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Another bomb launched by Michael Cohen exploded late Friday night: he reportedly told Donald Trump a phone call to the Kremlin asking the Russian government's help for the construction of a Trump tower in Moscow in 2016
And Cohen also claims In 2017, he was talking with Trump's lawyers and White House staff while he was writing a misleading statement to Congress in the purpose of concealing the truth about the Moscow project and Trump's level of involvement.
The two charges were laid Friday night by Cohen's lawyers in a case brought by special advocate Robert Mueller. These were contained in a sentencing memorandum in which Cohen was asking for a prison sentence in exchange for his cooperation with Mueller's investigation of Russia's interference during the war. election of 2016.
Cohen had stated last year to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees that he had only spoken to Trump about the construction project of A 100-story skyscraper in the Russian capital. Cohen also said that his general Kremlin inquiry remained unanswered.
But Mueller's office said that Cohen, a former Trump Organization executive, had repeatedly informed Trump of this project and had a 20-minute phone call in January 2016 with the assistant's assistant. 39, a Kremlin official, during which Cohen had asked the Russian government to help him get funding and land. for Trump's tower.
Cohen's lawyers added Friday that Trump informed Trump of this extraordinary request from the Kremlin while Trump ran for president.
Rudy Giuliani, Trump's attorney, distanced his client from the project, claiming Thursday that the proposal "never went beyond" a letter of intent signed in October 2015. "She was abandoned, they withdrew," said Giuliani. .
"It was Cohen's contract," Giuliani stressed, claiming that Trump had not spoken directly to the project about the Russians.
When the news of the Trump Tower proposal in Moscow was unveiled in 2017, Cohen was called to the Capitol. Hill to explain his role and other issues related to Russia.
Cohen told the court that the Moscow project was dead in January 2016. In fact, he was still alive, including discussions on Trump's and Cohen's trip to Russia. for him – until June 2016.
Cohen's lawyers stated that this misleading testimony had been prepared last summer, while Mr. Cohen "remained in close and regular contact with the staff and the White House legal adviser "to Trump.
The cover was made when Cohen "knew specifically" that Trump and his spokesmen had sought to portray the "actually completed" Moscow project in front of the Iowa caucuses in February 2016.
" At the time, Michael justified his false summary of the case on the grounds that the Moscow project was ultimately unsuccessful, wrote the lawyers.
The charges were laid in a sentencing memorandum to a federal judge in Manhattan. On Thursday, Cohen pleaded guilty to making false statements to Congress about the Moscow plan. he should be sentenced next week. He will also learn how long he will be behind bars for financial and electoral fraud charges for his role in paying for two alleged Trump mistresses, for whom he pleaded guilty in August.
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