President Trump’s company had been in talks with a representative of Russian President Vladimir Putin during the 2016 campaign about giving him a $50 million penthouse unit in Trump Tower Moscow for free, according to a report published Thursday evening.
Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen had discussed the proposal with Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov, two federal law enforcement officials with knowledge of the potential deal told BuzzFeed.
The proposal was made during the Trump Organization’s negotiations to build a luxurious 100-story development in Moscow, a real-estate project Trump had tried to make happen for three decades.
On Oct. 28, 2015, the night of the third Republican primary presidential debate, Trump signed a letter of intent that gave the green light on a plan to build a massive tower in Moscow.
Court documents show Cohen spoke with an unnamed Russian government official on Jan. 20, 2016, for 20 minutes. The lawyer then “requested assistance in moving the project forward, both in securing land to build the proposed tower and financing the construction.”
As part of a new plea deal with special counsel Robert Mueller, Cohen admitted to facilitating the negotiations and lying about it before Congress to protect his former client and the Trump business empire.
Cohen pleaded guilty Thursday to one count of making false statement to Congress.
Despite saying in January 2016 that the plan had fallen through, Cohen continued to work with Peskov through the spring and into the summer.
Cohen’s business associate, Felix Sater, told BuzzFeed they thought giving Putin the most expensive apartment for free would entice the richest Russian oligarchs to buy into the project.
“In Russia, the oligarchs would bend over backwards to live in the same building as Vladimir Putin,” Sater said. “My idea was to give a $50 million penthouse to Putin and charge $250 million more for the rest of the units. All the oligarchs would line up to live in the same building as Putin.”
Sater enlisted Cohen to get it from the planning phase to securing actual buyers. Cohen had planned to fly to Moscow in July, after the Republican convention, and secure construction on the project.
Cohen regularly briefed Trump and his family on the developments, according to court documents.
