By Aaron Miller-
President Donald Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen has pleaded guilty to lying to Congress in relation to the Russia inquiry.
Mr Cohen admission to have misled lawmakers about talks over a Trump property deal in Moscow during the presidential race comes as a blow to the president who has flatly denied the claims.
Mr Trump said his former right-hand man was not ”smart” and was “lying” to seek a reduced sentence.
The admission compounds earlier ones made in August when Mr Cohen pleaded guilty to violating finance laws during the 2016 presidential election by handling hush money for Mr Trump’s alleged lovers. It relates to the U.S Department of Justice special counsel’s investigation into whether Mr Trump or his inner circle colluded with a Russian attempt to influence the 2016 presidential election.
Mr Trump was responding to reporters as he prepared to leave the White House for a G20 summit in Buenos Aires, which he apparently later cancelled: “He’s a weak person and not a very smart person.
“He’s got himself a big prison sentence, he said in his defense. And he’s trying to get a much lesser prison sentence by making up this story.” Mr Trump told reporters of the Moscow real estate project, which never came to fruition: “When I’m running for president that doesn’t mean I’m not allowed to do business.”
He added: “He’s lying about a project that everybody knew about. I mean, we were very open with it.”Cohen was speaking before a federal judge in Manhattan on Thursday morning, Mr Cohen, 52, pleaded guilty to one count of making false statements to Congress.
The former dedicated lawyer of the president who once vowed to take a bullet for Trump admitted at the hearing that he had submitted a false written statement about a Trump Organization plan to build a skyscraper bearing Mr Trump’s name in the Russian capital.
“I made these misstatements to be consistent with individual 1’s political messaging and out of loyalty to individual 1,” Mr Cohen said in court, according to Reuters news agency.
His reference to “individual 1” is Mr Trump. Cohen told the Senate and House intelligence committees that talks over the Moscow project had lasted from September 2015 until January 2016, while Mr Trump was campaigning for US president. Details revealed in the criminal complaint also state that Cohen was well aware about negotiations over the Moscow project until June 2016.
Mr Cohen also told lawmakers he had had limited contact with Mr Trump about the project, despite later admitting his contact with mr.Trump had been “more extensive”.
Image: Daily News.Com