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MR. COHEN: Correct.

MR. GOWDY: Allright. Anyone you suspected of being connected with
the Russian Government, even if they weren't connected with the Russian
Government?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. GOWDY: All right. Now we're just going to general citizens, either
Russian Americans or Russian citizens who happen to be in the United States.

MR. COHEN: We know a lot of Russian Americans. Let me also divide
the Russian Americans. Former Soviet Union Americans, many of them | don't
know whether they're from Russia or they were Ukrainian from birth, like my wife.

MR. GOWDY: Your testimony is you've never traveled to Prague. Is your
testimony also -- have you traveled to Russia?

MR. COHEN: I have never been to Russia.

MR. GOWDY: Okay. So the planning that you were discussing with my
friend from Texas was planning that took place in the United States for the
pageant?

MR. COHEN: I'm sorry. One more time, sir?

MR. GOWDY: The pageant, that planning, those conversations would've
taken place in the United States?

MR. COHEN: It took place in New York.

MR. GOWDY: Okay.

I'm going to let EE or II — BBB is going to ask you some
questions.

HT ank you, sir.

a

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MR. COHEN: | rejected Mr. Klokov's request for a meeting between Mr.
Trump and President Putin, and he's challenging my authority within which to
make that statement to him.

MR. CASTRO: So were you speaking for Donald Trump, as you
suggested in the email?

MR. COHEN: | was speaking on behalf of Mr. Trump, yes.

MR. CASTRO: Allright. And is that the case whenever you act in your
capacity with The Trump Organization?

MR. COHEN: | can't answer that question, sir.

MR. CASTRO: What do you mean? Why not?

MR. RYAN: It's too broad.

MR. COHEN: It's so broad, | just don't know where you want me to --

MR. RYAN: He's a lawyer. He responds to his client's wishes when it's a
legal matter. When it's a business matter, as it is a different one, he's --

MR. CASTRO: Counsel, he's got to give that answer, not you.

MR. RYAN: | apologize. | was explaining the concern about the question.
If you'd ask another question that's in the ballpark.

MR. CASTRO: Allright. Let's move on, because time is running short.

December 17th, 2015, Cohen emails Sater -- emails you ~ -- forwarding a
Google alert about -- actually, we went through that. He went through that.

January 9th, 2016, lvan Markov emails you.

MR. RYAN: Could you show it to him?

MR. CASTRO: Sure. It's Bates stamped number MDC-H-00518.

Let me ask you this, just so --

MR. COHEN: | just need one second more, sir. I'm sorry.

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When did you first meet lvanka Trump?

MR. COHEN: 2006.

MR. CASTRO: And how about Jared Kushner?

MR. COHEN: When Ivanka and Jared were dating.

MR. CASTRO: Allright. When, about, was that? Do you recall?

MR. COHEN: | apologize. | don't.

MR. CASTRO: Okay.

All right. I'm going to ask you some questions about Felix Sater.

According to press reports, you and Felix Sater know each other from when
you were both teenagers in Long Island. Is that accurate?

MR. COHEN: | don't believe Felix Sater is from Long Island.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. How about New York? Did you know each other
from growing up in New York?

MR. COHEN: | had met Felix, yes.

MR. CASTRO: Where do you think Felix Sater is from?

MR. COHEN: At the time, | thought he was from Brooklyn.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. Did you remain in contact when each of you went
to college?

MR. COHEN: No.

MR. CASTRO: During that period, how often did y'all communicate?

MR. COHEN: Zero.

MR. CASTRO: So, after you met him growing up, you were out of contact
for how long?

MR. COHEN: Almost two decades.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. And what brought you back into contact?

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MR. COHEN: The whole time.

MR. SWALWELL: And in Italy, where did you stay?

MR. COHEN: We stayed in Capri at a hotel called Quisisana. We were
there with a bunch of friends. And we left Quisisana and spent 3 days in Rome.

MR. SWALWELL: You mentioned an Alex Weiss is the one who
introduced you to Felix Sater.

MR. COHEN: No. | stated that | had become reacquainted again at a
function that Alex Weiss was putting on.

MR. SWALWELL: You said he's in the laundry business. What do you
mean by laundry business?

MR. RYAN: Really. This is totally nonpertinent. We need to move on. |
think that we've reached a new low, asking about the laundry guy who had a party
that he met Sater again at.

MR. SWALWELL: Well, Felix Sater is the one who said he could engineer
the election for Donald Trump. _| think it's pretty pertinent --

MR. COHEN: Yes, but, in all fairness, Mr. Weiss has nothing to do with
anything he owns.

MR. SWALWELL: No, | understand.

MR. COHEN: He owns a business that --

MR. SWALWELL: When you said laundry, did you mean dry-cleaning
clothes or did you mean something else?

MR. COHEN: Laundromat, dry-cleaning.

MR. SWALWELL: And did you say the name of the fertilizer guy in
Russia?

MR. COHEN: Dmitry Ryboloviev.

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engage in communications with anyone about representing a foreign government?

MR. COHEN: I'm sorry, sir. | don't understand your question.

MR. CASTRO: Well, there are people here that lobby for foreign
governments, for example --

MR. COHEN: I'm not a lobbyist.

MR. CASTRO: -- like Ukraine. Your attorney is one of them. He just
raised his hand.

And that kind of work can be very lucrative. And people ordinarily have to
register as foreign agents when they do that or are representing a foreign
government, right?

So did you ever -- were you ever approached about representing any
country in front of the administration or in front of Congress? Felix Sater never
said, "Hey, do you want to do some work for us," or anybody else never said, "Do
you want to do some work for this country or that country"?

MR. RYAN: There's way too many questions on the table. Why don't we
start with Artemenko and Sater, whether they asked him to be engaged.

MR. COHEN: The answer to that was not that | recall. | don't believe so.
And if they did, | ignored it. | picked myself up and | left. That was the first and
last communication | had with Andrey Artemenko.

MR. CASTRO: So they may have offered that, but you don't recall.
Maybe they didn't.

MR. COHEN: | don't believe they did, but at the point when | picked myself
up and left, | just picked myself up and left.

MR. CASTRO: Anybody else ever approach you about working for a

foreign government?

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Ros-Lehtinen, Gowdy, Stefanik, Schiff, Himes, Speier, Quigley, Swalwell, Castro,

and Heck.

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MR. COHEN: President Putin and Mr. Trump.

MR. CASTRO: So you discuss setting up a meeting between President
Putin and President Trump?

MR. COHEN: Only in the event that a deal had been reached, that
definitive documents had been produced. And it would be something that Mr.
Trump has done almost consistently in the past, for a groundbreaking ceremony.

MR. CASTRO: At the time you sent this email on November 18th, 2015, is
it fair to say that you were still serious about the Trump Tower Moscow project?

MR. COHEN: Yes, sir.

MR. CASTRO: So this was -- this was less than 2 weeks after the
November 3rd email with Felix Sater where you guys talk about Putin helping win
the election for President Trump?

MR. COHEN: No, sir. It was Mr. Sater who made those statements, not

me.
MR. CASTRO: Well, you read it.
MR. COHEN: | read many things, sir. That's not my words. Those are
his words.

MR. CASTRO: You read the email.

MR. COHEN: | read the email, yes. That doesn't mean that | agree with
him or that they should be attributed to me either.

MR. CASTRO: So less than 2 weeks later you in another exchange with
Dmitry Klokov where you're talking about setting up a direct meeting between
President Trump and President Putin.

MR. COHEN: Sir, | think you're reading it inaccurately. So if | might --

MR. CASTRO: I'm asking a factual question.

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says --

MR. RYAN: You're reading something that's from Mr. Sater to Mr. Cohen?

MR. CASTRO: No, no, not from Mr. -- yeah, I'm sorry, yes, from Mr. Sater.

MR. RYAN: So perhaps, sir, you could ask him if he remembers that
communication, to start.

MR. CASTRO: Well, do you remember the communication?

MR. COHEN: | do not.

MR. CASTRO: Okay.

Let me see. Can we find it so that we can go back to it?

We'll come back to it.

Do you know who Andrey Kostin is?

MR. COHEN: Yes.

MR. CASTRO: Who is he, and what does he do?

MR. COHEN: He is the head of VTB Bank.

MR. CASTRO: VTB Bank. Did you ever discuss with him the potential
financing of the project?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. CASTRO: Was there an offer made on financing or anything else?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. CASTRO: Any other interaction with Mr. Kostin, socially, for anything
else?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. No other phone conversations or communication?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. CASTRO: Okay.

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you left?

MR.
MR.

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RYAN: Do you know? Do you remember right now how many times

COHEN: | don't.
SWALWELL: Would you agree that from July 8th to July 17th, you

were in Italy?

MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.

right?

MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.

COHEN: | was in Italy, yes.

SWALWELL: And did you go anywhere else?

COHEN: | was in two locations in Italy.

SWALWELL: Did you ever travel outside of Italy?

COHEN: During that vacation?

SWALWELL: Yes.

COHEN: No.

SWALWELL: And was that a family vacation?

COHEN: | was with my wife and friends.

SWALWELL: And on October 6th, 2016, you went to London. Is that

COHEN: Correct.

SWALWELL: Why did you go to London?

COHEN: My daughter was studying there at Queen Mary's College.
SWALWELL: How long were you in London on that trip?

COHEN: Aweek, 10 days. | don't know exactly. | can get you that

information.

MR.
MR.

SWALWELL: Where did you stay?

COHEN: | stayed at -- | can get you the name of the hotel. | was in

London twice during that time period, so which time you're referring --

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necessary in order to accomplish this type of a project in Russia, which requires
government assistance.

Q Now, given your relationship to then-candidate Trump and it being a
relatively close relationship, this type of information that Mr. Sater relayed to you in
this email, was it an attempt, in your opinion, to sort of ingratiate himself with you
and possibly the Trump campaign?

A | don't know what Mr. Sater was thinking when he sent this. All!
know is | was looking at it as far as being able to advance the nonbinding letter of
intent into the creation of definitive documents for a licensing deal.

Q So this email is an example of something you took for action solely in
the business capacity in your representation of Mr. Trump.

A Correct, including | never even discussed the contents of this email
with Mr. Trump or anyone.

Q Thank you.

HS yield back — or Mr. Conaway. Sorry.

MR. CONAWAY: Just to be clear, would you describe Mr. Sater for us?
How does he conduct himself? The colorful language there and the
overstatements, is that his normal style? Just give us a quick description of Mr.
Sater, because | don't know him.

MR. COHEN: So Mr. Sater is, as | stated, a salesman. He was and has
been successful in turning around his life, from having the convictions. He has
been successful in terms of putting people together in order to build significant
properties, including putting together two more Tamir Sapir's Czar Group with
Bayrock. That was a company that he, | believe, was a partner in with The Trump

Organization for a branded hotel in the downtown area. | believe he was also

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may be able to remember most of them. But | can't guarantee | will. But if |
know that there's a privileged document, I'll indicate that.

MR. CASTRO: Okay.

MR. RYAN: And as long as we're on privilege, you know, I'm directing him
now not to disclose privileged information but to identify where a privilege is being
asserted. So he's under instruction not to disclose the privileged information, but
he can disclose --

MR. CASTRO: Because --

MR. RYAN: -- the person whom that privilege is being exercised.

MR. CASTRO: Because we haven't received a privilege log, counsel, if
you could also assert what type of privilege you're asserting when that comes up,
if it comes up.

MR. RYAN: Sure.

MR. CASTRO: Thank you.

MR. RYAN: The two privileges that will come up would be attorney-client
privilege and attorney work product.

MR. CASTRO: Okay.

Do you have a WhatsApp account, or have you used WhatsApp?

MR. COHEN: | do.

MR. CASTRO: Okay.

Now, | know that, you know, this is -- you're an attorney also, so I'm sure
you've been in this situation, but we've gone through a few of these different social
media ones, and it seems like each one that | ask, you've used it. So are there
any other social media platforms that you've used for messaging --

MR. COHEN: Right. | apologize, because | wasn't aware WhatsApp is a

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question at the inception of this interview: Do you receive a lot of these emails
throughout your workday and can you describe how many? Maybe it wasn't
Chairman Conaway.

MR. CONAWAY: It was

MR. COHEN: |'m sorry, you're right, it was

And the answer is, this is one of many, many emails that are sent to me
unsolicited by individuals.

