Trump received 10 personal updates from Michael Cohen and encouraged a planned meeting with Vladimir Putin.
President Donald Trump directed his longtime attorney Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about negotiations to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, according to two federal law enforcement officials involved in an investigation of the matter.
Trump also supported a plan, set up by Cohen, to visit Russia during the presidential campaign, in order to personally meet President Vladimir Putin and jump-start the tower negotiations. “Make it happen,” the sources said Trump told Cohen.
And even as Trump told the public he had no business deals with Russia, the sources said Trump and his children, Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr., received regular, detailed updates about the real estate development from Cohen, whom they put in charge of the project.
Cohen pleaded guilty in November to lying about the deal in testimony and in a two-page statement to the Senate and House intelligence committees. Special counsel Robert Mueller noted that Cohen’s false claim that the project ended in January 2016 was an attempt to “minimize links between the Moscow Project and Individual 1” — widely understood to be Trump — “in hopes of limiting the ongoing Russia investigations.”
Now the two sources have told BuzzFeed News that Cohen also told the special counsel that after the election, the president personally instructed him to lie — by claiming that negotiations ended months earlier than they actually did — in order to obscure Trump’s involvement.
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This revelation is not the first evidence to suggest the president may have attempted to obstruct the FBI and special counsel investigations into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election.
But Cohen’s testimony marks a significant new frontier: It is the first known example of Trump explicitly telling a subordinate to lie directly about his own dealings with Russia.
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- Discussion
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President Trump Directed His Attorney To Lie To Congress About The Moscow Tower Project https://t.co/NtxPAXMUOa
— BuzzFeed (@BuzzFeed) January 18, 2019
BREAKING: BuzzFeed News report: President Trump directed longtime attorney Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about negotiations to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, according to two federal law enforcement officials involved in an investigation of the matter. pic.twitter.com/0wtcij1da9
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) January 18, 2019
Sure does. https://t.co/GQW6E4shKz
— Susan Hennessey (@Susan_Hennessey) January 18, 2019
I've cautioned everyone to keep your foot off the impeachment pedal because this Senate will never convict.
If this story is true and *proven,* I think there's no choice but to impeach the President of The United States for obstruction and subornation of perjury.
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) January 18, 2019
Lordy, I hope there's tapes https://t.co/dXwnSQcnif
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) January 18, 2019
The implications of the BuzzFeed article that Trump personally directed Cohen to lie to Congress about Russia… if true. pic.twitter.com/e1jXmy2dcl
— Josh Jordan (@NumbersMuncher) January 18, 2019
Was just tipped off via DM. This reporter is the first name on the buzzfeed byline. So yeah, my skepticism wasn’t unwarranted. https://t.co/IySHs1Zv0l
— Bethany S. Mandel (@bethanyshondark) January 18, 2019
This is a correct take. https://t.co/NtY6o98cnW
— Jonah Goldberg (@JonahNRO) January 18, 2019
WATCH: Cohen's advisor, Lanny Davis, responds to Buzzfeed report: 'The story stands on its own' #MTPDaily pic.twitter.com/sxB3UkdRxK
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) January 18, 2019
UPDATE: The special counsel's office has taken the rare step of issuing a statement in response to our report on Michael Cohen being directed by Trump to lie to Congress:https://t.co/WA2fZcdK9u pic.twitter.com/PY1r9LxDid
— Jason Leopold (@JasonLeopold) January 19, 2019
Who could have possibly predicted that a "bombshell" from a journalist who's a notorious and well-documented fabulist and fabricator (and who's appeared on RT) would turn out to be bullshit?
When SCO has to publicly call you out, you and your outlet need to reassess your lives.
— John Schindler (@20committee) January 19, 2019
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