Tag: Michael Cohen

Scuttled Trump Tower Moscow project back in limelight after Cohen guilty plea

Trump associate and convicted felon Felix Sater told NBC News that he discussed a plan with Cohen to give a penthouse in the proposed Moscow skyscraper to Putin.

For years, President Donald Trump flirted with the idea of opening a massive, Trump-branded skyscraper in Moscow.

After holding his Miss Universe pageant there in 2013, Trump tagged Russian billionaire developer Aras Agalarov in a tweet and promised that “Trump Tower-Moscow” was next.

The project never came to be. But the Trump Organization’s attempts to get a deal green-lit caught the attention of congressional investigators and special counsel Robert Mueller probing Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and whether there was any collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian officials.

View the complete November 29 article by Ken Dilanian and Allan Smith on the NBCNews.com website here.

How a Lawyer, a Felon and a Russian General Chased a Moscow Trump Tower Deal

Felix Sater, a longtime business associate of President Trump’s, drew on deep Russian contacts to pursue a real estate deal during the 2016 campaign. One of those contacts was a former intelligence official in Russia.

When Donald J. Trump took a run at building a tower in Moscow in the middle of his 2016 presidential campaign, it was the high point of a decades-long effort to plant the “Trump” flag there.

The role his former lawyer Michael D. Cohen played in the endeavor entered the spotlight again on Thursday after he pleaded guilty to misleading Congress. But the effort was led in large part by Felix Sater, a convicted felon and longtime business associate with deep ties to Russia.

To get the project off the ground, Mr. Sater dug into his address book and its more than 100 Russian contacts — including entries for President Vladimir V. Putin and a former general in Russian military intelligence. Mr. Sater tapped the general, Evgeny Shmykov, to help arrange visas for Mr. Cohen and Mr. Trump to visit Russia, according to emails and interviews with several people knowledgeable about the events.

View the complete November 29 by Mike McIntire, Megan Twohey and Mark Mazzetti on The New York Times website here.

Michael Cohen’s new guilty plea should scare the pants off Donald Trump and the White House

Michael Cohen, former personal attorney to Donald Trump, pleaded making false statements to Congress about a Moscow real estate project Trump pursued during the months he was running for president. Credit: Drew Angerer, Getty Images

Cohen pleaded guilty to lying before Congress about Donald Trump’s real estate dealings in Russia.

Longtime Donald Trump attorney Michael Cohen made a surprise appearance in a Manhattan federal court on Thursday, where he pleaded guilty to a federal crime as part of a new agreement with Special Counsel Robert Mueller in connection with his ongoing Russia investigation.

Cohen pleaded guilty to lying under oath before Congress when he testified in a closed-door hearing in the fall of 2017. According to the Associated Press, his false statements involved Donald Trump’s business dealings in Russia.

Eric Tucker@etuckerAP

NEW YORK (AP) — Michael Cohen pleads guilty to lying to Congress about Trump real estate project in Russia.

541

Twitter Ads info and privacy

245 people are talking about this

Twitter Ads info and privacy

The financial ties between the Trump Organization and Russian investors has long been thought to be a central focus of Mueller’s investigation. A draft of questionsMueller’s team planned to pose to Donald Trump included a specific inquiry about any communication Trump had with Cohen regarding Russian real estate developments during the campaign. Trump reportedly submitted answers to Mueller’s team just last week.

View the complete November 29 article by Adam Peck and Jason Linkins on the Think Progress.org website here.

Cohen pleads guilty for misstatements to Congress about contacts with Russians

President Trump‘s former personal attorney Michael Cohen on Thursday pleaded guilty for misstatements he made to Congress while testifying about his contacts with Russians during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Cohen appeared in a federal court in Manhattan after reaching a deal with special counsel Robert Mueller.

He pleaded guilty to making a false statement about the effort to build a Trump Tower in Moscow during the 2016 presidential campaign while testifying before Congress, according to court documents, and made false statements about the timing of the project.

View the complete November 29 article by Justin Wise on The Hill website here.

Federal Prosecutors Have Evidence Trump Was Directly Involved in Michael Cohen’s Criminal Hush Money Payments: Report

Cohen has already pleaded guilty to the charges.

President Donald Trump had a “central role” in the hush money payout schemes that have already led to Michael Cohen, his former lawyer, pleading guilty to federal campaign finance crimes, according to a new report in the Wall Street Journal.

Cohen has pleaded guilty to buying the silence of former model Karen McDougal and porn star Stormy Daniels, both of whom say they had affairs with Trump before he became president. All contributions to a candidates’ campaign for president must be reported as such. In concealing these payments, prosecutors charged, Cohen violated these laws.

Cohen said when he was sentenced that he was directed by the candidate — Trump himself — to carry out these acts. And according to the Wall Street Journal, federal prosecutors have extensive evidence that Trump was indeed a central figure in coordinating the hush money schemes, despite his previous denials.

View the November 9 article by Cody Fenwick on the AlterNet.org website here.

Michael Cohen has reportedly discussed Trump’s dealings with Russia in interviews with Mueller

Michael Cohen has discussed President Donald Trump’s dealings with Russia in hours of interviews with special counsel Robert Mueller’s team over the past month, ABC News reported Thursday.

According to ABC News, Trump’s former personal attorney and fixer has participated in multiple interviews with Mueller in recent weeks, the conversations in which “focused primarily on all aspects of Trump’s dealings with Russia — including financial and business dealings and the investigation into alleged collusion with Russia by the Trump campaign and its surrogates to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election.”

Investigators also reportedly asked whether Trump or anyone close to him had discussed the possibility of a pardon with Cohen, suggesting Mueller’s team is considering Cohen’s testimony in their probe into possible obstruction of justice on the part of the president.

View the complete September 20 article by Eric Lutz on the Mic.com website here.

Want to Know More About: Michael Cohen and the National Enquirer?

Alisyn Camerota: “Sources Tell CNN, President Trump’s Longtime Personal Attorney Michael Cohen Has Accepted The Fact That He Is Likely Going To Prison.” ALISYN CAMEROTA: “Sources tell CNN, President Trump’s long time personal attorney Michael Cohen has accepted the fact that he is likely going to prison. Sources tell CNN, He took a plea deal to protect his family from more financial and legal troubles.” [New Day, CNN, 8/30/18; Video]

Jeffery Toobin: “Trump Was Also A Source For Pecker, Not Just About Himself, But About Other Celebrities. And This Story Suggests That The Inquirer Knew A Lot About His Personal Life, And Trump Himself Was Very Concerned About Keeping Private.” JEFFERY TOOBIN: “Pecker’s American media published an entire magazine that was just about the Trump properties. It was something that you got in your hotel room when you checked into a trump property. It gives you an idea of how close they were. He was, Trump was also a source for Pecker, not just about himself, but about other celebrities. And this story suggests that the inquirer knew a lot about his personal life, and trump himself was very concerned about keeping private.” [New Day, CNN, 8/30/18; Video]

Alisyn Camerota “We Now Know More About Why The National Enquirer Needed A Safe. There Was Apparently A Lot Of Dirt The National Enquirer Had Been Gathering On Donald Trump Since The 1980’s.” ALISYN CAMEROTA : “We now know more about why the National enquirer needed a safe. There was apparently a lot of dirt the National enquirer had been gathering on Donald Trump since the 1980’s. This is new reporting from the New York Times Jim Rutenberg and Maggie Habberman, and that Michael Cohen and then candidate Donald Trump had talked about buying up all of it so nothing leaked out slowly and incrementally.” [New Day, CNN, 8/30/18; Video]

“Trump is nuts. This time really feels different”: Trump rejects “war council” intervention, goes it alone

The following article by Gabriel Sherman was posted on the Vanity Fair website August 27, 2018:

With his closest allies defecting, the president increasingly trusts only his instincts. He “got joy” from stripping former C.I.A. director John Brennan’s security clearance. And after betrayals by Allen Weisselberg and David Pecker, a former White House official says, Trump “spent the weekend calling people and screaming.”

After Michael Cohen’s plea deal last week, Donald Trump spiraled out of control, firing wildly in all directions. He railed against “flippers” in a rambling Fox & Friends interview, and lashed out on Twitter at Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the Justice Department, and Robert Mueller. In the wake of his outbursts, White House officials have discussed whether Trump would listen to his closest New York City friends in an effort to rein him in. Two sources briefed on the matter told me that senior officials talked about inviting Rudy Giuliani and a group of Trump’s New York real-estate friends including Tom Barrack, Richard LeFrak, and Howard Lorber to the White House to stage an “intervention” last week. “It was supposed to be a war council,” one source explained. But Trump refused to take the meeting, sources said. “You know Trump—he hates being lectured to,” the source added. (Spokespeople for LeFrak and Lorber say they have no knowledge of a meeting. A spokesperson for Barrack didn’t comment.) Continue reading ““Trump is nuts. This time really feels different”: Trump rejects “war council” intervention, goes it alone”

‘He can’t get rid of any of this’: Trump’s wall of secrecy erodes amid growing legal challenges

The following article by David A. Fahrenthold, Josh Dawsey and Rosalind S. Helderman was posted on the Washington Post website August 25, 2018:

President Trump’s wall of secrecy — the work of a lifetime — is starting to crack.

His longtime lawyer, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty last weekto breaking campaign-finance laws and said he had arranged hush-money payments to two women at Trump’s direction. A tabloid executive — who had served Trump by snuffing out damaging tales before they went public — and Trump’s chief financial officer gave testimony in the case.

All three had been part of the small circle of family, longtime aides and trusted associates who have long played crucial roles in Trump’s strategy to shield the details of his personal life and business dealings from prying outsiders.

View the complete article here.

Devin Nunes silent after Trump gang’s 16 convictions and guilty pleas

The following article by Caroline Orr was posted on the ShareBlue.com website August 24, 2018:

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.)Credit: Carlos Barria, Reuters

Rep. Devin Nunes seems to hope that ignoring the damning news will make it go away.

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) is one of Trump’s most outspoken defenders. He even admitted, during a private fundraiser, that he uses his position as head of the House Intelligence Committee to shield Trump from scrutiny as the ongoing Russia investigation continues to deliver damning evidence.

And to be sure, there’s plenty of damning evidence that Trump needs protection from: Two dozen people, including five in Trump’s inner circle, have been charged in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.

That’s what makes Nunes’ silence this week so conspicuous.

View the complete article here.