvjk— Howard Mortman (@HowardMortman) November 29, 2018