President Trump’s ex-personal attorney Michael Cohen pleaded guilty Thursday to making false statements to Congress in 2017 about the ongoing Russia investigation.
Cohen “knowingly and willfully made a materially false, fictitious and fraudulent statement and representation” to the Senate Intelligence Committee about a Trump real estate project in Russia, according to the criminal information unveiled in the Southern District of New York by special counsel Robert Mueller.
Per Cohen’s plea deal, in exchange for his guilty plea, he won’t be prosecuted for “any other false statements” to Congress or the special counsel’s office about his Russia testimony, or for obstructing justice or conspiring to commit perjury.
The plea deal also anticipates ongoing cooperation by Cohen with Mueller’s office. He faces an estimated sentencing guidelines range of zero to six months in prison.
Federal prosecutors said they will notify the judges in both of Cohen’s cases about his cooperation at sentencing on the condition that he “continues to respond and provide truthful information.”
Cohen must give, at all times, “complete, truthful, and accurate information and testimony” on “any and all matters” as to which Mueller’s team deems relevant. Cohen must also not commit or attempt to admit any further crimes, the plea agreement stipulates.
Cohen, who worked for Trump from 2006 until this year, is also facing jail time from pleading guilty in August to eight counts of campaign finance violations, tax fraud, and bank fraud. Cohen is set to be sentenced in that case on Dec. 12.
That case was passed off from Mueller to the Southern District of New York earlier this year, and he was charged by federal prosecutors not from the special counsel’s team.
“Michael Cohen has cooperated, Michael Cohen will continue to cooperate,” his lawyer says outside the federal courthouse in Manhattan earlier Thursday.
Read Cohen’s plea agreement below:
