WASHINGTON — Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller offered the most compelling case yet of President Donald Trump's ties with Russia and the efforts to conceal them when former Trump fixer Michael Cohen acknowledged Thursday that he lied to Congress about the president's interest in a Moscow development project.
Across nine pages of detailed court documents, Mueller's team countered Trump's oft-repeated claims that he had no business interests in Russia.
Cohen not only lied when he told the Senate and House Intelligence Committees that all discussions about a Trump Tower development in Moscow had ceased in January 2016, federal prosecutors said, but sought to hide efforts to push the project to advance Trump's political prospects during the contentious 2016 campaign and limit his possible legal jeopardy.
"Cohen made the false statement to minimize links between the Moscow project and (Trump) and give the false impression that the Moscow project ended before the Iowa caucus and the very first primary in hopes of limiting the ongoing Russia investigations," Mueller's team said in court documents Thursday.
The criminal complaint made public Thursday meticulously separates truth from the fiction Cohen spun for congressional investigators in perhaps his final act as loyal Trump fixer before joining Mueller's team as a crucial cooperating witness.
Cohen's testimony: The Moscow project ended in January 2016 and was not discussed extensively with others in the Trump Organization.
Fact: The Moscow project was discussed multiple times within the Trump company and did not end in January 2016. As late as June 2016 – in the heat of the campaign and as Trump denied any links to Russia – Cohen discussed efforts to obtain Russian approval and briefed Trump and his family members about the project.
Cohen's testimony: Cohen never agreed to travel to Russia in connection with the Moscow project and never considered asking Trump to travel for the project.
Fact: Cohen agreed to travel to Russia in connection with the Moscow project and took steps in contemplation of Trump's possible travel to Moscow. In an email exchange May 4, 2016, with a Trump Organization official, according to court documents, Cohen discussed making a trip before the Republican Convention in Cleveland.
Cohen's testimony: Cohen did not recall any Russian government response or contact about the Moscow project.
Fact: In January 2016, an aide to Russia President Vladimir Putin responded to Cohen's request for assistance with the project. In a 20-minute telephone call with an assistant to Putin's spokesperson, Cohen "requested assistance in moving the project forward, both in securing the land to build the proposed tower and financing construction."
"(The assistant) asked detailed questions and took notes, stating that she would follow up with others in Russia," prosecutors claimed.
The disclosure of Cohen's false statements, delivered to the congressional committees investigating Russia's interference, took official Washington by surprise Thursday as the president prepared to leave on the eve of the G-20 summit in Argentina and a planned, then abruptly canceled, meeting with Putin.
Peppered with questions about Cohen's plea deal, which includes an agreement to cooperate with Mueller, Trump repeatedly called his former personal attorney a "liar" and dismissed the Russia project as a well-known – though failed – enterprise.
"He's a weak person," Trump said of Cohen. "Even if he was right, it doesn't matter. I was running my business. ... I wasn't trying to hide anything."
Despite the disclosures, Trump said before departing that he still intended to meet with Putin, then canceled the scheduled Saturday meeting in midflight, blaming clashes between Russia and Ukraine.
Democrats pounced, promising reinvigorated investigations of Trump's Russia dealings when they take over leadership of the House of Representatives.
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., poised to become chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said the plea revealed that Cohen and Trump each gave false or misleading statements about the president’s real estate interests in Russia.
“All these developments make clear the counterintelligence imperative for the House Intelligence Committee, in the new Congress, to continue to probe the Trump Organization’s financial links to Russia and determine whether the Russians sought financial leverage over Trump and his associates, or hold any such leverage today,” Schiff said.
“The significance of Cohen’s plea is motive. Not Cohen’s motive but Trump’s motive for deferring to Russia over and over again,” said Jens David Ohlin, vice dean of Cornell Law School. “The motive is money and business deals."
