President trumps normer attorney and fixer Michael Cohen admitting he lied to congress about contacts he had with the kremlin, about building a trump tower in moscow and he misled the lawmakers about how much President Trump was involved. Michael cohen pleaded guilty this morning federal court in manhattan. The plea was part of a deal with the special Counsel Robert Mueller in exchange for cohens cooperation in the russian investigation. According to new records, cohen now admits that he was in talks with the russia president Vladimir Putins righthand man and spokesman to get the trump tower project approved and got an invitation to st. Petersburg. This was going on while candidate trump was running for president. The kremlin interfered with our democracy as Russian Hackers stole emails from the dnc and Hillary ClintonsCampaign Chairman. Michael cohen previously told congress under oath that the moscow project was terminated in january of 2016. Just before the Iowa Caucuses formally started the president ial race. Michael cohen admits that was a lie and that discussions about the project were still going on as late as june of that year. And that he not only did agree to travel to moscow, he asked the president about going as well. Those trips never happened and President Trump claims Michael Cohen is making up a story to get a lighter prison sentence. Hes a weak person. What hes trying to do is get a reduced sentence. Hes lying about a project that everybody knew about. We were very open with it. When i run for president , that doesnt mean im not allowed to do business. I was doing a lot of Different Things when i was running. After i won, obviously i dont do business. Went from january 20th. We had a position to possibly do a deal to build a building of some kind in moscow. I decided not to do it. The primary reason, there could have been other reasons but the primary reason is very simple. I was focused on running for president. There would be nothing wrong if i did do it. I was running my business while i was campaigning. Shepard so the president says Michael Cohen was lying to the special prosecutor in an attempt to get a reduced sentence. If you lie to a special prosecutor, your sentence is not reduced. It adds on to the lies you already told. Just days before President Trump took office, he denied any links to russia. He said i have nothing to do with russia, no deals, no loans, no nothing. The vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence committee, the democrat from virginia, mark warner says Michael Cohens confession is one example of why the Mueller Investigation has to continue unimpeded. This is another example of the president s closest allies lying about their ties to russia and russians. Again, first blush, looking just remarkable, that you had the president s personal lawyer still dealing on a trump tower project through the whole campaign. It appears even into 2017. Shepard Michael Cohens guilty plea comes days after the president provided written answers to some of the special counsel questions. Whether the answers match the sworn testimony from cohen, we dont yet know. Catherine herridge reporting live from washington. Shep, a draft statement by prepared by Michael Cohens lawyers. Based on the new timeline provided by cohen, negotiations with moscow continued into the president ial campaign and during the same month of the controversial june 2015 trump tower meeting. Trump told congress the proposal was under consideration at the Trump Organization from december 2015 until the end of january 2016. He told the court this morning, as you noted, it lasted another five months. He told congress, i never considered asking to travel to russia in connection with this proposal. Mr. Trump was never in contact with anyone other than me on two occasions. Cohen told the court today discussions were more extensive. What we dont know is the extend of cohens cooperation and whether it extends beyond the moscow real estate project. Reports suggest it may. Shepard fox news obtained an email between Michael Cohen and the russian American Business developer very close to Vladimir Putin. These emails are from felix sader, a developer with strong ties to putin that told the Senate Intelligence committee that he was like the enter merary, the goto guy for the moscow real estate project. The very least, sader is a rush born Real Estate Developer turned United States citizen and a guy that plays close to the edge. Also an alleged fbi informant that has boasted about his ties to the russian president. In this 2015 email to cohen, sader writes buddy, our boy can become president of the u. S. A. And we can engineer it. Ill get all of putins team to buy in on this. I will manage this process. Theres no one on this trump that wants donald elected more than i do. The moscow real estate fell through and the president and cohen didnt go to moscow. The emails seem interesting to say the least, shep. Shepard Catherine Herridge reporting live from washington. Lets go to jeffery cramer, former federal prosecutor, assistant u. S. Attorney, now the managing director at Berkeley Research group, which is a good to see you again. Good afternoon. Shepard the lying has been welldocumented. It was not in question before today or last week or last month. The lying is something that has happened repeatedly between by members of the president s inner circle regarding contacts with russia. Does this particular admission of a lie give us any insight as to why the lies might be happen something. You know, i think it does. We have to just step back for a moment. It does give some context as to why different people might be lying, specifically some court of business relationship contemplated, not gone through but contemplated during the election. The problem with answering that question is, we only know one more piece of the puzzle today. Its safe to say that todays plea by mr. Cohen is clear the first time that weve gotten that connection between russian business interests and the Trump Organization. So i think its a consequential day. Shepard so the lying is at least in part about money. Correct. Before we have been talking about wikileaks as you indicated before. Mr. Stone and mr. Corsi is one thread. And now were getting into the finances. Its going to get to the president s tax returns one would assume. Once you start getting into the finances, as you deal with any sort of conspiracy or fraud or anything in the white collar area, it always comes down to money or nine out of ten times and this is probably no exception. Shepard the Money Laundering has been in the either here as the investigation goes on. Theres a lot of examples. For example, back in 2004 when the president bought the house for what was 45 million and then sold it to a Russian Oligarch for 90 million and a lot of instances of possible crossover there. This avenue of Money Laundering, especially given the Deutsche Bank incident overseas, is that coming together as well . We certainly see a little more light into it. Money laundering is always a thread that gets pulled. When you look at any area where money could play a factor, theres always Money Laundering. You have to get the money out. Theres no sense doing any scam or fraud or whatever might be if you cant get the money out. We saw that materialize with mr. Manafort. The machinations that he and mr. Gates went through. Youre right, donald trump had