992 need to muddy the water, and that it was time to move on. Cohen said he 993 agreed because it was what he was expected to do. After Cohen later pleaded guilty to making false statements to Congress about the Trump Tower Moscow project, this Office sought to speak with the President’s personal counsel about these conversations with Cohen, but counsel declined, citing potential privilege 994 concerns. At the same time that Cohen finalized his written submission to Congress, he served as a source for a Washington Post story published on August 27, 2017, that reported in depth for the first time that the Trump Organization was “pursuing a plan to develop a massive Trump Tower in Moscow” at the same time as candidate Trump was “running for president in late 2015 and early 995 2016.” The article reported that “the project was abandoned at the end of January 2016, just before the presidential primaries began, several people 996 familiar with the proposal said.” Cohen recalled that in speaking to the Post, he held to the false story that negotiations for the deal ceased in January 997 2016. On August 28, 2017, Cohen submitted his statement about the Trump Tower 998 Moscow project to Congress. Cohen did not recall talking to the President about the specifics of what the statement said or what Cohen would later testify 999 to about Trump Tower Moscow. He recalled speaking to the President more 1000 generally about how he planned to stay on message in his testimony. On September 19, 2017, in anticipation of his impending testimony, Cohen orchestrated the public release of his opening remarks to Congress, which criticized the allegations in the Steele material and claimed that the Trump Tower Moscow project “was terminated in January of 2016; which occurred 1001 before the Iowa caucus and months before the very first primary.” Cohen said the release of his opening remarks was intended to shape the narrative and let other people who might be witnesses know what Cohen was saying so they 1002 could follow the same message. Cohen said his decision was meant to mirror Jared Kushner’s decision to release a statement in advance of Kushner’s congressional testimony, which the President’s personal counsel had told Cohen 1003 the President liked. Cohen recalled that on September 20, 2017, after Cohen’s opening remarks had been printed by the media, the President’s