Donald Trump ‘instructed Michael Cohen to lie to Congress’

Donald Trump instructed his former personal lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, to lie to Congress about negotiations to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, according to a report by Buzzfeed News.

Citing two law enforcement officials involved in the investigation, Buzzfeed also says that Trump “supported a plan, set up by Cohen, to visit Russia during the presidential campaign, in order to personally meet President Vladimir Putin”.

“Make it happen,” Trump reportedly told Cohen.

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The report goes on to say that Trump and his children, Ivanka and Donald Jr, received regular updates on the status of the project, “even as Trump told the public he had no business deals with Russia”, from Cohen, who had been put in charge of the project.

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s office learned of the directive from Trump to Cohen to lie to Congress “through interviews with multiple witnesses from the Trump Organization, internal company emails, text messages, and other documents”, CNN says.

Axios says that, if true, the report suggests, for the second time, that “investigators have evidence Trump personally directed his attorney to commit a felony”.

Cohen has already pleaded guilty to a number of charges, and is co-operating with Mueller’s investigation.

He has spent more than 70 hours meeting with investigators, and is due to appear before the House Oversight Committee before beginning a three-year prison sentence.

When asked for comment, Trump's attorney Rudy Giuliani told CNN: “If you believe Cohen I can get you a great deal on the Brooklyn Bridge.”