If | spent any time reading the plethora of documents sent to me by these
sort of individuals, these unsolicited individuals; | would have absolutely no time to
do anything other than read them.

MR. SWALWELL: -How many, just to your recollection, how many
unsolicited emails from Russians did you receive during the campaign?

MR. COHEN: Well, | don't know the answer to that, but I'm not sure that
this was coming from Russia. It was coming from, according to the document, a
Gmail account.

MR. SWALWELL: You would agree that in the email, it would appear from
a reading of it that the person is Russian or affiliated with Russia?

MR. COHEN: That's assuming, again, sir, that | actually opened it and
read it.

MR. SWALWELL: Well, | guess how many unsolicited emails that
you -- you're familiar that you receive unsolicited emails, because you just
referenced them. How many of them mentioned Russia during the course of the
campaign?

MR. COHEN: It would be the ones that my counsel produced.

MR. SWALWELL: And in this email is also a reference to the RNC

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MR. SWALWELL: Sir, do you recall any other foreign nationals outside of
Russia contacting you about working with the campaign?

MR. RYAN: Sir, there is absolutely no basis for you to say --

MR. SWALWELL: Sir, again, he can answer. Counsel, counsel, you've
been a witness enough today. Let the witness that we subpoenaed answer the
question.

MR. RYAN: And you're not going to speak over me. You're not --

MR. SWALWELL: Chair, the relevance here -- sir, sir. The relevance
here, Chair --

MR. RYAN: The legal objection.

MR. CONAWAY: Let him get his objection.

MR. SWALWELL: The relevance here, Chair, is that --

MR. RYAN: I'm not challenging the relevance.

MR. SWALWELL: -- they're not being contacted by other countries.
They're only being contacted by Russians. And that is relevant.

MR. RYAN: There's absolutely no foundation that he's a Russian. You
haven't proven it. If you want to represent that you know because you're on the
Intelligence Committee he's Russian, then you have a foundation for that.

MR. SWALWELL: We can go back to the foundation game, counsel.

MR. RYAN: There's no foundation.

MR. SWALWELL: Counsel.

Mr. Cohen, you agree in that email he references the Russia direction. Is
that right?

MR. COHEN: That's what it says, yes.

MR. SWALWELL: Okay. Were there any other countries referenced

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Mr. Trump has never met Sechin?

MR. COHEN: | cannot answer that question. | don't know who Mr. Trump
has met. | don't live with him 24/7. I'm only with him when I'm at The Trump
Organization.

MR. SWALWELL: You know, you mentioned that you were presenting
business deals to him during his time as a Republican candidate and then the
general election candidate. How would you, in your observation, characterize
how he divided his time between his businesses and being a candidate?

MR. RYAN: It's not pertinent. It's a fishing expedition into things
unrelated to Russia.

MR. CONAWAY: Let's move on.

MR. SWALWELL: Have you ever met Carter Page?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. SWALWELL: To your knowledge, has the President ever met Carter
Page?

MR. COHEN: | don't know who the President has met.

MR. SWALWELL: Do you have any financial relationship with VEB?
Have you heard of VEB?

MR. RYAN: VEB, sir?

MR. COHEN: Are you referring to VTB Bank?

MR. SWALWELL: VEB.

MR. COHEN: No, sir, | don't know what VEB is.

MR. SWALWELL: Who's VTB?

MR. COHEN: VTB is the second-largest bank in Russia.

MR. SWALWELL: Do you have any financial relationship with VTB?

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MR. SWALWELL: And “also” would be a reference to working with
Vladimir Putin, just from the context of the email?

MR. COHEN: Correct.

MR. SWALWELL: And then you would agree that the next sentence says,
"| will get all of Putin's team to buy in on this.” Is that right?

MR. COHEN: Correct.

MR. SWALWELL: Again, demonstrating closeness to Putin.

MR. COHEN: His interpretation.

MR. SWALWELL: Correct.

He further says, "Michael, Putin gets on stage with Donald for a
ribbon-cutting for Trump Moscow, and Donald owns the Republican nomination."
Is that right?

MR. COHEN: That's what it says. That's his opinion.

MR. SWALWELL: Again, his opinion is that he can connect this Trump
Tower business deal to Donald Trump winning the Republican nomination. Is that
right? That's how you would read it?

MR. COHEN: That's what he's trying to state.

MR. SWALWELL: Okay.

Then he goes on to say, "You and | will get Donald and Vladimir on a stage
together very shortly, that the game-changer." Do you see that sentence?

MR. COHEN: | see that.

MR. SWALWELL: And would you agree that a reasonable interpretation of
that is, again, that connecting Donald Trump with Vladimir Putin would be a
game-changer that would elect Donald Trump?

MR. COHEN: In Mr. Sater's opinion.

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MR. SWALWELL: This isn't Federal court.

MR. RYAN:  -- would not permit this in any way.

MR. SWALWELL: Counsel, let him answer the questions.

MR. RYAN: You've got him under oath. And this has to be conducted in
a way where you don't ask a 3-minute question and then ask him to comment on
it.

MR. SCHIFF: Counsel, you can invoke the privilege on behalf of your
client or not. If the chairman wants to interject, he will. But we're going to be
here a lot longer --

MR. RYAN: Well, he has to know that I'm objecting.

MR. SCHIFF: -- if you just keep interrupting. These questions are
appropriate and relevant. And if you're not asserting privilege, your witness is
under subpoena, and he's just --

MR. RYAN: Mr. Schiff, you have a wrong view of the law.

MR. SCHIFF: No.

MR. RYAN: My role here --

MR. SCHIFF: You have a misunderstanding of the committee, sir.

MR. CONAWAY: Gentlemen, stop. Stop

MR. RYAN:  -- is to raise objections when they're appropriate.

MR. CONAWAY: Stop.

Joaquin --

MR. CASTRO: Let me -- can | explain, Chairman?

MR. CONAWAY: Yeah. If you want to set the predicate, set it —-

MR. CASTRO: Right.

MR. CONAWAY:. -- stop, ask your question. Don't kind of roll it together.

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MR. COHEN: No.

MR. CASTRO: Were you aware of any connections to Russia that he
had?

MR. COHEN: No.

MR. CASTRO: At the time that he joined the Trump campaign or
afterwards, was the Trump campaign, as far as you know, aware of Lieutenant
General Flynn's travel to Moscow to speak at the RT gala in December of 2015?

MR. COHEN: I'm sorry, sir. Can you ask that question again?

MR. CASTRO: At the time that he joined the Trump campaign or
afterwards, was the Trump campaign aware of Lieutenant General Flynn's travel to
Moscow to speak at the RT gala in December of 2015?

MR. COHEN: |'m not aware of any information that the Trump campaign
would or would not have known. Again, | was not part of the campaign.

MR. CASTRO: When did you first meet Sergi Millian?

MR. COHEN: | never met Sergi Millian.

MR. CASTRO: Were there email exchanges between you and Sergi
Millian in what was produced?

MR. COHEN: Yes, there are were.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. When did you first start corresponding with Sergi
Millian?

MR. COHEN: Sergi Millian contacted my office as a blind call and began
to make certain statements about who he is and what he's done for Trump in the
past. He also continued by talking about running a seminar or a meeting
somewhere in Switzerland and he wanted Mr. Trump to come to Switzerland, as

well as becoming part of the media support for the campaign.

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all, he wasn't in Russia for the event.

MR. CASTRO: Counsel, my question is, during any of the planning, which
also occurred here in the United States -- you were on the board -- did you attend
these parties? Who was there? Were there Russian oligarchs there? Et
cetera. You heard my question.

MR. COHEN: No.

MR. CASTRO: Can you give me a full sentence so that | know exactly
what you're --

MR. COHEN: No, | didn't attend any parties with Russian oligarchs --

MR. CASTRO: Any Russian --

MR. COHEN: -- in regard to the Miss Universe Moscow pageant.

MR. CASTRO: Any Russia businesspersons?

MR. COHEN: Yes.

MR. CASTRO: Who were they?

MR. COHEN: The Agalarov family in Las Vegas.

MR. CASTRO: What was your relationship to them?

MR. COHEN: | don't have a relationship to them.

MR. CASTRO: How long had you known the family or individuals within
the family?

MR. COHEN: | did not.

MR. CASTRO: So that was the first time you met them?

MR. COHEN: Yes, sir, in Las Vegas at the Miss USA Pageant.

MR. CASTRO: Have you subsequently ever been in business with any of
them?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

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President, then-candidate Trump was saying nice things about Putin and Putin
was saying nice things about him, that would help advance the deal?

MR. COHEN: | don't know if it would or it wouldn't, if Mr. Trump made a
gracious statement about President Putin and/or President Putin made a gracious
statement about Mr. Trump, this project then probably would have been built if it
would have had some sort of an effect upon the outcome.

I'd like to also just say, on more than a half a dozen occasions | was asked
by multiple people to go, to bring Mr. Trump. Then when | said no, | wouldn't
even discuss it with Mr. Trump, they wanted me to go.

As I've said many times, I've never been to Russia. I've never accepted
anyone's invitation. | never filed fora visa. | never bought a plane ticket. |
never booked a hotel. | never made any plans to go to Russia.

And the only way that | would have gone is if, in fact, we had a deal that
was consummated that, pursuant to the terms of the LOI, | would have received
the licensing fee and all of the definitive documents would have been executed to
my satisfaction.

Then | would have gone, and | would have possibly seen if Mr. Trump's
schedule permitted for a groundbreaking ceremony. But none of that ever
occurred.

MR. SCHIFF: Your answers are going well beyond my questions, which is
fine, but it will take us longer that way.

If candidate Trump saying positive things about Mr. Putin would help
advance the deal, isn't it also true that if the President was articulating pro-Russian
policies, that would help advance that lucrative deal?

MR. RYAN: You're using the word "President." It was Mr. Trump, who

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allowed in court anyway.

MR. RYAN: Mr. Castro, the difference, this isn't a court proceeding, as you
made the point before.

MR. SCHIFF: Mr. Chairman, the issue here is we don't know who the
identity is. Now, if it's Felix Sater, for example -- he's not a Russian --

MR. RYAN: Ask.

MR. SCHIFF: -- okay? It would be pertinent.

Well, we're not going to ask, like, 5,000 questions. Is it Felix Sater? Is it
Joe Smith? Is it -- just answer the question, and we'll —

MR. RYAN: It's not pertinent.

MR. SCHIFF: That is not a recognizable objection.

MR. RYAN: Itis, sir. The Supreme Court says it is.

MR. CASTRO: Trey, that's not a privilege, that's not an objection.

MR. SCHIFF: You can invoke a privilege if you wish.

MR. CASTRO: My time is burning up here.

MR. RYAN: He's going to answer, Mr. Chairman. But my point is, we're
going to have this over and over again as we do the rummage sale.

Go ahead and answer the question.

MR. COHEN: | sold the apartment about 10 days, 12 days ago. Prior to
that, the apartment was rented to an American by the name of
Fe

MR. CASTRO:

MR. COHEN: [J who | have known for many, many years, as
well as his brother and the family. He needed a place to live.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. Was he the one -- he was renting that?

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When | realized I'm swimming in the wrong lane, | picked myself up and | left.

MR. CASTRO: Did he fire you?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. CASTRO: Did you discuss that the plan would require the Russian
forces withdraw from eastern Ukraine and that Ukraine hold a referendum on
whether Crimea should be leased to Russia for 50 or 100 years?

MR. COHEN: Not the first part, but the latter part. Mr. Artemenko made
it clear that leasing Crimea to Russia would end it.

I'm sorry, was your question did | discuss that with Mr. Trump?

MR. CASTRO: Did you discuss that with anyone?

MR. COHEN: No.

MR. CASTRO: Well, you just said Artemenko said this to you.

MR. COHEN: With Artemenko, yes. | thought you meant anyone other
than Andrey Artemenko. It was his proposal.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. | have a few more questions on that, but let me ask
you, because you did go out of the employ of The Trump Organization -- on
January 20th? Is that fair to say, or was it before that?

MR. COHEN: It was on the 20th.

MR. CASTRO: You become Mr. Trump's personal lawyer. Have you ever
represented a foreign government?

MR. COHEN: No.

MR. CASTRO: So no foreign governments as clients ever in your legal
career?

MR. COHEN: No.

MR. CASTRO: Had you ever entertained conversations with anybody or

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earlier for $41.4 million. Were you involved in this transaction?

MR.

