--- title: President Trump Defends Russia Business During Campaign description: President Donald Trump defended his company’s pursuit of business in Russia during his 2016 White House bid. canonical: https://time.com/5467801/trump-russia-campaign/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-11-30T13:31:05.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-13T08:16:13.697Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Defends Pursuit of Russia Business During Campaign og:description: 'Put up zero money, zero guarantees and didn’t do the project' og:url: https://time.com/5467801/trump-russia-campaign/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc9343a3071646188/6989404c457a523cb8d60053/trump-russia-business.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Trump Russia Business og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Defends Pursuit of Russia Business During Campaign twitter:description: 'Put up zero money, zero guarantees and didn’t do the project' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc9343a3071646188/6989404c457a523cb8d60053/trump-russia-business.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 video:duration: 02:19 video:published: 2018-11-29 section: politics topics: Michael Cohen, Trump Tower Russia, lying to Congress, guilty plea, sentencing, cooperation with investigators, federal court genre: news tones: critical, serious, pointed emotions: contempt (medium), seriousness (medium), disdain (low) sentiment: negative audience: politics followers, general news readers, legal news audiences people: Michael Cohen, Donald Trump organizations: Congress content_suitability: crime [00:00-02:19]; politics [00:00-02:19] transcript_source: publisher captions transcript_reviewed: not applicable ---  # President Trump Defends Pursuit of Russia Business During Campaign > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=d124e3fb-36ce-4cc9-a793-653e055cf526&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Former Trump Lawyer Michael Cohen Sentenced to 3 Years in Prison [Watch (HLS stream): Former Trump Lawyer Michael Cohen Sentenced to 3 Years in Prison](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/vEjDGmJ3.m3u8) (2:19)  _Published 2018-11-29. Michael Cohen, the former longtime personal lawyer of President Donald Trump, was sentenced to three years in federal prison on Wednesday, taking a parting shot at the President._ Description, summary, key points, chapters, key quotes, questions and transcript, where present, were produced automatically from the video or its captions and were not reviewed. ## Summary Michael Cohen, President Trump's former lawyer, is shown pleading guilty to lying to Congress about work on an aborted Trump Tower project in Russia. The video notes that Cohen has cooperated and that sentencing was set for December 12th. A speaker then comments on Cohen's sentence and characterizes him as weak, saying he is trying to get a reduced sentence by lying about a project everyone knew about. ## Key points - Michael Cohen, President Trump's former lawyer, is pleading guilty to lying to Congress. (00:00) - The lie concerned work on an aborted project to build a Trump Tower in Russia. (00:00) - Mr. Cohen has cooperated and will continue to cooperate. (00:02) - Sentencing is set for December 12th. (00:16) - A speaker says Cohen was convicted of various things unrelated to the speaker and was given a fairly long jail sentence. (00:49) - The speaker describes Cohen as a weak person who is trying to get a reduced sentence. (00:58) - The speaker says Cohen is lying about a project that everybody knew about. (01:04) ## Chapters - [00:00 to 00:16] Cohen pleads guilty to lying to Congress. Cohen pleads guilty to lying to Congress about the aborted Russia Trump Tower project and is said to be cooperating. - [00:16 to 00:49] Sentencing date announced. Sentencing is set for December 12th and Cohen is expected to keep cooperating. - [00:49 to 02:19] Speaker criticizes Cohen. A speaker comments on Cohen's sentence, calls him weak, and says he is lying about a widely known project. ## Key quotes - [00:58] interviewer: "he's a weak person" - [01:04] interviewer: "So he's lying about a project that everybody knew about." ## Questions this video answers - What did Michael Cohen plead guilty to? [00:00] - What project was Cohen lying about? [00:00] - Has Michael Cohen cooperated with investigators? [00:02] - When is Michael Cohen's sentencing scheduled? [00:16] - How does the speaker characterize Michael Cohen? [00:58] ## Content suitability - crime [00:00-02:19]: Coverage of a guilty plea to lying to Congress and a pending criminal sentence. - politics [00:00-02:19]: Discussion of the former personal lawyer of the sitting president and a Trump-related investigation. by [Bloomberg](https://time.com/author/bloomberg/) ## Bloomberg Contributor Nov 30, 2018 1:31 PM UTC Michael Cohen, the former longtime personal lawyer of President Donald Trump, was sentenced to three years in federal prison on Wednesday, taking a parting shot at the President. by [Bloomberg](https://time.com/author/bloomberg/) ## Bloomberg Contributor Nov 30, 2018 1:31 PM UTC President Donald Trump defended his company’s pursuit of business in Russia during his 2016 White House bid, saying that his dealings there were legal and that they ultimately ended without a project. In an early morning tweet from Argentina, where he’s taking part in the Group of 20 summit, Trump assailed the scrutiny of his business, calling it a “Witch Hunt.” “Put up zero money, zero guarantees and didn’t do the project,” Trump wrote. > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1068442531887632384) > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1068444287380025344) Trump’s business dealings in Russia took center stage on Thursday right before his departure for the summit in Buenos Aires, when his former personal attorney Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about a project in Moscow in an August 2017 statement to U.S. lawmakers. Cohen admitted that he lied when he said that negotiations for the skyscraper ended in January 2016, when in fact they continued until June that year, after Trump cinched the Republican nomination. Trump Organization considered offering Russian President Vladimir Putin a $50 million penthouse in a planned skyscraper in Moscow to make the building more desirable to rich buyers, according to the Russian-born real estate developer who was broker on the project and discussed it hours after the Cohen guilty plea. Felix Sater, a felon, ex-government informant and former Trump business associate, said Thursday that he came up with the idea as a way to reap extra profit from Trump Tower Moscow, which he said would have brought in as much as $500 million if it had been built. Cohen approved of the idea, Sater said, adding that it came to him while “spitballing” marketing schemes. The Moscow tower deal was scrapped in 2016, though the reasons remain unclear. The Trump Organization didn’t respond to a request for comment Thursday on Sater’s remarks, nor did Cohen or two of his lawyers. Cohen has agreed to cooperate with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. As part of his plea deal, he admitted he talked to Trump about the Moscow deal more times than he had previously stated and also briefed Trump family members. ## Transcript [00:00] [ MUSIC ] Michel Cohen, President Trump's former [00:00] lawyer, is pleading guilty to lying to Congress about [00:02] work he did on an aborted project to build a Trump [00:03] Tower in Russia. Mr. Cohen has cooperated. Mr. Cohen [00:05] Has cooperated. Mr. [00:16] Cohen will continue to cooperate. Sentencing is set for [00:17] December 12th. [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] He was convicted [00:49] of various things unrelated to u. He was given a fairly [00:52] long jail sentence And he's a weak person, and by [00:58] being weak, unlike other people that you watch, he's a [00:59] weak person, and what he's trying to do is get [01:04] a reduced sentence. So he's lying about a project that [01:08] everybody knew about. 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