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Trump's Ex-Lawyer Pleads Guilty to New Charge

by VOA News

   President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, pleaded
   guilty Thursday to a new charge of lying to Congress about a Russian
   real estate venture Trump sought to develop during his presidential
   campaign.

   The charge was filed by special counsel Robert Mueller, who is leading
   a probe into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election.

   Cohen, who previously pleaded guilty to violating campaign finance
   laws, directed efforts to construct a Trump-branded complex in Moscow.

   He admitted to a federal judge in New York he lied about the timing of
   negotiations and other information in order to be consistent with
   Trump's "political message" and "to be loyal to Individual One," a
   reference to Trump during the court session.

   Among the lies Cohen told the Senate Intelligence Committee in 2017 was
   that discussions of the project ended by January 2016 when they
   actually continued until June of that year.

   Trump strongly denounced his former attorney, accusing him of
   succumbing to pressure from prosecutors.

   "He's a weak person and what he's trying to do is get a reduced
   sentence," Trump told reporters outside the White House. "So he's lying
   about a project that everybody knew about. I mean we were very open
   with it. We were thinking about building a building," Trump added.

   "I decided ultimately not to do it. There would have been nothing wrong
   if I did do it. If I did do it, there would have been nothing wrong,"
   Trump said.

   The developments come as Trump continues almost daily attacks on
   Mueller's investigation of Trump campaign links to Russia and whether
   Trump, as president, obstructed justice in an effort to thwart the
   probe.

   Trump last week provided written answers to about two dozen questions
   posed by Mueller about his own actions and recollections of the
   campaign.

   It is not known, however, whether Mueller will seek to follow up with
   more questions for Trump, now nearly halfway through his first term in
   the White House.