RYAN: I'm sorry, that would be the purchase out of bankruptcy. If

you could just separate the question from your statement.

MR.

CASTRO: Were you in any way involved in any aspect of this

transaction?

MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.

RYAN: Which transaction, sir? The purchase or the sale?
CASTRO: Both. Either one.

RYAN: Okay. Thank you.

COHEN: Yes.

CASTRO: Okay. Which one?

COHEN: The sale.

CASTRO: What was your role in that transaction?

RYAN: Do not disclose privileged information, but if you can explain.

your role in a categorical way, I'm sure that will be satisfactory.

MR.

COHEN: | looked over documents pertaining to the sale which was

brought to Mr. Trump by Sotheby's International Realty, who was the broker on the

site.

MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.

CASTRO: Did you have contact at the time with Dmitry Ryboloviev?
COHEN: No, sir.

CASTRO: Have you ever met that gentleman?

COHEN: No, sir.

CASTRO: Do you know whether Mr. Trump ever met Ryboloviev?
COHEN: At what point in time?

CASTRO: Well, anytime at all that you know of?

COHEN: I'm not aware that he has ever met him.

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MR. CASTRO: -- Rtskhiladze, where he ends an email saying, "Let's get
the term sheet going." Nothing became of it after that?

MR. COHEN: No, sir. There was never a term sheet prepared.

MR. CASTRO: He also sent you an email with the subject line "The
Residential Moscow." The email appears to contain a ZIP file on a residential
development. Is that correct? Do you recall that?

MR. COHEN: | recall it.

MR. CASTRO: It appears that the attachment is in Russian. Do you
speak Russian?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. CASTRO: He asked you if you needed a translation or not.

MR. COHEN: Yes.

MR. CASTRO: And on October 12th, 2015, Mr. Sater emailed you about a
person named Andrey Kostin, who is Putin's top finance guy and the CEO of the
second-largest bank in Russia. According to the email, Mr. Kostin had indicated
that he would finance Trump Moscow.

Mr. Sater goes on to say that, quote, "now all we need is Putin on board
and we.are golden. Meeting with Putin and top deputy is tentatively set for the
14th."

Do you recall what date that was? This was on October 12th, 2015. Was
it November 14th? Do you recall the date?

MR. RYAN: Hold on asecond. | want to make sure | understand what
the -- there was a lot there, and I'm just asking just to separate the question. The
question is?

MR. CASTRO: The question is, when was this meeting scheduled? He

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MR. CASTRO: Did you relay -- any information that he communicated to
you, did you relay that to Donald Trump?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. CASTRO: How about anyone in Donald Trump's family?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. CASTRO: Anybody in the Trump campaign?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. CASTRO: So you never passed along Sergi Millian's messages?

MR. COHEN: Not that I recall.

MR. CASTRO: Have you -- when was the last time you communicating
with Sergi Millian?

MR. COHEN: When | emphatically stated to him in an email: Nobody
knows you. You've never had any relationship to Mr. Trump. The allegations
you claim as being someone who sold real estate for him in Florida is an absolute
lie. You're one of --

MR. CASTRO: Was that email --

MR. COHEN: You're one of millions of Russians who support Mr. Trump.

And finally, | told him if he doesn't stop contacting me, that I'm going to
have the authorities reach out. This email exchange to him, | told-him, nobody is
interested. Mr. Trump is not going to Switzerland. Nobody wants you as a
surrogate.

MR. CASTRO: Did you produce that to this committee, that email
exchange?

MR. COHEN: Again, I'm not in control of any of these documents. So

whatever was produced by my counsel.

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probably a mistake on my end. If the Mr. Cohen referred to in the dossier is not
you --

MR. RYAN: Sir, could you ask in it a slightly different way that might work?
Could you say, is there someone else in the campaign that could be substituted for
you as opposed to someone whose name is Michael Cohen. | think that's the
confusion you're getting.

MR. SCHIFF: Yes. Basically, what I'm trying to ask you is, if the
allegations that pertain to a Michael Cohen in the dossier are not true, in the sense
that you didn't do any of these things, do you have any reason to believe they are
true with respect to someone else in the Trump campaign for which Mr. Steele
may have mistaken your identity?

MR. COHEN: | am unaware.

MR. SCHIFF: You mentioned that after the meeting you had with Mr.
Sater and others on the Ukraine proposal that you destroyed the documents.

Why did you destroy them?

MR. COHEN: Because | was neither interested in the political aspirations
of Andrey Artemenko. | realized | was -- I've used this line before -- swimming in
the wrong lane. And in all fairness, | was angry at Mr. Sater, because | found the
entire meeting to be a tremendous waste of my time.

MR. SCHIFF: And when you say destroy, do you mean you just threw
them out, or did you shred them or what did you do with them?

MR. COHEN: | disposed of them.

MR. SCHIFF: And how?

MR. COHEN: | threw them in the garbage.

MR. SCHIFF: Mr. Sergi Millian makes reference in one of his emails to

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[2:05 p.m.]

MR. SWALWELL: All right. We're back on the record. It's 2 o'clock.

And, Mr. Cohen and counsel, thank you for being patient around a series of
votes.

| had last asked about who Mr. Markov was, and if you could just lay out for
us who is Mr. Markov, lvan Markov.

MR. COHEN: | don't know.

MR. SWALWELL: Okay. But you have reviewed correspondence from an
Ivan Markov to you on July 23rd, 2016?

MR. COHEN: Yes. Can | see those documents again?

MR. SWALWELL: Yes.

MR. COHEN: -(Reviewing.) Okay. I'm sorry, sir, I'm back.

MR. SWALWELL: So you're familiar with a July 23rd, 2016, email to you
from an lvan Markov?

MR. COHEN: I've looked at the document.

MR. SWALWELL: And when that email was sent, had you ever met or
talked to in any way Mr. Markov?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. SWALWELL: But he had sent an email to your email address?

MR. COHEN: This is an unsolicited email sent to me by Ivan Markov.

MR. SWALWELL: And the subject is "great convention, kudos," is that
right?

MR. COHEN: That is what it says.

MR. SWALWELL: And this is -- July 23rd is right after the Republican

Convention?

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[11:10 a.m.]

MR. GOWDY: Mr. Cohen, my name is Trey Gowdy. This is Chairman
Conaway.

In specific, we're looking into four areas of jurisdiction: Number one, what
did Russia do with respect to our 2016 election cycle? With whom, if anyone, did
they do it? The third category would be, what was the U.S. Government's
response to Russia's efforts to interfere with and influence our election? And the
fourth category would be generally what we call masking or unmasking and the
dissemination of classified information.

So | think we'll try to do what | think might be the easy ones first. Do you
have any information at all, regardless of the source, with respect to decisions to
unmask U.S. persons’ names in intelligence products?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. GOWDY: Have you ever disseminated classified information to
anyone?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. GOWDY: With respect to the third category, were you in a position to
know what the U.S. Government's response was to Russia's active measures
during the 2016 election cycle?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. GOWDY: All right. Well, | want to focus on the first two tranches
then.

I'm going to use three words that to some people have similar meanings,
but we're going to establish up front whether or not they have different meanings

to you: "collusion," "conspiracy," and "coordination." All right. Do those words

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news article?

MR. RYAN: It's already asked -- it's asked and answered. You may
answer again.

MR. COHEN: | believe so.

MR. SWALWELL: A moment ago you said that it could have been about
the Trump Tower deal. Could it have been about both?

MR. COHEN: About the --

MR. SWALWELL: The news article --

MR. COHEN: The news article --

MR. SWALWELL: -- and the Trump Tower deal.

MR. COHEN: | could have asked him to call me to comment on the article.
| -- generally in all of my communications with Mr. Sater, the sole purpose that |
had in communicating with Mr. Sater was about the Trump Moscow proposal.

MR. SWALWELL: But, Mr. Cohen, you would agree that the sole purpose
of this email was a political one and that it was about Vladimir Putin praising
Donald Trump.

MR. RYAN: | object to the form of the question. It has been asked and
answered and you're arguing with the witness.

MR. SWALWELL: You said that the sole purpose of your communications
with Mr. Sater was about the Trump Tower deal. You would agree that this
December 17th email does not mention at all Trump Tower.

MR. COHEN: It does not mention Trump Tower, because the proposal
was between The Trump Organization and |.C. Expert, to which Mr. Sater was the
licensee's -- the potential licensee's representative.

MR. SWALWELL: Did you ever tell Donald Trump about Mr. Sater’s

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MR. COHEN: | am very proud to have served Donald Trump for all of
these years, and | will continue to support him.

If we really are concerned about a Russian attempt to divide our country
and discredit our political system, then the best thing we can do is put aside our
infighting, stop presuming guilt rather than innocence of American citizens, and
address this national security threat as a united people. Otherwise, the priorities
of the American people will continue to be neglected, and the Russians will use
our distraction to continue to harm us from the shadows while we harm each other
in front of camera lights.

| look forward to answering all of your questions, and thank you for having
me today.

MR. CONAWAY: Thank you, sir.

Mr. Castro?

MR. CASTRO: All right. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Cohen, for joining us today. My name is Joaquin Castro.
And |'m going to start off asking the questions, and Eric Swalwell will take over,
and the other members on the Democratic side, once we go back and forth.

Can you please state your full name for the record?

MR. COHEN: Michael Dean Cohen.

MR. CASTRO: And your date of birth?

MR COMEN, aT

MR. CASTRO: Place of birth?

MR COHEN:

MR. CASTRO: And prior to today, aside from your counsel, had you met’

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HEE, G00d morning. This is an unclassified transcribed interview
of Michael Cohen.

Thank you for speaking to us today.

For the record, | am (I EMM for the majority here at the
House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Others present here today
will introduce themselves as they speak.

Before we begin, | just wanted to give you a few instructions for the road.

The questioning will be conducted by members and staff during their
allotted time period. Some question may seem basic, but that is because we
need to clearly establish facts and understand the situation. Please do not
assume we know any facts you have previously disclosed as part of any other
investigation or review.

We ask that you give complete and fulsome replies to questions based on
your best recollection. If a question is unclear or you're uncertain in your
response, please let us know. And if you do not know the answer to a question or
cannot remember, simply say so.

During the course of this interview, we will take any breaks that you desire.

This interview will be transcribed. There is a reporter making a record of
these proceedings so we can easily consult a written compilation of your answers.
Because the reporter cannot record gestures, we ask that you answer verbally. If
you forget to do this, you might be reminded to do so. You may also be asked to
spell certain terms or unusual phrases.

You are entitled to have counsel present for this interview, and | see that

you have brought them. At this time, if counsel could make their appearances for

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MR. RYAN: It's not pertinent, sir.

MR. CASTRO: Well, Paul Manafort, for example.

MR. RYAN: No, it's not pertinent. He told you already he didn't accept
any representation from a foreign government since he became a lawyer. Who
approached him and discussed it -- if you want to make it pertinent, ask about
Russia, Ukraine, or anything like that. That will be pertinent.

MR. CASTRO: Sure. Okay. About Russia, Ukraine, any of the Eastern
European countries that have been mentioned in this investigation, has anybody
approached you to represent any of those nations?

MR. COHEN: No.

MR. CASTRO: Allright. So just so we're clear on the document that Mr.
Sater gave to you, did you give the document to anyone else or show it to anyone
else before you disposed of it?

MR. COHEN: No.

MR. CASTRO: And how did you dispose of it?

MR. COHEN: | threw it away.

MR. CASTRO: Where?

MR. COHEN: | don't recall if | threw it in a garbage pail.

MR. CASTRO: At your home?

MR. COHEN: At my home or by my home.

MR. CASTRO: And when was the last time that you've spoken with
Mr. Artemenko?

MR. COHEN: That day that | met him at the Lowe's.

MR. CASTRO: So no subsequent communications?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

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MR. COHEN: Five.

MR. CASTRO: So, based on the documents you provided to the
committee, The Trump Organization appears to have pursued a project to build a
Trump Tower in Moscow during 2015 and the first part of 2016. You provided the
committee with a statement adding your perspective about the deal.

When did you first begin discussions for this project?

MR. COHEN: The end of 2015.

MR. CASTRO: September 2015? Is that fair to say? | believe in your
statement --

MR. COHEN: Yes, September 2015.

MR. CASTRO: All right. Who provided you with the proposal?

MR. COHEN: Felix Sater.

MR. CASTRO: Did you reach out to him, or did he reach out to you?

MR. COHEN: Mr. Sater reached out to me.

