President Trump instructed his former personal attorney Michael Cohen to lie before Congress about a business deal he was trying to complete with the Russian government during his presidential campaign, according to a report published late Thursday.

Trump has said on numerous occasions that he was not negotiating any deals with Russia in 2015 or 2016, but federal law enforcement officials now say the then-billionaire businessman, his daughter Ivanka Trump, and son Donald Trump Jr. had asked Cohen to handle the skyscraper deal and give them regular updates on its progress, according to BuzzFeed.

Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, joked in a statement responding to the news, “If you believe Cohen I can get you a great deal on the Brooklyn Bridge.”

Cohen's reason for lying about the business deal before House and Senate Intelligence committees had been unclear.

The new report revealed Trump had pushed Cohen to set up and follow through on a plan to travel to St. Petersburg to meet one-on-one with Russian President Vladimir Putin and get the tower negotiations rolling. The trip never happened.

"Make it happen," one official said Trump had told Cohen.

Trump's company had been in talks with a representative for Putin about giving the Russian leader a $50 million penthouse in Trump Tower Moscow for free. Cohen had discussed the proposal with Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov.

Cohen's business associate, Felix Sater, previously told BuzzFeed they thought giving Putin the most expensive apartment for free would entice the richest Russian oligarchs to buy into the project.

“In Russia, the oligarchs would bend over backwards to live in the same building as Vladimir Putin,” Sater said. “My idea was to give a $50 million penthouse to Putin and charge $250 million more for the rest of the units. All the oligarchs would line up to live in the same building as Putin.”

Then, after the election, Trump allegedly told Cohen to lie about the situation.

Trump's interference could mean he attempted to obstruct justice by interfering in the FBI and special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into his campaign and transition team's relationships with Russia.

In November, Cohen pleaded guilty to lying before Congress, among other charges.

He is scheduled to testify publicly before the House Oversight Committee Feb. 7.