President Trump’s former attorney, Michael Cohen, pled guilty on Thursday to lying to Congress about a Trump real estate project in Russia.
The Associated Press reports that Cohen made an unexpected appearance in a New York City courtroom this morning, where he admitted to making a false statement before the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in 2017 about a plan to build Trump Tower Moscow.
Cohen told the Committee that the deal was stopped in January 2016. However, per court documents obtained by CNN, Cohen now admits that talks were ongoing through June of that year, when Trump was the official Republican presidential nominee. Trump has repeatedly said that he had no dealings in Russia.
According to Cohen’s lawyer, this plea is connected to Cohen’s cooperation with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into potential Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
In August, Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations after giving hush money to adult film star Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal—two women who say they had affairs with President Trump—before the election. He has since been on an attempted redemption tour, speaking out against Donald Trump and persuading people to vote Democrat. Now, it appears as if Cohen is speaking his way out of a tougher sentence.
I’ll be sure to let my mom know that it’s time to get her “It’s Mueller Time” mug ready.