MR. CASTRO: On September 23rd, 2015, John Fotiadis emailed you with
a revised Trump Tower Moscow design study sent with high importance. You
replied with high importance. Do you recall why this proposal was urgent enough
to warrant being flagged as high importance?

MR. COHEN: Yes.

MR. CASTRO: Why is that?

MR. COHEN: Mr. Sater stated that it was very important to put together
documents so that he could present it to the licensee that he was working for.

MR. CASTRO: And let me ask you, going a step back, why take a
proposal from Felix Sater seriously? Why possibly go into business with him?

MR. COHEN: Mr. Sater has been quite successful over the years in terms

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MR. SCHIFF: And what's the nature of those interactions been?

MR. COHEN: | don't -- | don't know the answer to that.

MR. SCHIFF: And do you know how much communication Donald Jr. has
had with Emin Agalarov?

MR. COHEN: | don't.

MR. SCHIFF: The emails that have become public about the Trump Tower
meeting between Don Jr., Jared Kushner, Paul Manafort, and others, you're aware
of the newspaper accounts?

MR. COHEN: I'm aware of the newspaper accounts.

MR. SCHIFF: In those emails, that meeting was arranged, in part, through
Mr. Agalarov. Do you know anything about Mr. Agalarov's role in that meeting?

MR. COHEN: | was under the impression from the media reports it was
from a gentleman by the name of Goldstone.

MR. SCHIFF: Well, it was reported, at least, in those emails that
Mr. Agalarov had had a conversation with the crown prosecutor, which resulted in
communication to the son Emin, which resulted in communication to the British
‘promoter. Do you know anything about the relationship of the Agalarovs with the
Russian authorities?

MR. COHEN: | do not.

MR. SCHIFF: Or how much contact Don Jr. has with either Agalarov Sr. or
Jr.?

MR. COHEN: | do not.

MR. SCHIFF: Have you had any discussion with either the President, Don
Jr., Paul Manafort, or Jared Kushner about that meeting at Trump Tower?

MR. COHEN: I'm sorry, Congressman. One more time, your question,

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Trump, is running in. Is that correct?

MR. COHEN: I'mso sorry. One more time, please.

MR. SWALWELL: You would agree that this email mixes both business
with Trump Tower and also the 2016 Presidential election?

| One minute, Mr. Swalwell.

MR. COHEN: Yes, that's what Felix is saying.

MR. SWALWELL: And Felix also says, "I know how to play it, and we will
get this done. Buddy, our boy can become President of the United States, and
we can engineer it." Is that right?

MR. COHEN: That's what it says.

MR. SWALWELL: When he says "we," you take that to mean he and you.
Is that correct?

MR. COHEN: Correct.

MR. SWALWELL: And when he says "engineer," you would read that to
mean that the two of you can work in conjunction with the Kremlin to get the
President elected. !s that right?

MR. COHEN: I'mso sorry. Again, one more time? | was just trying to
read the line that you were referring to when you were asking the question.

MR. SWALWELL: Sure. He says, "Buddy, our boy can become President
of the USA, and we can engineer it.". We would agree that "we" is a reference to
you and he?

MR. COHEN: We agree.

MR. SWALWELL: And "engineer" would be a reference to Donald Trump
being elected President. Is that right?

MR. COHEN: That's correct.

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MR. COHEN: Correct.

MR. SWALWELL: And Felix is Mr. Sater?

MR. COHEN: Correct.

MR. SWALWELL: And in the forwarding, you wrote, "Now is the time.
Call me." Is that right?

MR. COHEN: Correct.

MR. SWALWELL: So November 3rd, 2015, he says, "Get me the clip."
And on 12/17/2015, you send him a clip from ABC News. Is that right? That is,
a Google alert which is a news clipping from ABC News.

MR. RYAN: Do the two have any relationship is the question.

MR. SWALWELL: Do you agree that you sent him a clip on
December 17th?

MR. COHEN: Congressman, | don't know whether or not this Google alert
contained a clip or this was just a news article.

MR. SWALWELL: Okay. Why did you send this news article to Mr.
Sater?

MR. COHEN: | don't know, but | can assure you that there's no connection
between the 11/3/2015 email that we spoke about and 1 month and 2 weeks later.

MR. SWALWELL: You would agree, though, that Mr. Sater throughout his
November 3rd, 2015, email is suggesting that connecting Donald Trump and
Vladimir Putin would be a good thing, right?

MR. COHEN: That is what Mr. Sater says, yes.

MR. SWALWELL: And you would agree that the clip that you forwarded to
him on December 17 was Donald Trump's own words connecting himself to

Vladimir Putin. Is that right?

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EXECUTIVE SESSION

PERMANENT SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE,
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

WASHINGTON, D.C.

INTERVIEW OF: MICHAEL COHEN

Tuesday, October 24, 2017
Washington, D.C.

The interview in the above matter was held in Room HVC-304, the Capitol,
commencing at 10:08 a.m.

Present: Representatives Conaway, King, LoBiondo, Rooney,

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MR. RYAN: Asked and answered. Go ahead and answer.

MR. COHEN: No.

MR. CASTRO: Did you ever discuss with Mr. Kostin the potential financing
of Trump Tower Moscow?

MR. RYAN: Asked and answered. Go ahead and answer it again.

MR. COHEN: No, sir. We never got to that point in the life of the Trump
Moscow proposal. The very first thing that | was looking for from the licensee was
the site that we were going to place the Trump Tower property on.

MR. CASTRO: Okay.

MR. COHEN: We wanted to see ownership and control. Without that,
there was never a need to even discuss financing because you didn't know what
you were going to finance. You didn't know how big a building on that specific
site could be. And then it would go on and on and on.

MR. CASTRO: Let's walk through some questions on this letter of intent.
All right?

MR. RYAN: Could we put the letter of intent in front of him?

MR. CASTRO: Yes, we have that letter.

MR. RYAN: | have a copy here that | can put in front of him, if you want.

MR. CASTRO: The letter of intent appears to have been signed on
October 28th, 2015. Does that sound correct?

MR. COHEN: One second. I'm sorry.

MR. RYAN: Hold on, sir.

MR. COHEN: I'm sorry.

MR. RYAN: Give you back you book as well.

MR. CASTRO: Thank you.

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Americans.
MR. CONAWAY: We're off the record. Thank you.

[Whereupon, at 3:34 p.m., the interview was concluded.]

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MR. COHEN: | don't recall.

MR. CONAWAY: So you might as well give me a copy of it and let me
read it back to you.

MR. SWALWELL: I'm sorry?

MR. CONAWAY: You're questioning, asking him to read something on an
email that he doesn't have a recollection for. I'm wondering why do we have to
waste the time doing that? Or you can give me a copy of it and let me read it
back to you.

MR. SWALWELL: | don't understand. We're trying to establish the
foundation of whether he --

MR. CONAWAY: He hasn't read it, so he doesn't know what's in it.

MR. SWALWELL: Well, he doesn't recall if he read it or not is what he
said.

MR. CONAWAY: So if he doesn't recall what he read, why are you going
through the details of asking him to do that?

MR. SWALWELL: Because we're creating a record about what he
received and what his knowledge --

MR. CONAWAY: Ask me what paragraph it is and I'll read it back to you.

MR. SWALWELL: But you weren't the witness, sir.

MR. CONAWAY: But you're wasting time doing that.

MR. SWALWELL: | don't think I'm wasting time. I'm trying to establish
what he knew and then whether it was passed up to --

MR. CONAWAY: He said he didn't know. You asked him that last
question. He hasn't read it, doesn't recall. That was your question.

MR. SWALWELL: | think it's fairly establishing that it was him first,

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How | ended up meeting him is through his son, who is an aspiring musician and
actually entertained at the Miss USA Pageant as a singer.

They made a proposal to the Miss Universe organization to host the 2013
Miss Universe Pageant in Moscow at his Crocus Center, which would be similar to
the Jacob Javitz Center, except in Moscow.

And | want to be clear about something. --

MR. RYAN: Interpret the Jacob Javitz Center for the people who are not
Mr. King.

MR. COHEN: | apologize. It's a convention center in New York.

| want to be clear that the decision to go with Moscow was not a Trump
decision. So the board of Miss Universe consisted of seven people. It was three
from the Trump side, it would Mr. Trump, Allen Weisselberg, the CFO, and myself.
The other three were Mr. Trump's partners, NBC, and they had three executives
from NBC. And in the event that it was a deadlock, Paula Shughart, who was the
president of Miss Universe organization, would make the final vote.

So that vote to host -- to allow the Agalarovs to host the 2013 Miss
Universe Pageant was a unanimous decision by the Trump side, NBC side, and
approved by the president of Miss Universe organization.

So the notion that Donald Trump benefited in some way because the
Agalarovs paid X amount of dollars to host, 50 percent of that went to NBC. Now,
rest assured, somebody who was doing something nefarious would not give 50
percent away to somebody else, least of all NBC.

So I'm not 100 percent certain that the Agalarovs, as it relates to our
introduction of why they wanted it in Russia, has anything to do with anything other

than wanting to host the pageant there for their own real estate purpose.

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Washington, D.C. 20001-1531

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MR. COHEN: Thanks. I'm sorry, the question again was?

MR. CASTRO: It appears to be signed -- the letter of intent appears to
have been signed on October 28th, 2015. Does that sound correct to you?

MR. COHEN: Correct.

MR. CASTRO: Allright. I'd like to walk through the letter of intent and
make sure we understand what this deal entailed.

On the front page, the top of the page says, "Trump Acquisition LLC." Is
this LLC a subsidiary of The Trump Organization?

MR. COHEN: Yes.

MR. CASTRO: Halfway down that front page, licenser, that would be the
Trump -- that would be Trump Acquisition? Is that right?

MR. COHEN: And/or one or more of its affiliates.

MR. CASTRO: Licensee, the organization purchasing the license is,
quote, "I.C. Expert Investment Company and/or one or more of its affiliates." Is
that correct?

MR. COHEN: That's what it says. Yes.

MR. CASTRO: On page three, quote, "license fees -- licensees shall pay
the licensor certain nonrefundable license fees as set forth on schedule two
attached hereto." So let's turn to schedule 2, which appears to be attached.
Schedule 2.

All right. Now, schedule 2 appears to be a list of the license fees. First is
an upfront fee of $4 million, and this fee is followed by gross sales fees. First is 5
percent of gross sales up to $100 million. Thereafter, the fee goes down to 4
percent of gross sales up to $250 million. Is that right?

MR. COHEN: Yes, that's what it says.

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MR. COHEN: It was, | believe, constructed before | started employment at
The Trump Organization.

MR. CASTRO: You joined in what year now?

MR. COHEN: 2007.

MR. CASTRO: This project was in 2007.

MR. COHEN: | believe it was already --

MR. CASTRO: Okay.

MR. COHEN: -- constructed.

MR. CASTRO: The Sapir Organization was founded by Georgia native
Tamir Sapir. Felix Sater is one of Mr. Sapir's business partners.

Did Mr. Sater introduce you to Mr. Sapir?

MR. COHEN: No.

MR. CASTRO: So you never met Mr. Sappier back then?

MR. RYAN: That's not his testimony. You asked him a specific question
about Mr. Sater. You didn't ask him if he'd ever met the man.

MR. CASTRO: Okay.

Have you met Tamir Sapir?

MR. COHEN: Yes.

MR. CASTRO: When did you meet him?

MR. COHEN: 1994, '95, in that area.

MR. CASTRO: And have you ever done business with him?

MR. COHEN: No.

MR. CASTRO: Ever been solicited for business?

MR. COHEN: No.

MR. CASTRO: Does Bayrock Group have an office in Trump Tower?

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respect to --

MR. RYAN: No, you're not going to ask that question. He's not testifying
about his dealings with the Special Counsel.

MR. SWALWELL: Are you asserting a privilege?

MR. RYAN: No, I'm not asserting any privilege. You need to lay a
foundation like a proper lawyer here. Lay a foundation to your question.

MR. SWALWELL: Maybe one day | will be a proper lawyer like you, sir.
But right now I'm asking Mr. Cohen, have you been interviewed by the Special
Counsel with respect to your dealings with respect to Mr. Trump and the
Russians?

MR. RYAN: | consider it totally inappropriate to be asking about the
actions of the executive branch conducting a criminal case.

You may answer.

| think it's totally improper. And if you're treating witnesses like that,
invading the space of the independent counsel, you're out of line.

