10 things you need to know today: November 30, 2018

Michael Cohen pleads guilty to lying to Congress about Trump's Russia ties, Trump cancels talks with Putin over Ukraine, and more

Trump speaks to reporters about Michael Cohen
(Image credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images)

1. Michael Cohen pleads guilty to lying to Senate about Trump-Russia deal

Michael Cohen, President Trump's former lawyer, pleaded guilty Thursday to lying to Congress about negotiations to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. Cohen told the Senate Intelligence Committee the discussions ended in January 2016, but now admits they continued until that June, well into Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. Cohen said he updated Trump and his family members several times. BuzzFeed News reported that the Trump Organization wanted to give Russian President Vladimir Putin a $50 million penthouse in the tower. Trump said Cohen, who has cooperated with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team since pleading guilty to financial crimes in August, was "making up a story" now to "get a reduced sentence." Trump also called the Mueller investigation "an illegal hoax that should be ended immediately."

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.