UPDATE: Robert Mueller’s office has since disputed the accuracy of the BuzzFeed report.
ORIGINAL STORY BELOW:
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump personally directed his longtime former attorney Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about the Moscow Trump Tower project, two federal law enforcement officials involved in an investigation of the matter told BuzzFeed.
The law enforcement officials told BuzzFeed that Trump directed Cohen to claim negotiations to build a Trump Tower in Moscow ended months earlier than they actually did.
The law enforcement sources told BuzzFeed that Cohen confirmed to special counsel Robert Mueller’s team that Trump issued the order to lie to Congress.
Mueller’s office learned Trump directed Cohen to lie to Congress through interviews with multiple witnesses from the Trump Organization, internal company emails, text messages and other documents, Buzzfeed reports.
When asked for comment, Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani said, “If you believe Cohen I can get you a great deal on the Brooklyn Bridge.”
Cohen declined to comment to BuzzFeed, as did a spokesman for the special counsel’s office.
House intelligence committee chairman, Democrat Adam Schiff of California, said he will “do what is necessary” to confirm the report.
Trump supported a plan to personally visit Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign, BuzzFeed reports, to meet with President Vladimir Putin to negotiate. According to BuzzFeed, Trump said to Cohen, “Make it happen.”
The law enforcement sources familiar with Cohen’s testimony to Mueller’s office told BuzzFeed that the president, Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr. received regular, detailed updates from Cohen about the Moscow project.
A spokesman for Ivanka Trump’s attorney told BuzzFeed that she was “only minimally involved” in the project.
“Ms. Trump did not know about this proposal until after a nonbinding letter of intent had been signed, never talked to anyone outside the Organization about the proposal, never visited the prospective project site and, even internally, was only minimally involved,” Peter Mirijanian told BuzzFeed.
In September 2017, Trump Jr. testified in front of the House Judiciary Committee and was asked if he had any involvement in the potential project.
“I was peripherally aware of it, but most of my knowledge has been gained since as it relates to hearing about it over the last few weeks,” he said, according to a transcript of the interview.
A document shows Donald Trump had signed a letter of intent to move forward with negotiations to build a Trump Tower in Russia despite Giuliani initially claiming the document was never signed.
Giuliani then admitted he was incorrect and said, “I probably meant to say there was never a deal, much less a signed one.”
The project would’ve given Trump’s company a $4 million upfront fee, no upfront costs, a percentage of the sales and control over marketing and design. The deal also included an opportunity to name the hotel spa after Ivanka Trump.
Cohen pleaded guilty in November to making false statements to Congress about the Russia investigation.
While pleading guilty, Cohen said he and Trump had spoken more extensively about the propose Moscow Trump Tower project during the 2016 presidential election than he had admitted to Congress.
Cohen previously said talks about the Moscow project had ended in January 2016. He said he lied out of a sense of obligation to Trump.
Cohen’s guilty plea revealed Cohen had been soliciting help from officials in the Russian government at a time when then-candidate Trump was praising Putin and disavowing any suggestion he was seeking to do business in Russia.
On plenty of occasions throughout the campaign, Trump declared that he had “nothing to do with Russia.”
Cohen is cooperating with Mueller and has spoken with the special counsel’s office for more than 70 hours on topics beyond the proposed Moscow project, a source said.