"Individual 1": Trump appears as a central subject of the Mueller probe

"The President, to his knowledge, remembers that there had been such a proposal regarding a hotel," Giuliani said. "He talked to Cohen about it, as Cohen said. A non-binding letter of intent has been sent. As far as he knows, this has never materialized. It was nice of the end of it. "

Alan Dershowitz, Trump's ally and constitutional lawyer, said that Cohen's confession did not suggest that Trump had committed a crime, but could suggest that Trump was not telling the public the whole truth about the Moscow deal.

"It's politically damaging, but I do not know how damaging it is," said Dershowitz. "This is questionable political behavior. This is a good reason for people voting against Trump. But I do not see any crime yet. "

Tim O'Brien, Trump's biographer and diligent critic, said the developments posed significant new challenges for the president.

"This is part of the pattern of fact that leads us to know whether or not there has been collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin," O'Brien said. "I think the ruthless force of the American justice system, which he has tried to undermine since he took office, is around him. I do not think we know where he is going to land. But he is certainly entangled in something that he is ill equipped, legally and personally, to handle. "

Some legal experts have argued that Mueller seemed to draw a portrait of a creditor candidate in the Kremlin. Emails published in Cohen's plea show that Trump is seeking financial support from the Russian government for a private project, while Russian President Vladimir Putin offered to say flattering things about Trump.

"This creates the potential for Trump to feel compelled to repay President Putin, or Russia in general. . . do not put the best interests of the American forward, "said Kopp. "You are creating a potential vulnerability for a future leader of America."

Trump was surprised by Cohen's remarks Thursday morning in the press, said a White House official.

A justice official called the White House board office late Wednesday to inform staff that Cohen would plead guilty in a case the next day, according to a person with direct knowledge of the notification. However, they were not told the details they had seen shortly before Cohen's argument Thursday morning.

Giuliani said the president thought the information development was a free slap of the Mueller team, as he was preparing to leave the White House to get to the top Group of 20 in Argentina.

In public, Trump was provocative, telling reporters that Cohen was a liar and a "weak person" who would do anything to protect himself from the fraud charges he faces in connection with his taxi business. Expressing himself before boarding the Marine One helicopter, he also denigrated Cohen's intelligence, calling it "not very smart".

"He has been convicted of various things unrelated to us," said Trump. "He's a weak person, and what he's trying to do is get a reduced sentence. He is lying about a project that everyone knew about. I mean, we were very open with that. "

He questioned the scrutiny of the Moscow project.

"There would have been no harm if I had done it," Trump said. "When I run for president, that does not mean I'm not allowed to do business."

Trump often worries about seeing Cohen on television, advisers said. Among the White House advisers, Cohen is perceived as an existential threat – as much or more than the Mueller investigation itself because of his longstanding role as a Trump repairer. Trump's legal team only learned on Thursday that Cohen had spent dozens of interviews with Mueller's office, according to a senior administration official.

Trump was furious earlier this year when Cohen released recordings of him, and asked his lawyers and advisers if anything could be done to stop him from going out anymore.

Trump's legal team described Cohen as an imperfect figure whose words make no sense, as when he pleaded guilty in August to eight charges, including paying women for their silence about alleged business with Trump.

Legal experts have stated that prosecutors are unlikely to plead guilty – a brick in the general case – to the word of a person. The documents filed by the prosecutors show that they corroborated and corroborated Cohen's story with contemporary e-mails, and people close to the investigation also report receiving corroborating testimony from other witnesses.

"This is obviously an important plea and statement. This means that when the President represented, during the campaign, that he had no commercial interest in Russia, that was not true, "said Representative Adam B. Schiff (California), the Democrat who ranks as a candidate for the House Intelligence Committee chair. "If the president and his associates were lying in real time while they were looking for this deal, what would what does it mean now, how much can we trust what the president says about a persistent Russian financial interest? "

Giuliani said the president and his company had not tried to conceal his search for a tour project in Moscow and had voluntarily disclosed some of the documents used by Mueller's team in his investigation of Cohen for lying to Congress. . According to a person familiar with the investigation, Cohen and the Trump Organization could not produce some of the key recordings on which Mueller supports. Other witnesses provided copies of these communications.

In the White House, two collaborators said Trump had complained more about Mueller's prosecutors in recent days and was closely following what Corsi and Stone said. Trump has praised extensively his former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, for fighting the Mueller team, who accused Manafort this week of violating the plea agreement by repeatedly lying to prosecutors in the framework of its cooperation promised in the investigation on Russia. Cohen had not been concerned about Trump's spirit, said these two aides.

Many in the White House are trying to avoid talking to the president of the Mueller investigation for fear of being summoned. And the two assistants said that the reason why Trump was complaining more about the investigation recently was not clear. During the mid-term campaign, the president sometimes told councilors that people had forgotten the Mueller probe and pointed out that it no longer dominated the headlines on television.

Alice Crites contributed to this report.