Michael Cohen's plea agreement with special counsel Robert Mueller seems to tie together two big threads -- collusion and obstruction -- in the sprawling Russia probe.
The longtime Trump Organization attorney pleaded guilty Thursday to lying to the U.S. Congress about his attempts to secure a real estate deal in Moscow on behalf of the president's family business.
Cohen, who pleaded guilty in August to campaign finance violations related to payouts to porn actress Stormy Daniels, told Mueller's office that he continued working as late as June 2016 on a deal to build a Trump Tower in Russia's capital.
He had told lawmakers last year those efforts ended in January 2016.
Cohen's plea also shows that he was in direct contact with at least one Kremlin official in early 2016 as part of his efforts to secure the real estate deal.
The attorney told investigators that he emailed the press secretary for Russian president Vladimir Putin on Jan. 14, 2016, and again two days later, saying he was trying to reach another high-level Russian official who was not identified in the court document.
Cohen received an email from the press secretary's personal assistant Jan. 20, 2016, asking him to call her Moscow-based phone number -- which the attorney did, and they spoke for about 20 minutes.
He told the Kremlin employee about his position in the Trump Organization, and described the proposed Moscow project and identified a development company as their partner.
"COHEN requested assistance in moving the project forward, both in securing land to build the proposed tower and financing the construction," the plea agreement says.
The assistant asked detailed questions and took notes, according to Mueller's investigators, and two days later Cohen heard from an individual who appears to be Felix Sater, a Russian-born businessman who worked with Trump Organization on the deal.
"The day after COHEN’s call with Assistant 1, Individual 2 (Sater) contacted him, asking for a call," the plea says. "Individual 2 wrote to COHEN, 'It’s about [the President of Russia] they called today.'"
The plea agreement shows Cohen and Sater tried to arrange a trip by the attorney to Russia -- and possibly Trump himself.
“I had a chat with Moscow," Sater wrote Cohen on May 4, 2016, according to the plea. "ASSUMING the trip does happen the question is before or after the convention ... Obviously the pre-meeting trip (you only) can happen anytime you want but the 2 big guys where [sic] the question. I said I would confirm and revert.”
“My trip before Cleveland," Cohen responded. "[Individual 1] once he becomes the nominee after the convention.”
Sater told Cohen the following day the Russian press secretary would like to invite him to a forum in mid-June 2016 in St. Petersburg, where he offered to introduce the attorney to Putin or the Russian prime minister to discuss "anything you want."
"Works for me," Cohen wrote back May 6, 2016.
However, Cohen stopped responding to Sater's messages after June 9, 2016 -- the date of the infamous Trump Tower meeting between top campaign officials and a Russian lawyer.
Cohen met with Sater on June 14, 2016 -- the same day Russian hackers were first publicly blamed for the DNC hacks -- in the lobby of Trump Tower in Manhattan and said he would not be traveling at that time.
The attorney told investigators that he had previously lied about his activities to obstruct the Mueller investigation.
"COHEN made the false statements to (1) minimize links between the Moscow Project and Individual 1 and (2) give the false impression that the Moscow Project ended before 'the Iowa caucus and ... the very first primary,' in hopes of limiting the ongoing Russia investigations," the plea agreement says.
Cohen plainly stated in court that he lied as political protection for Trump.
“I made these statements to be consistent with Individual-1’s political messaging and to be loyal to Individual-1,” Cohen told the court.