Go ahead and answer.

MR. COHEN: No.

MR. SWALWELL: Mr. Cohen, did you tell the FBI, after you received this
email from Mr. Sater, that Mr. Sater was suggesting that a foreign government
could interfere in our election?

MR. COHEN: Sir, I've never been contacted by the FBI.

MR. SWALWELL: No, but did you take it upon yourself to go to the FBI
and tell them that Mr. Sater was suggesting that a foreign government could
interfere in our election?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

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MR. RYAN: | think he's asking a different question.

MR. SWALWELL: Yeah, but you just stated a moment ago that "now is the
time, call me" could have been in reference to Mr. Sater should call you about the
Trump Tower deal. Is that right?

MR. COHEN: It could have been about the Trump Moscow proposal, yes.

MR. SWALWELL: What else could it have been about?

MR. COHEN: | don't know.

MR. SWALWELL: Was there a reason that you didn't want to talk about it
on email and you wanted to talk about it on the phone?

MR. COHEN: Not that! recall. | thought it would make more sense to
speak by phone instead of these lengthy emails or text messages, which | find
difficult.

MR. SWALWELL: Well, | guess | don't understand. If you don't
remember what you meant by "now is the time, call me," how do you -- let me
finish, counsel.

MR. RYAN: That's not his testimony. He testified to you previously --

MR. SCHIFF: Counsel, let him finish.

MR. SWALWELL: Mr. Cohen, you said that it could have been about the
Trump Tower business deal, but it could have been about something else. Is that
right?

MR. COHEN: It's possible, yes.

MR. SWALWELL: So, if you can't recall what it was about, how can you
testify that you wanted to talk about the Trump Tower deal not by text or by email
but over the phone?

MR. RYAN: First of all, your question mischaracterizes his testimony.

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MR. CASTRO: You said a few years ago. Okay.

Do you have a --

MR. COHEN: | apologize. There was also a campaign email that was set
up for me.

MR. CASTRO: What is the campaign email?

MR. COHEN: | don't -- | don't recall.

MR. CASTRO: Do you recall using it at all?

MR. COHEN: | don't recall.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. So that's three emails.

MR. COHEN: Correct?

MR. CASTRO: Okay. Have you ever had a Proton email account?

MR. COHEN: No, sir. | don't know what that is.

MR. CASTRO: Okay.

From January 2015 to the present, which social media platforms have you
had accounts with and been active on? For example, Facebook, Instagram --

MR. COHEN: Facebook.

MR. CASTRO: Okay.

MR. COHEN: Instagram. Twitter.

MR..CASTRO: On any of these accounts, have you received or sent
messages? On Facebook, for example, sometimes somebody will send you a
direct message. Same thing with Twitter.

MR. COHEN: On arare occasion. | really don't use those social media
platforms for communication.

MR. CASTRO: So you've used it for messaging sometimes, but your

position is that you've used it rarely.

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role in anything of the sort.

On page 32, there's an allegation: "Kremlin insider outlines important role
played by Trump's lawyer, Cohen, in secret liaison with Russian leadership."

Again, it's absolutely and totally false.

Again on page 32, "Cohen engaged with Russians in trying to cover up
scandal of Manafort and exposure of Page and meets Kremlin officials secretly in
the EU in August in pursuit of this goal."

And, again, | completely deny the allegation as entirely false. | did not
participate in any such meeting, nor would | have done so, in an attempt to
conceal any suppression of information about Paul Manafort or Carter Page or
anyone else, for that matter.

Again on page 32, "The Kremlin insider highlighted an importance of
Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump's lawyer, Michael Cohen, in the
ongoing secret liaison relationship between the New York tycoon's campaign and
the Russian leadership. It states that Cohen's role had grown following the
departure of Paul Manafort as Trump campaign's manager in August of 2016."

And, again, | completely deny the allegation as entirely false. I'm not
aware of any ongoing secret liaison relationship between the Trump campaign and
any Russian leadership, and | certainly had no role in any such relationship. It
also goes back to the original statement; | was in Los Angeles with my son during
the time that they claim that this was happening.

Again on page 32, it states, "Cohen was now heavily engaged in a cover-up
and damage-limitation operation in an attempt to prevent the full details of Trump's
relationship with Russia being exposed."

And, again, | completely deny this allegation as false. I'm not aware of any

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MR. RYAN: Okay.

MR. CASTRO: Here you agree. There are multiple copies of this
agreement. We're going to pick one of them. Bates stamp number
MDC-H-000312.

MR. RYAN: I think we've asked and answered this, but --

MR. CASTRO: Well, but there's a conflict in the answer and what |
perceive to be the case.

MR. RYAN: Sir, there's no conflict in the answer, but perhaps he could
make a proffer to you what the bottom line is.

MR. CASTRO: Counsel, let's go through this.

MR. RYAN: Then we'll go over the asked and answered thing 5 hours into
this.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. | know you've stayed at depositions longer than
this. You've been around a long time.

MR. RYAN: That's my living.

MR. CASTRO: So on that Bates stamp page it says: "Signed on behalf of
The Donald J. Trump Foundation, Inc., name Michael Cohen, Executive Vice
President and Special Counsel to Donald J. Trump."

Do you read where it says signed -- do you see where it says signed on
behalf of The Donald J. Trump Foundation?

MR. COHEN: Ido. | see where it says that.

MR. CASTRO: So you entered into this agreement on behalf of The
Donald J. Trump Foundation. Is that correct?

MR. COHEN: No.

MR. CASTRO: So why does this document say signed on behalf of The

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MR. COHEN: Real estate.

MR. CASTRO: Which projects?

MR. COHEN: I'm not sure, sir, that | can answer that question.

MR. CASTRO: Why is that?

MR. COHEN: Because it's personal to Mr. Trump and to each specific
project. There could also be partners in those deals. And | don't feel
comfortable in discussing which bank or what property they went to Deutsche
Bank to discuss.

MR. CASTRO: Are you under a nondisclosure agreement not to discuss
such matters?

MR. RYAN: You may answer and then | have something to say.

Every attorney's under a nondisclosure agreement not to disclose his
client's secrets. To the extent that he's aware of Donald Trump having a
Deutsche Bank loan, if you could ask whether he knew that in his capacity as a
lawyer to Mr. Trump or he knew it as a cocktail party conversation. He can testify
to the cocktail party, he can't testify to his knowledge about --

MR. CASTRO: Well, okay. Let me do this, just because our time is
running and we want to get you guys out of here.

MR. COHEN: Appreciate it.

MR. RYAN: We would like that.

MR. CASTRO: Did you work on any deals or loans or anything else
between The Trump Organization and Deutsche Bank?

MR. COHEN: Yes.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. Can you tell us which ones?

MR. COHEN: The purchase of a note that was held by Deutsche Bank on

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MR. CASTRO: Right. But personal, that's not a category. | mean family
law, real estate, those are categories. There's no type of law called personal law,
unless you're talking about personal injury law.

MR. COHEN: I'm not referring to personal injury law.

MR. RYAN: So, look, you have immensely wealthy people. They need
lawyers. He's their lawyer.

MR. CASTRO: So estate?

MR. COHEN: It's not for estate tax planning purposes. If there's an issue
that affects them personally.

MR. CASTRO: Contracts?

MR. RYAN: Don't disclose.

MR. COHEN: | apologize. | can't disclose —

MR. CASTRO: So you're asserting a privilege?

MR. COHEN: -- on the personal matters that | have worked on.

MR. RYAN: | explained to you --

MR. COHEN: They are unrelated to this investigation at all.

MR. CASTRO: For our purposes on the record, are you asserting a
privilege?

MR. COHEN: Yes.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. You also did work for The Trump Foundation?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. Do we have that production here? I'll give youa
Bates stamp so you can look at this.

MR. RYAN: | don't have all of the documents, sir. | didn't bring them.

MR. CASTRO: We have them.

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MR. SWALWELL: Okay.

| have more questions on the email, but --

MR. COHEN: | would just like to add one last statement.

MR. SWALWELL: Sure.

MR. COHEN: Mr. Trump and President Putin never stood on the stage
together. | don't know whether or not the statements made by Mr. Sater about
Ivanka are true. What Mr. Sater is is a salesman, and he uses very colorful
language... What he was really interested in was showing his enthusiasm for this
election so that he can keep me interested in the proposal, the Trump Moscow
proposal, because there would have been very good economics for him in it as
well.

So the fact that he sent me this response, | never considered any of this
noise. | was only looking at the Trump Moscow proposal. Everything else, to
me, | just ignored. 1! didn't care if she sat in it or she didn't. None of this else
made any sense, whether he thought by putting the two on a stage can actually
accomplish anything while Mr. Trump was 1 of 16 candidates for the Republican
nomination. There was never any action taken by me, and there was never any
action taken by Mr. Trump, as neither of us ever went to Moscow on behalf of this
opportunity.

Thanks.

oY

Q Just a few questions, Mr. Cohen.
I'll return to that email specifically ina moment. But, during the time period
in which this email involves and over the course of the time period that's pertinent

to this investigation, that is, Donald Trump's entry as a candidate for President and

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MR. CASTRO: Okay. Have you ever had a conversation with Mr. Trump
about this gentleman -- that doesn't interfere with a legal privilege?

MR. RYAN: If we could just separate the transaction and --

MR. CASTRO: Sure.

MR. RYAN: -- any other conversation other than --

MR. CASTRO: Right, that doesn't interfere -- another conversation
besides your work on this legal work on this transaction.

MR. COHEN: I'm sorry, sir. Can you ask the question one more time?

MR. CASTRO: Have you had a conversation with Mr. Trump about Dmitry
Ryboloviev about this transaction or anything else?

MR. COHEN: Yes.

MR. CASTRO: What was the nature of your conversation?

MR. COHEN: About the price, the property.

MR. RYAN: These are legal issues. Are you in the privilege issue or are

you =-

MR. COHEN: |'m outside of the privilege.

MR. RYAN: Okay. You can continue.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. Well, and this transaction, was this a cash
purchase?

MR. COHEN: | don't know the answer to that.

MR. CASTRO: | thought that you had worked on --

MR. COHEN: The transaction was conducted through Sotheby's. | did
not do the closing.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. So you're not aware of how it was

purchased -- cash or cashier's check or anything?

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with any of this interference or collusion or any other words that they want to use
to describe Russia's interference in our electoral process.

So my hope is that at the end of this interview, that the same way that my
name was dragged through the mud, | would hope that this committee and others
would talk about and put out the falsity of my name being used in the dossier.

MR. CASTRO: Thank you for your testimony today, Mr. Cohen.

MR. RYAN: Mr. Chairman.

MR. CONAWAY: Yes, sir.

MR. RYAN: We had three documents at the beginning of the meeting.
One was his prepared statement; the second was the two-pager on the Moscow
building project; and the third was the document on the --

MR. KING: Mr. Chairman? I'm sorry, go ahead. One final statement.

MR. RYAN: The document on the dossier. If those three could be part of
the record.

MR. CONAWAY: Without objection.

MR. KING: May | just put on the record to put this in further context for
those who are not from the same part of the world as Mr. Cohen and | are.

You were asked before about any dealings with Russian Americans. If |
had been asked if | had any dealings with Russian Americans in my office, | would
have said no. | spoke to me district director today, whose husband is Jewish. |
said -- | didn't mention anything about this -- out of curiosity, where were his
parents from? She said all four grandparents are from Russia.

So that made him a Russian American. She's married to a Russian
American. His parents, who I've known for 25 years, until this afternoon | didn't

know they were Russian American. So I'm guilty for dealing with Russian

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MR. COHEN: Not that I'm aware.

MR. GOWDY: The same question, "conspiracy."

MR. COHEN: Not that I'm aware.

MR. GOWDY: All right.

You issued a statement, not -- this is what I'd call the skinny version of your
statement. | think there's a longer version, or there may have been a letter. I'm
going to ask you whether or not this sounds familiar, whether or not this is a quote
that can be attributed to you, via your lawyer.

"Mr. Cohen is not aware of any impropriety related to Mr. Trump's
relationship with Russia, nor is he aware of Mr. Trump having an improper political
relationship with officials of the Russian Federation."

ls that a quote that can be attributed to you, via your lawyer?

MR. COHEN: Yes, sir.

MR. GOWDY: Allright. Well, | want to ask you about two words in here,
because | like to focus on words, and | assume that words have a purpose or they
wouldn't have shown up.

