Page 4 - ARUBA TODAY

A4 U.S. NEWS
Friday 30 November 2018

Trump's ex-lawyer admits lies about Russian real estate deal

By ERIC TUCKER, LARRY tees last year that the talks step in his evolution from "I was focused on running other details to be loyal to
NEUMEISTER and CHAD ended that January. trusted Trump consigliere for president." He added: Trump and consistent with
DAY, Associated Press Cohen also discussed the — he said Thursday he had "There would be nothing Trump's "political messag-
WASHINGTON (AP) — Presi- proposal with Trump on lied out of "loyalty" — to wrong if I did do it. I was ing." Cohen and prosecu-
dent Donald Trump's for- multiple occasions and prime antagonist. It is the running my business while I tors referred to Trump as
mer lawyer, Michael Co- with unidentified members second time the lawyer's was campaigning." "Individual One" through-
hen, admitted Thursday of the president's family, legal woes have entangled But during the campaign, out Thursday's proceedings
he lied to Congress about according to court papers Trump, coming months af- Trump was repeatedly dis- and said Cohen lied "to be
a Moscow real estate deal filed by special counsel ter Cohen said the presi- missive of claims that he loyal to Individual One."
he had pursued on Trump's Robert Mueller, who is in- dent directed him during had connections to the Cohen said he also lied
behalf during the heat of vestigating Russian inter- his campaign to make hush Kremlin, an issue that flared about his contacts with Rus-
the 2016 Republican cam- ference in the presidential money payments to two as especially sensitive in sian officials and lied when
paign. He said he did so to election and possible co- women who said they had the summer of 2016 after he said he never agreed to
be consistent with Trump's ordination with the Trump sex with Trump. a cybersecurity company travel to Russia in connec-
"political messaging." campaign. Cohen is co- Trump on Thursday called asserted that Moscow was tion with the project and
Cohen's guilty plea makes operating with Mueller and Cohen a "weak person" behind a cyberattack on never discussed with Trump
clear that prosecutors be- has met with his team sev- who was lying to get a the Democratic National plans to travel to Moscow
lieve that Trump, who in- en times, prosecutors say. lighter sentence and re- Committee. to support the project.
sisted repeatedly through- The Cohen case was filed peatedly stressed that the "I have a great company. I Prosecutors said Cohen
out the campaign that he in New York a week after real estate deal at issue built an unbelievable com- had misled Congress to
had no business dealings Trump and his lawyers pro- was never a secret and pany, but if you look there give a false impression that
in Russia, was continuing to vided Mueller with respons- never executed. His law- you'll see there's nothing in the Moscow project had
pursue the project weeks es to written questions and yer, Rudy Giuliani, said that Russia," Trump said at a July ended before the Iowa
after he had clinched the is the first new charge filed Cohen was a "proven liar" 2016 news conference. presidential caucuses and
Republican nomination for by the special counsel and that Trump's business "But zero, I mean I will tell first Republican presidential
president and well after he since the appointment of organization had voluntari- you right now, zero, I have primary in 2016.
and his associates have Matthew Whitaker, who ly given Mueller the same nothing to do with Russia," Nothing said in court, or in
publicly acknowledged. has spoken pejoratively documents cited in the he said at another point. associated court filings, ad-
The negotiations about about the investigation, as guilty plea "because there It was not immediately dressed whether Trump or
building a Russian Trump acting attorney general was nothing to hide." clear whether questions his aides had directed Co-
Tower continued as late with oversight of the probe. "We had a position to pos- about the Russian Trump hen to mislead Congress.
as June 2016 — the same Whitaker was advised of sibly do a deal to build a Tower real estate deal were Thursday's charges were
month Trump's oldest son the plea ahead of time, building of some kind in among those answered handled by Mueller's team,
met in Manhattan with a according to a person fa- Moscow. I decided not to by Trump and his lawyers not the federal prosecutors
Kremlin-connected lawyer miliar with the investigation. do it," Trump said. last week. But a prior list of in New York who handled
— even though Cohen told Cohen's surprise court ap- He said the primary rea- queries that Mueller's team Cohen's previous guilty
two congressional commit- pearance marks the latest son he didn't pursue it was presented to Trump law- plea in August to other fed-
yers this year did include eral charges involving his
a question about it, and taxi businesses, bank fraud
Mueller's team is known to and his campaign work
have asked about Trump's for Trump. Cohen is to be
business dealings over the sentenced Dec. 12, and
years. guidelines call for little to no
If he did answer questions prison on the new charge.
on the topic, Trump could Reacting to the plea,
have problems the re- House Speaker Paul Ryan
sponses deviate from pros- said Cohen "should be
ecutors' factual narrative. prosecuted to the extent of
The nine-page charging the law. That's why we put
document for Cohen trac- people under oath."
es the behind-the-scenes Cohen gave a statement
communication about the to congressional com-
project that almost be- mittees last year saying
came reality in October the president's company
2015 when an obscure Rus- pursued a project in Mos-
sian real estate developer cow but that the plan was
signed a letter of intent sent abandoned "for a variety
by Cohen for a 15-floor ho- of business reasons."
tel, condominium and re- Cohen also said he sent an
tail complex in Moscow. email to the spokesman for
Cohen's comments made Russian President Vladimir
clear that his communica- Putin concerning the po-
tions with Trump about the tential deal.
project were more frequent In his statement, he said
than he had suggested. that he worked on the real
Cohen admitted lying estate proposal with Felix
about the timing of the Sater, a Russia-born associ-
negotiations, his commu- ate who he said claimed to
nications with people in have deep connections in
Trump's company and in Moscow.q
Russia about the deal, and