Michael Cohen pleads guilty for misstatements to Congress
US President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, has pleaded guilty to lying to Congress in relation to the Russia investigation.
Cohen on Thursday reached a deal with the US Justice Department’s special counsel, Robert Mueller, who is leading the investigation into alleged Russian intervention in the 2016 presidential election.
Cohen then pleaded guilty for misstatements while testifying before two congressional intelligence committees in 2017 about his contacts with Russians during the presidential campaign.
He said he made a false statement about the effort to build a Trump Tower in Moscow during the 2016 presidential campaign, and acknowledged that he made false statements about the timing of the project.
Last year, Cohen submitted a statement to Congress saying all efforts relating to the project had ceased by January 2016. But in fact the project continued until June 2016.
Following the reports of his pleading guilty, Trump slammed Cohen’s admission and called his former lawyer very weak.
He said Cohen was “lying” in order to receive a reduced sentence.
“He’s trying to get a much lesser sentence by making up the story,” Trump said, adding “everybody knows about this deal.”
Mueller was appointed by the US Justice Department to lead the probe a week after Trump had fired FBI Director James Comey, who was leading a federal investigation into possible collusion with Russia.
Trump initially said he had fired Comey because his leadership of the FBI was inadequate and hurt morale, but in a later interview with NBC he cited “this Russia thing” as his reason.
Although four people connected with Trump's campaign and presidency have been charged so far, the president has repeatedly denied allegations and condemned the ongoing investigations a “Witch Hunt for evil politics.”
He has also described his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Convention (DNC), as being the real colluders with Russia.
According to reports, Clinton and the DNC, had paid Russians to put together the so-called “Russian dossier” which contains alleged evidence about Trump’s ties to Russia.
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