During the campaign, Trump insisted repeatedly that he had no business dealings in Russia. However, according to Cohen’s statement, he continued to pursue the Trump Tower Moscow project weeks after Trump secured the Republican nomination for the president.

On Thursday, Cohen confessed in a surprise guilty plea that he lied to Congress about the Moscow real estate deal he pursued on Trump’s behalf during the 2016 Republican campaign.

On the morning of the first day of the G20 summit in Argentina, President Trump took to Twitter to refute statements made by his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, regarding a Trump Tower project in Moscow.


In his tweet, Trump stated he “lightly looked at doing a building somewhere in Russia” but put up “zero money, zero guarantees and didn’t do the project.”

Oh, I get it! I am a very good developer, happily living my life, when I see our Country going in the wrong direction (to put it mildly). Against all odds, I decide to run for President & continue to run my business-very legal & very cool, talked about it on the campaign trail... — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 30, 2018

....Lightly looked at doing a building somewhere in Russia. Put up zero money, zero guarantees and didn’t do the project. Witch Hunt! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 30, 2018

Cohen said he discussed the proposal with Trump on multiple occasions and with members of the president’s family, according to court papers filed by special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating Russian interference in the presidential election and possible coordination with the Trump campaign.

He said he lied to be consistent with Trump’s ‘‘political messaging.’’

Last year, Cohen told two congressional committees that talks about the tower project ended in January 2016. In fact, the negotiations continued until June 2016, he acknowledged.

Following Cohen’s plea, Trump called him a “weak person” who was lying to get a lighter sentence and repeatedly stressed that the real estate deal was never a secret and was never executed.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.

Abbi Matheson can be reached at abbi.matheson@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter at @AbbiMatheson