President Donald Trump's company reportedly planned to give a $50 million penthouse at Trump Tower Moscow to Russian President Vladimir Putin during the 2016 campaign.
Citing two unnamed law enforcement officials, BuzzFeed News reported Michael Cohen, Trump's personal lawyer at the time, discussed the idea with a representative of Dmitry Peskov, Putin's press secretary.
The Trump Tower Moscow plan is at the heart of a new plea agreement by Cohen, who led the negotiations for the 100-story building — and now says he lied to Congress about the deal to protect Trump and his presidential campaign.
The plan never went anywhere because the tower deal fizzled, the news outlet noted. It is not clear whether Trump knew of the intention to give away the penthouse. But Cohen said in court documents he regularly briefed Trump and his family on the Moscow negotiations.
Trump signed the letter of intent to move forward on the Trump Tower Moscow plan Oct. 28, 2015, the day of the third Republican primary debate, BuzzFeed reported.
"There was a good chance that I wouldn't have won," the presidential election, "in which case I would have gotten back into the business, and why should I lose lots of opportunities?" Trump said Thursday, the news outlet reported.
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