some of these interactions as a private developer, not really shocking, i think youd see that in a lot of large real estate transactions. As we transition now to him being president of the United States, it certainly takes a heightened interest. When you throw in the russians, it throws it more into the spotlight and is going to connect to that trump tower meeting. All of these things is a thread that goes through all of this. I think today was an important part. Shepard you said and you have said repeatedly that what mueller is doing is sending out cards. Warnings to people. If you lie to us, youll be indicted for lying to us. Are there others within the trump family even who might have reason for concern regarding this matter at hand . I think if an objective observer was to look at it, yes. We know from what mr. Cohen said, theres others in the Trump Organization that knew about the time period when the conversations were going on and were aware that a trip to russia was discussed with candidate donald trump. So if youre one of those people in the Trump Organization who has talked to mr. Mueller or congressional hear and and you toed the line, youre having a nervous night tonight. Shepard are you referring to donald trump jr. Or others . Donald trump jr. Is one. Thats a logical inference given what we know to date and mr. Cohens allocution. Those questions would have been asked of donald jr. They may have been asked before on the written questions submitted to the president. They may have been asked and probably were of others in the Trump Organization. Anybody that said january is when it stopped and no trip planned to russia, theyre looking at an indictment square in the face right now. Shepard one more thing. The president said that Michael Cohen is weak and that hes lying. What would your experience be about a defendant in this position lying on this matter . You know, i saw that. Its hard to wrap your head around. That doesnt mean anything. In my experience as a prosecutor in near and here in chicago nor a dozen or so years, defendants lie. They lie regularly. Thats not a big thing. Nobody lies about lying. Thats a hard one to wrap your head around. Shepard you have never seen that . I have never seen that. I doubt many prosecutors have. If youre lying about lying to cut a deal, that makes no sense. If youre telling the truth in the first instance, you have no jeopardy. Its an odd one to lie about lying. The result of which could send you to prison. Thats illogical. Shepard so excuse number 1 for what happened today is illogical and something you have never seen. I think thats a fair statement. Shepard jeff cramer live from chicago. Thank you. Certainly. Shepard ahead much more on Michael Cohens guilty plea including reaction from capitol hill. Top democrats are calling for a deeper look into the Trump Organizations financial ties to russia and ramping up the push to make sure that the special counsel is protected. Thats coming up as reporting continues on this thursday afternoon. Newday usa has helped thousands of veterans get the money they need for their family and home. Thank you, admiral. 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Oh oh oh ozempic® vo ask your Healthcare Provider if ozempic® is right for you. Shepard back to the surprise confession from the president s former lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen. Cohen admits that he lied to congress about a Trump Organization real estate project in russia. The president says cohen lied when he admitted lying. Now the incoming head of the house intelligence committee, the california democrat adam schiff says congressional investigators will try to bring cohen back for more testimony and to examine whether the russians laundered money through the Trump Organization. Mike emanuel reporting. Live from capitol hill. Shep, good afternoon. No surprise from lawmakers are saying this afternoon there must be consequences if someone is found to have lied to a senate committee. Theres evidence that we can point to that they didnt know the truth and certainly but i dont want to say specific to anything right now. Yeah, this is not a good development. Somebody conceding that they lied to congress. The next chairman of the Senate Judiciary committee warned against reading too much into this Michael Cohen news. Seems like a process crime, i dont know if it has anything to do with colluding with the russians. Just let mueller do his job and hopefully he will finish this sometime soon and well know more. Other republicans are clearly anxious for special Counsel Robert Mueller to finish his investigation in a timely fashion. My biggest concerns in terms of the Mueller Investigation, lets get it wrapped up. Looks like theres some movement in terms of i dont want to tell mr. Mueller how to do his job. He doesnt need my counsel on that. He seems quite able. But we do need to wrap it up. Theres a lot of that on the republican side that mueller should be allowed to complete his work but they hope he wraps it up soon, shep. Shepard what else are you hearing from democrats, mike . A veteran democrat says make no mistake about it. Michael cohen is someone that works very closely with mr. Trump over the years. His guilty plea will turn out to be a big deal. Were going to see collusion with the russians, whether that goes directly to the president , i dont know. But its clearly the people that were around him in the campaign. I think this is going to be a very sad chapter of american history. The expected next chairman of the house tell committee, adam schiff with california said, now more than ever, the special counsel has to be protected by trump or acting attorney general whitaker. The committee in the new house will use all of their powers to preserve the independence of the Justice System and make sure that nobody is above the law and democrats are trying to read between the lines here. This cohen guilty plea is another piece inhe mosaic could provide another picture in the president s liability here and conspiracy involving Michael Cohen have always been front and center. Adding to the tension here on capitol hill, the uncertainty of when well hear from Robert Mueller and his big picture findings. Shep . Shepard mike emanuel reporting live from capitol hill. The kremlin was caught off guard after the president cancelled his meeting with Vladimir Putin. Coming up, the latest from moscow and a live report from argentina where President Trump is expected to arrive tonight for the g20 summit. George woke up in pain. But he has plans today. Hey dad. So he took aleve. If hed taken tylenol, hed be stopping for more pills right now. Only aleve has the strength to stop tough pain for up to 12 hours with just one pill. Aleve. All day strong. Whoa the mercedesbenz winter event is back and you wont want to stop for anything else. [ barks ] ho lease the c 300 sport sedan for 399 a month at your local mercedesbenz dealer. Mercedesbenz. The best or nothing. Shepard as the president was speaking to reporters this morning before heading to the g20 summit, he said its a good time to meet with Vladimir Putin. The meeting was planned. Putin and trump in argentina. An hour later, the president tweeted from air force one that the summit is off. The kremlin had made the announcement. The leaders were set to meet this weekend. President trump said he called it off because russia still has not released ukraini