NEW: Michael Cohen pleaded guilty this morning in Manhattan federal court to one count of false statements to Congress in connection with “the Moscow project.” Prosecutors were members of the special counsel’s team, including Jeannie Rhee & Andrew Goldstein.
“I made these statements to be consistent with Individual-1’s political messaging and to be loyal to Individual-1,” Cohen said in court.
After Cohen stated his allocution, a prosecutor stood up & added that Cohen had also “minimized his contacts with the Russian government” to Congress, and that in fact Cohen had had a 20-minute conversation with a spokesman for the Kremlin. Cohen acknowledged that was correct.
In attendance in court Thursday, in addition to the special counsel team, were the SDNY public corruption chief, the SDNY criminal division chief and SDNY senior counsel.
