Not terribly long into Michael Cohen’s public testimony before Congress last month—after he referred to President Donald Trump as a cheat, racist, and con man, but before he showed the Oversight Committee financial documents that he said proved his former boss manipulated his assets in order to deceive banks and insurance companies—Cohen took a moment to apologize. When he last appeared on Capitol Hill, Cohen had lied about a Moscow real-estate project Trump pursued while seeking the Republican presidential nomination. To align with Trump’s denials of any business dealings with Russia, Cohen told Congress that his negotiations ended before February, 2016, when in fact they had stretched well into June.

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“The last time I appeared before Congress, I came to protect Mr. Trump,” he said. “Today, I’m here to tell the truth about Mr. Trump.”

Cohen, who has been sentenced to three years in prison, also made another explosive claim. President Trump, he said, had spoken in “code” to prompt Cohen to lie about the Moscow project. Moreover, Cohen said, his false testimony was coordinated with the president’s attorneys. “Trump’s personal lawyers reviewed and edited my statement to Congress about the timing of the Moscow Tower negotiations before I gave it,” he said in his prepared remarks. At the time, Cohen had a joint defense agreement with the president, so the document was reviewed by Trump’s attorney, Jay Sekulow, as well as Abbe Lowell, the lawyer representing Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump. According to Cohen, neither attorney raised objections to the document, which included his false statement about the Moscow project.

Sekulow issued a statement protesting Cohen’s assertions: “Today’s testimony by Michael Cohen that attorneys for the president edited or changed his statement to Congress to alter the duration of the Trump Tower Moscow negotiations is completely false.” But Cohen had communications detailing these alleged edits, some of which lawmakers requested in a closed-door hearing with the House Intelligence Committee the following week. One document, which I have reviewed, was an e-mail exchange between Cohen and his then attorney, Stephen Ryan, outlining changes that Ryan said Lowell had asked them to make in order to distance Ivanka from the Moscow deal. Attached to the e-mail were drafts he said were Lowell's suggested edits. The extent of Lowell’s involvement has not been previously reported.

“Abbe asks for us to affirmatively address in our statement on the 25th:

-[Ivanka] was not involved in the backs and forths with FS [Felix Sater] and MC [Michael Cohen]

-she did not know FS was involved in the possible project in that country

-she was not in any meetings or calls with people putting it together (esp. from that country)

-and maybe that, by then, MC knew she was at least skeptical about him.”

Ryan included his response to Lowell. “Yes, am developing the writing and shared it this am with MC to see if I have it right. MC will want me to do anything your client asks that is accurate, which is not really an issue—but it may be perceived as awkward to go as specific as your requests.” Ryan added that he was hoping to share a version “only with” Lowell that week. Later, in the e-mail chain, Ryan attached a document that he said had Lowell’s red-line edits included. A spokesman for Lowell declined to comment.

Ivanka said in an interview earlier this year that she knew “literally almost nothing” about the Trump-branded tower in Moscow and the negotiations surrounding it throughout the campaign. But Cohen, under oath, told Congress last month that he briefed the Trump family, including Ivanka, on the project on “approximately 10” occasions. In a December memo detailing Cohen’s cooperation as he pleaded guilty to lying to Congress, the special counsel’s office also noted that Cohen had “briefed family members” of Trump about the project. Initial documents suggest the Moscow tower would have included a “Spa by Ivanka Trump.” They also would have given Ivanka the power to approve “all interior design elements of the spa or fitness facilities.”

Ivanka, who then served as executive vice president of development and acquisition at the Trump Organization, had been involved in these sorts of decisions as part of her role. In November 2015, Ivanka forwarded Cohen an e-mail from a Russian weightlifter who said he could help arrange a meeting between Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin to discuss real-estate opportunities in Russia. That same year, she e-mailed Cohen a suggestion for an architect who could work on the Moscow tower. (Peter Mirijanian, a spokesman for Lowell, said at the time that Ivanka was merely passing on an “unsolicited e-mail” from the weightlifter’s wife, and that Ivanka’s role in the project was limited to “reminding Mr. Cohen that, should an actual deal come to fruition . . . the project, like any other with the Trump name, conform with the highest design and architectural standards.”)