Cohen deal intensifies scrutiny on Trump business dealings
The decision by President Trump's former personal attorney Michael Cohen to plead guilty and cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller has intensified the focus on Trump’s business dealings.
Cohen on Thursday admitted to lying to Congress about his and Trump’s involvement in plans to build a Trump property in Moscow, which prosecutors signaled represented a deliberate effort to “minimize links” between Trump and the project and to limit the ongoing Russia investigations.
The developments have raised new questions about Trump's business dealings in Moscow and whether they have any connection to Russia’s effort to interfere in the 2016 election, putting the president on defense amid a high-stakes trip to the Group of 20 summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina. And they’ve electrified Democrats in Congress who are readying themselves for new investigations into the Trump business apparatus in the new year.
There have long been expectations that Mueller would probe Trump’s business links to Russia in an effort to determine whether there was collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow. Mueller, who has been investigating Russian interference for more than 18 months, is equipped with a mandate to investigate any matters that arise directly from the investigation.
https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/419203-cohen-deal-intensifies-scrutiny-on-trump-business-dealings?userid=229233