SEPTEMBER 20, 2018
President Trump’s former longtime personal attorney Michael Cohen has reportedly been questioned about Trump’s dealings with Russia by special counsel Robert Mueller’s team in a series of interviews in recent weeks.
ABC News reported Thursday that Cohen has sat for hours of interviews with Mueller’s team, saying they have mainly focused on Trump’s financial and business dealings with Russia and Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
Cohen pleaded guilty last month to bank and tax fraud, as well as campaign finance law violations relating to payments to buy the silence of two women claiming they had affairs with Trump in 2006. Cohen told the court that he violated campaign finance laws at Trump’s direction.
The lawyer worked for years as one of Trump’s closest associates in the Trump Organization. Cohen worked closely on a deal to build a Trump Tower in Moscow up through mid-2016, though the project ultimately fell through.
Cohen reportedly told lawmakers that he had stopped working on the project in January 2016 when he decided the “proposal was not feasible for a variety of business reasons and should not be pursued further.”
While Cohen’s plea deal did not include a cooperation agreement, his attorney, Lanny Davis, indicated that Cohen would be willing to work with the special counsel.
“Mr. Cohen has knowledge on certain subjects that should be of interest to the special counsel and is more than happy to tell the special counsel all that he knows,” Davis said the day Cohen pleaded guilty.
Courtesy: The Hill
