Ex-Trump lawyer Cohen says he is providing info to Robert Mueller’s Russia probe
US President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, says he is providing "critical information" as part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential election.
Cohen, who pleaded guilty to campaign finance and other charges in August, said Thursday he is providing the information to prosecutors without a cooperation agreement.
Mueller is probing whether the Trump election campaign in 2016 colluded with Russian efforts to damage his opponent, Hillary Clinton, and whether Trump has sought to illegally obstruct the investigation.
Trump's longtime aide-turned-foe, could be a vital witness for federal prosecutors in the Russia probe.
But the span of the investigation also reportedly encompasses Trump’s business dealings, to which Cohen had a front seat during the decade before the election as a senior executive in the president’s real estate business in New York, the Trump Organization.
For more than a decade, Cohen was Trump's personal lawyer, and he was a key power player in the Trump Organization and a fixture in Trump's political life.
Cohen, 52, said at his court trial last month that Trump directed him to arrange payments before the 2016 election to buy the silence of two women who alleged they had affairs with Trump. He also pleaded guilty to eight felony counts of tax fraud, bank fraud and campaign finance violations.
ABC News reported earlier Thursday that Cohen has spent several hours over the past month being interviewed by investigators from the special counsel's office.
The television network, citing sources familiar with the matter, said he was questioned about Trump's dealings with Russia, including whether members of the Trump election campaign worked with Moscow to try to influence the outcome of the election.
The report was likely bad news for Trump as Mueller’s Russia conspiracy investigation increasingly closes in on the White House.
One week ago, former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort agreed in a plea deal with Mueller to cooperate in the investigation.
Trump has denied any collusion by his campaign and has long denounced the Mueller probe as a witch hunt and a hoax. Moscow has also denied any involvement.
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