Michael Cohen to Plead Guilty to Lying to Congress in Russia Probe

We knew this one was coming, didn’t we?

Former Trump attorney and “fixer,” Michael Cohen has finally struck a deal with special counsel Robert Mueller.

According to reports, Cohen will appear in a federal court in Manhattan on Thursday, to plead guilty to lying to Congress about his contact with Russians during the 2016 campaign season.

Somewhere, Christopher Steele is sitting back and saying to himself, “Booyah.”

The misstatements reportedly stem from testimony he gave in 2017.

The plea from Cohen marks the first time he has been charged by Mueller as part of the special counsel’s investigation into Russian election interference and possible collusion between Trump’s campaign and Moscow.

ABC News reported that Cohen will plead guilty to making multiple misstatements to two congressional intelligence committees. The network noted that it is unclear what false statements he made.

We can assume this is related to his dispute over mentions of his activities that were included in the Russia dossier, which, while unsubstantiated fully, has not been discredited, as Trump defenders claim.

Cohen has already pleaded guilty in court to several serious charges, including bank fraud, tax fraud, and campaign finance law violations.

His sentencing for that comes down in about two weeks.

Since Cohen’s first set of guilty pleas, he has been cooperating fully with Mueller’s team. It’s an interesting turn.

At one point, Cohen said that he would “take a bullet” for Mr. Trump. That loyalty was not returned, however, and as the dark clouds gathered over Cohen, he saw there would be no relief from the man whose dirty business he had so faithfully attended to for a decade.

For the sake of his family, Cohen flipped, and flipped hard.

He has made some very public denouncements of his association with Team Trump, even switching his party affiliation [back] to Democrat, recently.

Cohen has reportedly spent over 70 hours in interviews with Mueller’s office since then. Sources familiar with the discussion told ABC News that the interviews have focused on the Trump campaign’s contacts with Russians and Trump’s business ties to the country.

This could definitely be troublesome, and the president is publicly having a meltdown over the events.

You can always tell how bad things are getting for him by his Twitter feed, and President Trump has been losing his mind on social media, this week.

“When will this illegal Joseph McCarthy style Witch Hunt, one that has shattered so many innocent lives, ever end-or will it just go on forever?” he tweeted early Thursday. “After wasting more than $40,000,000 (is that possible?), it has proven only one thing-there was NO Collusion with Russia. So Ridiculous!”

Not so fast, Trumpy Bear. You don’t know exactly what Mueller has uncovered. None of us do. On your best day, you’re not as bright as Robert Mueller on his worst day. This man is a professional, and he has remained several steps ahead of you, at every turn.

Besides, people who are innocent don’t publicly break down, the way Trump has done, over and over again.

On Wednesday, the president floated the idea of a pardon for his former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, who has worked himself into even deeper trouble, by lying to federal investigators, after signing a plea agreement.

The only thing left now is the betting pools on when Mueller drops his final report, and how damaging it will be for the Trump administration.

EDIT:

As I was about to release this piece, news of what Cohen is telling in his guilty plea is coming out.

It appears that, according to Cohen, he worked on behalf of, and with the full knowledge of the Trump family on a lucrative deal to build a Trump property in Moscow, even as Trump was running for president, and his people were meeting with Russians to get “dirt” on Hillary Clinton (June 9, 2016 Trump Tower meeting).

https://twitter.com/rgoodlaw/status/1068156132047360001