Michael Cohen Pleads Guilty to Lying to Congress About Trump Tower Moscow Timeline

Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney and longtime fixer, pleaded guilty on November 29, 2018, to making false statements to Congress about the Trump Organization’s negotiations to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. This was Cohen’s second guilty plea in 2018 and came as part of a cooperation agreement with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office. The case directly implicated the Trump campaign’s business ties to Russia, revealing that negotiations with the Kremlin continued deep into the 2016 presidential primary season while Trump publicly denied having business relationships with Russia.

The False Testimony

In August and September 2017, Cohen provided written testimony to both the Senate Intelligence Committee and House Intelligence Committee regarding the Trump Tower Moscow project. According to the criminal information filed by Mueller’s office in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Cohen made multiple material false statements designed to minimize the extent and duration of the Moscow project negotiations.

Cohen falsely claimed that discussions about the project ended in January 2016, when they actually continued through at least June 2016—well into the presidential primary campaign. He also falsely stated that he had “limited” discussions with Trump and other Trump Organization executives about the project, when in fact he briefed Trump and family members multiple times throughout 2016. Most significantly, Cohen lied about his direct communications with the Russian government, claiming he never received a response to an outreach attempt to Vladimir Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov, when he had actually spoken with a Peskov assistant and discussed Russian government assistance with the project.

Direct Kremlin Contact

Court documents revealed that in January 2016, Cohen sent an email directly to Peskov’s office requesting assistance in moving the Trump Tower Moscow project forward. On January 20, 2016, Cohen spoke by phone with an assistant to Peskov for approximately 20 minutes, discussing the development project and requesting support from the Russian government. This direct line of communication between Trump’s personal attorney and Putin’s spokesperson occurred while Trump was campaigning for president and repeatedly claiming he had “no dealings” with Russia.

The project discussions included a potential $50 million penthouse for Putin himself—a detail Cohen later confirmed to Mueller’s team. Trump personally signed a letter of intent for the project in October 2015, and Cohen continued coordinating with Russian developer Felix Sater throughout the primary season, with Sater promising that Putin’s involvement would help Trump “get elected.”

Coordination with Trump and Campaign

Cohen admitted in his guilty plea that he made these false statements “to be consistent with [Trump’s] political messaging and to be loyal” to Trump. The criminal information noted that Cohen discussed his congressional testimony with Trump and other Trump Organization officials before submitting it. This coordination raised serious questions about whether Trump or his associates directed Cohen to lie to Congress—a potential obstruction of justice and conspiracy charge.

The Mueller Report (Volume II, pages 140-147) extensively analyzed Trump’s role in Cohen’s false statements but ultimately concluded that while Trump created the false narrative about having no Russia business dealings, investigators could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Trump explicitly directed Cohen to lie.

Legal Consequences

Cohen pleaded guilty to one count of making false statements to Congress in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001(a)(2), which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. This charge was prosecuted by Mueller’s Special Counsel’s Office but adjudicated in the Southern District of New York, where Cohen was already facing sentencing for campaign finance violations and tax fraud from his August 2018 guilty plea.

On December 12, 2018, Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison for the combined charges, with two months served concurrently for the false statements to Congress. Judge William Pauley III noted that Cohen’s cooperation with Mueller’s investigation was a mitigating factor but that his crimes were serious violations undermining governmental functions.

Accountability Implications

Cohen’s guilty plea represented the most direct link to date between the Trump campaign and Russia business dealings during the 2016 election. It demolished Trump’s repeated claims of having “no business” with Russia and revealed that the campaign was actively pursuing a massive Moscow real estate deal requiring Kremlin approval while Trump won the Republican primary. The case demonstrated that Trump associates were willing to lie under oath to Congress to protect the president’s false narrative about Russia ties.

The fact that Cohen coordinated his false testimony with Trump and the Trump Organization raised the possibility that Trump himself could be charged with suborning perjury or obstruction of Congress. However, Mueller’s investigation ultimately did not bring such charges against Trump, citing both evidentiary challenges and Department of Justice policy against indicting sitting presidents. Cohen served approximately 13 months of his sentence before being released to home confinement in May 2020 due to COVID-19 concerns. Unlike other Trump associates, Cohen was not pardoned, likely due to his extensive cooperation with prosecutors and his public criticism of Trump.