"Mr. Cohen is not aware of any impropriety related to Mr. Trump's
relationship with Russia."

Pardon me?

MR. CONAWAY: Do you have a page number so he can find it?

MR. GOWDY: | don't. I'm reading a quote that | took out of it.

But I'm happy to give you time to find it. | think it may be your attorney's

letter.
MR. RYAN: Yeah, he's got the letter in front of him.

MR. GOWDY: All right. | don't know the page. | wrote down the quote.

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MR. CASTRO: I'm going to keep at my own pace.

MR. COHEN: Sorry. It was somewhere from the inception of 2015 all the
way through, | would say, January of 2016.

MR. CASTRO: Okay.

MR. COHEN: Sorry. | don't know what it is with me and dates today.

MR. CASTRO: What all does this due diligence include? Who else did
you reach out to? Who else did you have conversations with about this, besides
Felix Sater and the architect?

MR. COHEN: Mr. Sater had at one or two occasions put on the phone
Andrei Rozov, who was the CEO of I.C. Expert Investment Company.

MR. CASTRO: Did you think that he was a fraud?

MR. COHEN: | had no reason to believe he was or he wasn't. All| was
interested in is obtaining the information that | wanted, which was the ownership or
control of a designated piece of property.

MR. CASTRO: Now, on November 18th you emailed Dmitry Klokov,
copying Ivanka Trump, and said, quote -- if you all want to find - we have that
email form here -- November 18th, 2015.

MR. RYAN: | actually have one too. Hold on, sir. There's actually two
exchanges. Which one do you want to ask about?

MR. CASTRO: They're both on November 15th -- November 18th, 2015.

MR. RYAN: No, that's not correct. Hold on a second.

MR. CASTRO: There is one November 18th and November 19th.

MR. RYAN: There's four blocks, Klokov, Cohen, Klokov, Cohen.

MR. CASTRO: We'll discuss those emails, so | assume you have them in

front of you.

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from this group regarding the allegations raised nor for any other purpose.

Additionally, on the same page, 18, "Kosachev, also plausibly deniable,
being part of the Russian legislature rather than executive, had facilitated the
contact in Prague and, by implication, may have attended the meetings with
Cohen there in August."

Again, | believe Kosachev is an -- yes, it is -- he's an individual.
Constantine Kosachev. | have never met Mr. Kosachev in Prague. I've never
met him anywhere in the world.

The same page, allegation 18, "Cohen met officials from the PA Legal
Department clandestinely in an EU country in August of 2016. This was in order
to clean up the mess left behind by Western media revelation of Trump
ex-campaign manager Manafort's corrupt relationship with the former pro-Russian
Yanukovych regime in Ukraine and Trump foreign policy adviser Carter Page's
secret meetings in Moscow with senior regime figures in July of 2016. According
to the Kremlin adviser, these meetings were originally scheduled for Cohen in
Moscow but shifted to what was considered an operationally soft EU country when
it was judged too compromising for him to travel to the Russian capital."

And, again, | claim that this allegation is completely and totally false. |
never met with officials from the PA Legal Department clandestinely in the EU or
anywhere else in the world.

Then on page 30, the allegation: "A key role in the secret Trump
campaign-Kremlin relationship was being played by the Republican candidate's
personal lawyer, Michael Cohen."

And | again deny this allegation, as it's entirely false. And I'm not aware of

any secret Trump campaign or Kremlin relationship, and | played absolutely no

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Trump for a pardon and Mr. Trump would not have offered me a pardon, because |
have done absolutely nothing wrong except for be the lawyer who | am for him and
for the corporation.

MR. SWALWELL: You talked about using Signal earlier. Did you
message individuals on the campaign?

MR. RYAN: Hold on. Give me 60 seconds.

[Discussion off the record.]

MR. SWALWELL: Sorry, Mr. Cohen, | can repeat it if you like.

MR. COHEN: Yeah, please do.

MR. SWALWELL: | said you had mentioned the different apps and
messaging devices that you'd used during the campaign, one of them being
Signal. And my question was, did you ever correspond with individuals on the
campaign using the Signal app?

MR. COHEN: | don't believe so, but | don't recall.

MR. SWALWELL: Have you ever corresponded with Jared Kushner using
Signal?

MR. COHEN: | don't recall.

MR. SWALWELL: Do you know if Mr. Kushner has a Signal account?

MR. COHEN: | don't.

MR. SWALWELL: Donald Jr.?

MR. RYAN: I'm sorry, you're going to have to say what the question is.

MR. SWALWELL: Sure.

MR. RYAN: Please, just for clarity.

MR. SWALWELL: Have you ever corresponded with Donald Jr. using
Signal?

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MR. RYAN: I'm sorry, what's the quote we're looking for?

MR. GOWDY: The quote begins, "Mr. Cohen is not aware of any
impropriety related to..."

MR. RYAN: Sir, if you want to ask it as a statement that he can agree to.
Rather than just having it in the document, just read it aloud and see if he agrees
with it. Then we don't have to find it in the document.

MR. GOWDY: Sure.

I'm going to read a statement. We won't worry about the attribution. You
just tell me whether or not the statement is accurate or not, okay?

MR. COHEN: Yes, sir.

MR. GOWDY: "Mr. Cohen is not aware of any impropriety related to Mr.
Trump's relationship with Russia, nor is he aware of Mr. Trump having an improper
political relationship with officials of the Russian Federation."

MR. COHEN: And your question is, sir?

MR. GOWDY: Is it accurate?

MR. COHEN: Yes, sir, it's accurate.

MR. GOWDY: All right.

You used the word "impropriety." "Mr. Cohen is not aware of any
impropriety related to Mr. Trump's relationship with Russia." Take out the word
"impropriety." Describe his relationship with Russia without reference to whether
it's improper or not. How would you describe his relationship with Russia?

MR. RYAN: Sir, do you want to put a time period on that? Like,
before -- because he certainly has a relationship now as POTUS, but | just -- |
think that's puzzling the witness.

MR. GOWDY: Well, we can end the evening of the election, because it's

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President?

A Yes.

Q Can you give us an example or a summary?

A The portions regarding President Putin standing with Mr. Trump at
what would have been a groundbreaking ceremony, all the references in this email
to Putin. | extracted from this email what | was looking for, which was the
advancement of the Trump Moscow proposal.

Q So it was common for you to receive emails and communications
that both referenced directly that you had to take for action in your role as special
counsel to Mr. Trump and other information that was extraneous to your role as
special counsel to Mr. Trump.

A Yes. | have no control what somebody puts to me in an email.

Q And in this such email with Mr. Sater, as you said, he was combining
the two and assuming you would have the authority or the ability to respond for
both special counsel to Mr. Trump and as part of the campaign for Mr. Trump's
Presidency.

A The answer is yes. | think Mr. Sater also had a second motive in
terms of what | was looking for, which was part of my three-prong test. The first is
that they provide me with a piece of property that they either owned or controlled
that would be suitable for a Trump property brand. The second was that they had
the ability to obtain the necessary permits or authorization to build the building and
the size of the building in Moscow. And that, of course, would require assistance
from government. And the third is that they had the ability to finance the project.

What he tries to do in this email, which most of it | would say is

salesmanship, is to show me that he has the government relations that's

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proposal in the November 3rd, 2015, email -- that we could make our boy
president -- did you ever pass that along it him?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. SWALWELL: So your boss is running for President of the United
States. You're one -- you're his personal lawyers. Somebody has offered to help
make him President, somebody who has worked and conducted business deals
with Mr. Trump in the past before, and you never passed that information along to
Mr. Trump?

MR. COHEN: No, | never showed Mr. Trump this email and | never
passed along any of the information to him.

MR. SWALWELL: Did you pass it along to Don Jr.?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. SWALWELL: How about Paul Manafort?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. SWALWELL: Did you pass it along to anybody on the Trump
campaign team?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. SWALWELL: Did you tell anybody in the world about this email?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. SWALWELL: Why not?

MR. COHEN: Because | considered it to be Felix again being a salesman,
| considered it noise. | was only concentrating on the Trump Moscow proposal.

MR. SWALWELL: Did you tell the FBI that Felix was suggesting that --

MR. RYAN: Could you lay a predicate that he's spoken with the FBI?

MR. SWALWELL: Have you been interviewed by the Special Counsel with

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of real estate opportunities, including the Trump SoHo and other properties.

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CASTRO: Were you aware of his connections in Russia or Moscow?
COHEN: | had been told by him that he has relationships in Moscow.
CASTRO: Did you make an effort to verify those?

COHEN: No.

CASTRO: So you trusted him.

COHEN: Yes.

CASTRO: Do you know if Mr. Fotiadis traveled to Moscow in the

process of creating the design study?

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RYAN: I'm sorry. Mr. --
COHEN: Mr. Fotiadis.

| do not.

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CASTRO: And who is Mr. Fotiadis?
COHEN: He's an architect.
CASTRO: How did you choose him or select him as the architect?

COHEN: The design that was sent to Mr. Sater was an identical

design that was contemplated to be built in Kazakhstan, which was another deal

that | had looked at years before.

MR.

CASTRO: Okay.

Was there any other developer or any other money partner that was part of

this deal that you recall?

MR.
MR.

COHEN: | don't understand your question, sir.

CASTRO: Besides Felix Sater and Mr. Fotiadis, who else was part of

this deal, as far as you recall?

MR.

COHEN: | was told that the licensee would be a company called I.C.

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platform with regards to not supplying arms to Ukraine and that it had a huge
positive reaction in Russia.

MR. COHEN: Tell me, sir, where do you find that?

MR. SWALWELL: Sure. That's page 3. Do you see that sentence?

MR. COHEN: Ido.

MR. SWALWELL: And you're familiar that at the convention there was a
platform change that was viewed as preferential to Russia. Do you recall that
narrative in the press? Whether you agree with that -- with whether that
happened or not, do you recall that that had occurred?

MR. COHEN: I'm sorry, sir. One more time, your question?

MR. SWALWELL: During the Republican Convention it was -- a platform
position that would have supported arming the Ukrainians was pulled from the
Republican platform, and it was widely reported. Do you recall that press
reporting?

MR. COHEN: | recall it being reported by the press.

MR. SWALWELL: And you agree that this email alludes to that when it
says: "Some additions to RNC platform with regards to not supplying arms to
Ukraine had a huge positive reaction in Russia"?

MR. COHEN: That is what it says.

MR. SWALWELL: You also see, about three paragraphs down, "Hillary
hates Putin much more than Obama or you." Do you see that?

MR. COHEN: | do. :

MR. SWALWELL: And two more paragraphs down: "You could even run
for office in Russia and win with this kind of platform." Do you see that?

MR. RYAN: Mr. Swalwell, he testified that he never read this at the time.

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Trump?

MR. COHEN: | spoke to Mr. Trump about the project on three occasions.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. So the first occasion, what was the conversation?

MR. COHEN: When | had received a proposal.

MR. CASTRO: And what did you tell him about it?

MR. COHEN: This conversation is not privileged. This conversation was
a very brief conversation where | explained to him that Mr. Sater claims that
there's an opportunity in Moscow to develop what would be the tallest building in
the world. It would compromise -- constitute -- three parts to it would be
commercial, hotel, and then residential on top.

MR. CASTRO: Was that the entirety of the discussion?

MR. COHEN: Pretty close to it, yes.

MR. CASTRO: Did you let him know that anybody else besides Mr. Sater
was involved, such as the architect, for example, or anybody else?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. CASTRO: The second time that you spoke with him about it, what
was the nature of that conversation?

MR. COHEN: It was the execution of the nonbinding letter of intent.

MR. CASTRO: Did Mr. Trump sign that?

MR. COHEN: Mr. Trump signed the nonbinding letter of intent.

MR. CASTRO: When was that?

MR. COHEN: According to the document, October 28th of 2015. It's on
or about this October 28th date?

MR. CASTRO:. And what was the nature of the conversation that you had

with Mr. Trump?

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know whether there would be a telephone number that was dialed or received
from Mr. Sater?

MR. COHEN: | don't know the answer to that.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. You also mention that this email, the November
18th, 2015, email, that in this email that it had always been your intent to, quote, to
go to, quote, "Moscow in the very near future, discuss locations with the local
developer as well as other items."

MR. RYAN: If your question is, does it say that, the answer is yes. But
what's the question?

