Transcript for Michael Cohen’s bombshell plea
But we begin with what could be a seismic development involving the president and special counsel Robert Mueller. The president’s long-time fixer and personal attorney surrounded by cams are today after pleading guilty to lying to congress in federal court about a proposed trump tower in Moscow that was being discussed during the campaign for president. Cohen now entering into a plea agreement with Mueller. The president immediately lashing out, calling Cohen, quote, weak and a liar. The president saying he had every right to pursue his business interests during the campaign. Tonight, what has Michael Cohen told Robert Mueller already? After spending more than 70 hours answering questions from Mueller’s team. ABC’s chief justice correspondent Pierre Thomas leading us off tonight. Reporter: Michael Cohen, the president’s former personal attorney and fixer, swarmed today outside federal court in lower Manhattan after pleading guilty as part of his bombshell plea deal with special counsel Robert Mueller. Mr. Cohen has cooperated, Mr. Cohen will continue to cooperate. Reporter: Sources tell ABC news Cohen has already spent more than 70 hours talking to Mueller’s investigators about the 2016 campaign and president trump’s business ties to Russia. Today, he pleaded guilty to lying to congress about plans to build a trump tower in Moscow. Cohen had told lawmakers the Moscow project was abandoned in January 2016. He now says that’s not true, that the project did not end until June, deep into the campaign. Cohen now says he briefed the president and members of his family on multiple occasions. The next month, candidate trump said this — I have no relationship to Russia. Reporter: Cohen now admits he discussed trump tower Moscow in 2016 with top officials in the Russian government and he planned to visit Moscow that June. According to court documents, he even spoke to a trump business associate about the possibility of trump himself traveling to Russia once he becomes the nominee after the convention. That didn’t happen. Cohen once said he would take a bullet for Donald Trump. Reporter: I’m obviously very loyal and very dedicated to Mr. Trump. Reporter: Today in court, Cohen said he lied to congress “To be consistent with individual one’s political message and out of loyalty to individual one.” Individual one is Donald Trump. The president once praised Cohen to the skies, saying he’s always respected him. But I always liked Michael, and he’s a good person. Reporter: But this was the furious president today. He’s a weak person and not a very smart person. What he’s trying to do is end — and it’s very simple. He’s got himself a big prison sentence, and he’s trying to get a much lesser prison sentence by making up a story. Very simply, Michael Cohen is lying. Pierre Thomas with us tonight live in Washington. And Pierre, you reported there Michael Cohen has spent more than 70 hours already with Robert Mueller’s investigators, obviously, that’s a lot of time. Clearly they talked about more than just plans for trump tower Moscow. Do we know anything more, Pierre? Reporter: That’s right, David. Those 70-plus hours of interviews covered a wide range of topics, including questions about possible obstruction of justice and whether the president discussed pardons. David? Pierre Thomas leading us off tonight from Washington. Pierre, thank you.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