MR. CASTRO: Does it say that? Allright. The next day --

MR. COHEN: Then the answer is yes.

MR. CASTRO: I'm giving you the context. The next day, on November
19th, you responded to an email from Dmitry Klokov in which Klokov questions
whether your previous email was your position or Trump's position. You
responded that, quote, you speak "only on behalf of Mr. Trump." What did you
mean by that comment?

Sir, you responded that you, quote, you speak, quote, “only on behalf of Mr.
Trump." What did you mean by that comment?

MR. COHEN: That! have the authority to respond to his request.

MR. CASTRO: Looking at the note to which you replied, Mr. Klokov
thanked you for explaining your position and then asked, quote: "Forgive me for
asking, but is it your client's position?"

So by your response that you only speak on behalf of Mr. Trump, is it
accurate to say that the position you outlined in the email would, in fact, be Mr.

Trump's position?

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MR. COHEN: Correct.

MR. SWALWELL: And it says, to start the email in the body of the email,
to Donald J. Trump, the boss. Is that right?

MR. COHEN: Yes.

MR. SWALWELL: And Donald Trump at the time was your boss?

MR. COHEN: He was my boss.

MR. SWALWELL: And on the second page of the email, there's a
paragraph that starts with RIA.RU. Is that right? Do you see that?

MR. COHEN: | do.

MR. SWALWELL: AND it says: RIA.RU is a Russian State information
agency huge media enterprise which controls RT.com. Do you see that?

MR. COHEN: | do.

MR. SWALWELL: And it goes on to say that Russia Today, which enjoys
hosting General Michael Flynn, who thinks just the way many generals in Russia
think. RT picks people who think the way we think. Do you see that?

MR. COHEN: Ido.

MR. SWALWELL: And you had testified earlier that you had no knowledge
during the campaign that Michael Flynn had a relationship with RT. Is that
correct?

MR. COHEN: Correct.

MR. SWALWELL: And so this email sent to you on July 23rd, 2016, you
were being informed of a relationship between Michael Flynn and RT. Is that
right?

MR. COHEN: Congressman, it presumes that | actually read it. This is an

unsolicited email. And | believe it was Chairman Conaway who asked me the

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MR. CASTRO: One last question on this document. Did you deliver the
proposal to then-National Security Advisor Michael Flynn?

MR. COHEN: The answer is no.

MR. CASTRO: Okay.

MR. SWALWELL: Mr. Cohen, have you ever used an alias name?

MR. COHEN: No.

MR. SWALWELL: How about the name Michael Hacking, any affiliation
with that?

MR. RYAN: Michael?

MR. SWALWELL: Hacking. You're laughing at me. How are you familiar
with that name?

MR. COHEN: It's a medallion taxi corporation that | own. It's actually Sir
Michael Hacking Corp.

MR. SWALWELL: What does that mean?

MR. COHEN: In New York City, the way it works is Yellow Cabs, you have
two medallions per corporation. You own the two medallions and you own them
in a corporate name. So | have as one corporation that | own, it's Sir Michael
Hacking Corp.

By the way, I'm sorry, let me go -- the term "hacking" actually means driving
around the street picking people up by lifting your hand. They call them cab
drivers, but they used to be called hacks.

MR. SWALWELL: Got it. And in 2016, four different times you left the
country. Is that right?

MR. COHEN: In 2016?

MR. SWALWELL: Yes.

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MR. SWALWELL: Ryboloviev. Did Mr. Trump, to your knowledge, know
that Mr. Ryboloviev was Russian?

MR. COHEN: | believe he's Ukrainian.

MR. SWALWELL: Was he living in Russia at the time of the deal?

MR. COHEN: | don't know the answer to that. The deal, as | stated
before, was brought to Mr. Trump, | believe it was by Sotheby's International
Realty, where he had prior to that placed the property on the market. And this
gentleman contacted the broker. It's a normal real estate transaction.

MR. SCHIFF: Mr. Cohen, thank you for your time today. | just have a few
followup questions on the basis of your testimony thus far, and then I'll hand it
back to my colleagues for any remaining questions they have, but | think we're
getting close to the end.

| just want to make sure, in terms of the document production to the
committee, my colleagues asked about your communications via Signal and Dust
and other communication platforms. Have you turned over any of those
communications that are pertinent to what -- pertinent to the documents that you
were requested for from the committee?

MR. RYAN: Let me answer. We have not searched those other
platforms. | actually didn't see a nexus that there could be responsive material on
those other platforms. I'll go back and do that. I'm promising to do all of the
platforms that you raised. We'll do it as quickly as we can to figure out if there's
anything there that's responsive, and we'll turn it over.

The source of the documents we produced to date has been Trump Org
documents that related to the Moscow building proposal or anything else that was

responsive about Russia in the time period. So we didn't go to look at those

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Appearances:

For the PERMANENT SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE:

For MICHAEL COHEN:

STEPHEN M. RYAN, ESQ.

JAMES M. COMMONS, ESQ.
MCDERMOTT WILL & EMERY, LLP
500 North Capitol Street, NW

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MR. CASTRO: What aspects of the plan to lift sanctions against Russia

did you discuss?

MR.

COHEN:

fighting would stop.

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COHEN:

CASTRO:

COHEN:

CASTRO:

COHEN:

CASTRO:

COHEN:

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COHEN:

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COHEN:

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COHEN:

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COHEN:

CASTRO:

He stated to me that by leasing Crimea to Russia, all the

Who stated this to you, Felix or Andrey?
Andrey Artemenko.
Did he present you with any documents?
He did not, no.
Did he present you with anything?
Artemenko did not present me with anything.
Did Felix Sater present you with any documents?
Yes.
Have you turned those over to us?
No.
Will you please turn them over to us?
| don't have them.
What happened to them?
I disposed of them.
When did you dispose of them?
Shortly thereafter leaving the Lowe's Regency that day.

So, just so we understand, this was a foreign government

who was approaching the President's personal attorney to affect major

government policy, presented you with documents, which you later threw away.

Is that correct? You said you disposed of them.

MR. COHEN: First and foremost, Mr. Artemenko is not a foreign

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MR. CASTRO: Well, he seems to know him, so --

MR. RYAN: | have no doubt he knows him.

MR. CASTRO: Well, he's answering the question.

MR. RYAN: What does that have to do with the Russia investigation?

MR. CASTRO: So what is your relationship with him?

MR. SCHIFF: Counsel, we have information in the course of our
investigation we're not going to share with you. So unless you're asserting a
privilege, your client needs to answer the question.

MR. RYAN: The Supreme Court says that you have to tell me how it's
pertinent?

MR. SCHIFF: No, we don't have to tell you how it's pertinent, Counsel.
You have a right to assert a privilege if there is an applicable privilege. That is the
length and breadth of your right here.

MR. COHEN: | do not know.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. I'm going to go back to the -- how much time to |
have on this one before we stand up again.

HS Six minutes.

MR. CASTRO: All right.

I'm going to go back to the letter of intent on the Trump Tower in Moscow.
We've tried to line up the emails for you guys. So when | reference an email if the
staff could then turn it over to counsel and Mr. Cohen.

All right.’ I'm going to go to the --

MR. COHEN: I'm sorry, if you wanted to ask me the question about Tom
Barrack, I'm happy to answer it for you, just so that we stay in some form of

semblance in the transcript.

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MR. CASTRO: Did he mention anything about Russia, the government,
anybody associated with Russia, Russian Americans?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. CASTRO: Okay.

Getting back to Trump Tower Moscow, who is Giorgi Rtskhiladze?

MR. COHEN: That's Giorgi Rtskhiladze. He's involved in the Trump
Georgia project, when we were looking to build a building in the country of
Georgia, in Batumi. He also came and presented to me a proposal to build a
Trump Moscow property.

MR. CASTRO: This is separate from the Felix Sater project that --

MR. COHEN: Yes, Mr. Castro.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. So those are two separate projects.

MR. COHEN: Yes, sir.

MR. CASTRO: What became of this project that he proposed?

MR. COHEN: Nothing.

MR. CASTRO: Nothing beyond an exchange of emails or conversations?

MR. COHEN: Correct.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. And was Global Development Group, LLC, a
Russian company that The Trump Organization would have partnered with in that
instance?

MR. COHEN: I'm unaware.

MR. CASTRO: Okay.

Well, there was an exchange, an email exchange, between you and
Mr. -- "Rtskhiladze"?

MR. COHEN: "Rtskhiladze."

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MR. GOWDY: These will be general questions, and if you want to answer
specific ones, you can.

You seem generally upset at references to you in that product, in the
dossier.

MR. COHEN: Yes, sir, | am.

MR. GOWDY: Were any of the facts attributed to you, any of the actions
attributed to you accurate? Before we get to the ones that are inaccurate, were
any of them accurate?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. GOWDY: Which of the actions or events attributed to you are -- well,
I'll let you address them in any way you want to, the falsity of them. | think you
said they were totally false. You used some other similar language. What
upsets you about the dossier?

MR. COHEN: | would begin by pointing your attention to allegation 18,
where, "Kremlin insider reports Trump lawyer Cohen's secret meeting with Kremlin
officials in August of 2016 was or were held in Prague."

As I've stated in my opening statement, I've never been to Prague and I've
never been to the Czech Republic, nor have | met with them anywhere else in the
world.

Then, in the same allegation -- I'm going to terribly pronounce this word,
but -- "Rossotrudnichestvo was being used as cover for this relationship, and its
office in Prague may well have been used to host the Cohen/Russian Presidential
administration (PA) meetings."

And, again, this allegation is completely false, as against me, for the same

reason. I've never been to Prague, nor have | ever met with anyone in the world

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received it as Mr. Trump. The money was then sent to the foundation. That
doesn't mean he was the lawyer for the foundation, which you're insisting upon.
He was the lawyer for the person who got the money and gave it to the foundation.
That's the issue.

MR. CASTRO: That doesn't hold up in contract --

MR. COHEN: | never held a position in the foundation. If people would
say to me, "I want to do something nice for Mr. Trump," well, he has a foundation.

MR. CASTRO: | guess, Mr. Cohen, let me ask you then, then why would
you agree to something that says signed on behalf of the foundation when your
name is there and you weren't signing on behalf of the foundation or entering into
the agreement on behalf of the foundation?

MR. COHEN: As | said, | never signed the document, but the money was
transferred at some point to the foundation.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. Because there is a conflict now in your role as
attorney for The Trump Organization versus a document that says that you're
doing it on behalf of the foundation, the money went to an account at Capital One,
NA, Commercial Real Estate, on Park Avenue, New York. Is that a foundation
account or is that some other organization account?

MR. COHEN: | don'tknow. | don't run the books for the foundation either.
| have no role in the foundation other than if someone asks me, "What can | do for
Mr. Trump?" It's very difficult to buy him something. It's very difficult to get him a
gift. Sol say, he has a foundation that he uses to help people, so send whatever
you want.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. These are just a few cleanup questions now,

okay? Are you aware of any occasions where Kushner properties or assets were

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you're going to stand up, we're going to sit down again, just so we know we are
starting again. You're going it to concentrate on listening to the question.

MR. CASTRO: Thank you.

Allright. Back to my questions on the email that we just gave over to you.
The email goes on to say that, quote, "Hardly anyone besides Alfa used this
particular server." Did this email concern you?

MR. COHEN: It concerned me.

MR. CASTRO: And what actions did you take in response?

MR. COHEN: Myself, along with others at The Trump Organization,
started to investigate. And what we found is that it was not a Trump Org server, it
was an outside server that was sending emails. And | believe.it was the server
that correlated to the Trump hotels server. So for all we know, it was spam
coming into Trump hotels or it was somebody from Alfa Bank who may have
stayed at one of the various Trump hotels. And we were sending out —~

MR. CASTRO: Let me ask you, Alfa Bank was sending messages over or
receiving messages from some other server that was in Trump Tower?

MR. COHEN: It was not in Trump Tower.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. Where was it?

MR. COHEN: | believe it was offsite.

MR. CASTRO: Where, do you know?

MR. COHEN: |[--| don't. That would be ~-

MR. CASTRO: So you never determined where this server was?

MR. COHEN: It was a third-party server that ran the site for the Trump
hotels collection.

MR. CASTRO: And who would that be? Who was that third party?

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COHEN: A mutual friend's party.
CASTRO: Which friend? Do you recall?
COHEN: His name is Alex.

CASTRO: Do you know his last name?
COHEN: Yes.

CASTRO: What is it?

COHEN: Weiss.

CASTRO: Weiss. What does he do?
COHEN: He owns a business in the laundry business.
CASTRO: In New York?

COHEN: Yes.

CASTRO: Okay. And how often since you reconnected with Mr.

Sater would you two communicate?

MR.
MR.

COHEN: From -- I'm sorry, sir. From what period to what period?

CASTRO: Well, when you reconnected with him at Mr. Weiss' party,

how often would you communicate?

MR.
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COHEN: Did not.
CASTRO: You didn't talk to him after that?
COHEN: No.

CASTRO: Okay. And what year was this party that you

recommunicated?

MR.
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COHEN: | don't recall.

CASTRO: Inthe 1990s? The 2000s?

COHEN: 2000s.

CASTRO: Allright. And then after that, when did you reconnect with

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MR. COHEN: Legal work.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. What type of legal work?

MR. COHEN: At the time, | was a partner over at Phillips Nizer.

MR. CASTRO: But, | mean, litigation? Realestate? Family law?

MR. COHEN: | can't discuss the nature of the work.

MR. CASTRO: There's no privilege in that.

MR. RYAN: You can give the categories.

MR. COHEN: Business, corporate.

MR. CASTRO: Any other categories? Anything else? Did any divorces,
any premarital arrangements, anything?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. RYAN: I'm going to instruct, if it's about the President and his family,
that you should assume that he's done legal work for the family that he's not going
to discuss here unless it's pertinent to Russia. And I'm giving him an instruction
now --

MR. COHEN: And | understand that. | understand that, counsel.

MR. RYAN: -- not to the disclose the nature of his work for the President
or his family that is unrelated.

MR. CASTRO: | got it, counsel. But, again, the reason that | ask about
the categories is because it will affect what privileges apply and what doesn't.

MR. RYAN: Sure.

MR. CASTRO: Allright. So any other categories of work? Just the
categories.

MR. RYAN: Mr. Castro, if we can just clarify. | think he was answering

the question for Trump Org, and | wanted to make sure that we didn't --

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anything?

MR.
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Trump?

MR.
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Barack.

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CASTRO: Okay.
RYAN: | Sir, we think we did.
CASTRO: Okay. We'll double-check.
RYAN: It would have been in the first batch, but we'll check too.
CASTRO: How about Erik Prince, have you ever met Erik Prince?
COHEN: No, sir.

CASTRO: Has he ever reached out to you or tried to contact you for

COHEN: Not that | recall.

CASTRO: Do you know Mr. Trump's relationship with Erik Prince?
COHEN: No, sir, | don't.

CASTRO: Have you described -- discussed Erik Prince with Mr.

COHEN: No, sir.

CASTRO: How about Thomas Barack, have you ever met Thomas

COHEN: Tom Barrack, yes.
CASTRO: Tom Barrack, I'm sorry. When did you first meet him?
RYAN: Sir, is there a nexus to Russia in all of this?

CASTRO: Again, to the leverage that may be -- any influence that

may be used by folks associated with Russia or Russian agents.

MR.

RYAN: | have no idea who Tom Barrack is. So if you could offer why

you think it's pertinent to the subject.

MR.
MR.

CASTRO: We'll come back to him.

COHEN: I've known Mr. Barrack for many years.

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please?

MR. SCHIFF: Yes. Have you had any conversation with either the
President, the President's son Don Jr., Jared Kushner, or Paul Manafort about that
meeting at Trump Tower that was the subject of those newspaper articles?

MR. COHEN: Not that | recall.

MR. SCHIFF: Have you ever met the attorney Veselnitskaya?

MR. COHEN: No, sir, not that | can recall.

MR. SCHIFF: Or corresponded in any way with her?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. SCHIFF: Evo Cavalasad, who was also a participant in the meeting,
do you know him at all?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. SCHIFF: Or had any communication with him?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. SCHIFF: Akhmetshin, the Russian American lobbyist, have you had
any interactions with him, either in person or through other communication?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. SCHIFF: Or anyone else that participated in that meeting, such as the
Russian translator on the Russian side of things?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. SCHIFF: In the emails between yourself and Mr. Sater that my
colleagues asked you about earlier, Mr. Sater was interested at one point in your
sending him a clip of, do | understand it, some positive things that then-candidate

Trump had said about Vladimir Putin?

MR. COHEN: | don't recall what the clip was, sir.

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was one of 16 candidates.

MR. SCHIFF: President, then-candidate Trump.

MR. COHEN: | apologize.

MR. SCHIFF: Let me just repeat the question. If candidate Trump saying
positive things about Mr. Putin would help advance the deal, isn't it also true that if
candidate Trump was articulating policies that were pro-Russian, that would also
help advance the deal?

MR. COHEN: Again, | can't answer that question. | don't know the
answer to it.

MR. SCHIFF: Did you ever discuss with Mr. Trump the degree to which
anything positive he could say or do vis-a-vis Russia would help advance this
project?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. SCHIFF: Mr. Cohen, have you ever come into contact with Peter
Smith?

MR. COHEN: | don't know who Peter Smith is, sir.

MR. SCHIFF: Peter Smith has been reported to have engaged in an op
research-like effort to find the missing Hillary Clinton emails. So you never came
into contact with a GOP operative/political researcher named Peter Smith?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. SCHIFF: There are a number of allegations in the dossier concerning
a Michael Cohen that you've answered at length in a letter from your counsel. |
just want to ask you, and I think you have largely responded already, but just to
make sure we're perfectly clear.

A lot of the answers in your statement are very specific, in the sense that

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MR. RYAN: Well, don't disclose privileged information.

MR. COHEN: | will not.

MR. RYAN: So you actually called for privileged information. But the
bottom line is -- let me make a proffer to you. The proffer is, he represents the
President of the United States before he became President and afterwards. He
represents people in the family on a project-by-project basis, as directed by the
President or by the individual, in personal issues unrelated to this investigation.

MR. CASTRO: Well, the problem here is that all these people are roped
into this investigation.

MR. RYAN: Pardon me?

MR. CASTRO: All these folks are -- many of these folks are roped into this
investigation.

MR. COHEN: And they have counsel representing them for this specific
issue.

MR. CASTRO: But we're trying to get a sense of the landscape here and
the relations and interactions among --

MR. RYAN: | don't know how to do it more than what | just did for you,
which is that he does their personal legal work unrelated to this investigation.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. Then how about accept this as a last question with
respect to that? What are the categories of law? For example, are you doing
divorces? Are you doing criminal defense?

MR. RYAN: Don't answer the divorce question, first of all.

MR. CASTRO: | guess you did do a divorce. Okay. Categories?

MR. COHEN: Personal, business would be the two categories.

MR. RYAN: You're talking currently, right?

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MR. CASTRO: For this particular project.

MR. RYAN: Thank you.

MR. CASTRO: For this particular project, were you involved in 2008?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. CASTRO: Okay.

Were you involved in The Trump Organization's efforts between 2006 and
2008 to obtain trademarks in Russia?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. CASTRO: You did no legal work for that purpose?

MR. COHEN: Not for that purpose.

MR. CASTRO: Did you do any legal work for The Trump Organization
related to Russia?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. CASTRO: At that time, or ever?

MR. COHEN: At that time.

MR. CASTRO: Okay.

Do you recall what names Mr. Trump was trying to have trademarked in
Russia?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. CASTRO: All right.

In 2008, Trump sold a property in Palm Beach for $95 million to the Russian

oligarch and billionaire iy.

MR. COHEN: Ryboloviev.
MR. CASTRO: Yes. Better pronunciation than mine.

Trump had purchased the home at a bankruptcy auction less than 4 years

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pertinent. And you're not the one to judge the relevance of a question in our
investigation.

MR. RYAN: No, the chairman is.

MR. SCHIFF: That's right.

MR. RYAN: The chairman has to judge pertinency. Pertinency is the
same thing as the relationship to the four points in your chart. Tell me how that
relates to whether Jared Kushner's property is involved. If you frame it about
Russia, frame it about Russia, and then you can ask about Jared's property.

MR. SCHIFF: Counsel --

MR. RYAN: Yes.

MR. SCHIFF: -- we don't have to give you an explanation for what's
relevant in our investigation and what we've uncovered in our investigation, and
we're not going to, unless you're asserting a privilege.

MR. CONAWAY: You have asked a similar question, sir? You can
rephrase it, though.

MR. CASTRO: Well, here's the thing, Chairman. That question has been
asked of another witness and was answered, at least from their perspective. So
I'm asking the question now from his perspective. We've covered it before.

MR. CONAWAY: Help me understand how this ties to Russia.

MR. CASTRO: Again, because there's obviously folks within the family
who have had meetings and relationships with Russian money. We need to
figure out whether there's any leverage that's being used upon any of these folks.

MR. SWALWELL: Jared met with VEB Bank. He met with VEB Bank,
and that was in his statement. His public statement was that he had met after the

election with VEB Bank.

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Trump regarding other matters as well. So this was also what | would
characterize as a very brief conversation.

MR. CASTRO: And on the third occasion, can you describe the nature of
that conversation?

MR. COHEN: That's when | expressed to Mr. Trump that | had terminated
the agreement.

MR. CASTRO: When abouts was that?

MR. COHEN: The end of January of 2016?

MR. CASTRO: But you had just said shortly before that now would be a
perfect time to do this.

MR. RYAN: To be clear, that was in December and he's talking about the
end of January.

MR. CASTRO: Sure. So December of 2015 you say now's the time in an
email which you went over. And then by the end of January it's terminated. The
holidays are included in that time.

MR. COHEN: Correct.

MR. CASTRO: So what happened during that period?

MR. COHEN: | continued to make the request for information regarding
the property.

MR. CASTRO: Request from Felix Sater?

MR. COHEN: That's correct, from Mr. Sater.

MR. CASTRO: Only Felix Sater?

MR. COHEN: Only Mr. Sater, for proof of ownership or control over a
piece of property, a statement that Mr. Sater had been telling me was forthcoming

going back to almost the inception of this proposal. | never received it and |

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Putin in person?

MR. COHEN: | don't recall him saying that to me.

MR. SWALWELL: Has Mr. Trump ever talked to you about Vladimir Putin?

MR. COHEN: Yes.

MR. SWALWELL: What did he say?

MR. COHEN: Did you see that President Putin said some really nice
things about me?

MR. SWALWELL: When did he say that?

MR. COHEN: At the time that President Putin made the statement that
was recorded in the press.

MR. SWALWELL: Other than that statement, do you recall Donald Trump
referencing Vladimir Putin to you?

MR. COHEN: | don't recall.

MR. SWALWELL: Do you know -- do you have any knowledge of Donald
Trump talking on the phone to Vladimir Putin?

MR. COHEN: | don't have that knowledge.

MR. SWALWELL: Who is Rhona Graff?

MR. COHEN: Mr. Trump's executive assistant.

MR. SWALWELL: Does Mr. Trump ever send emails?

MR. COHEN: Mr. Trump does not have an email address.

MR. SWALWELL: So how would | get a hold of Mr. Trump if | wanted to
pass a message through someone who worked at The Trump Organization?

MR. COHEN: There are multiple ways.

MR. SWALWELL: Would Rhona Graff be the most direct way?

MR. COHEN: She would be one way.

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. RYAN: Going on -- no, this is a second case. 467-68. Let me read

the sentence. "The due process clause of the Fifth Amendment requires that the

pertinency of the interrogation to the topic under the committee's inquiry must be

brought home to the witness at the time the questions are put to him."

MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.

SWALWELL: Is he asserting the Fifth Amendment?
RYAN: No, he's not asserting the Fifth Amendment.
SCHIFF: Then he should just answer the question.
RYAN: The due process clause of the Fifth Amendment.
CONAWAY: | do find it relevant, Counsel.

RYAN: Allright. Go ahead, answer the question then.
COHEN: I'm unaware.

CASTRO: Okay. Can you finish the sentence, because we've been

going back. You're unaware of what?

MR.

. COHEN: I'm sorry. I'm unaware of any payment made by Kushner

or a Kushner company on behalf of a Trump debt.

MR

. CASTRO: Okay, thank you.

Anything else, you guys?

MR

MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.

. SWALWELL: Have you ever met Sechin?
COHEN: No, sir.

RYAN: | apologize.

SWALWELL: Sechin.

COHEN: | don't know who Sechin is.
SWALWELL: Have you heard the name Sechin?
COHEN: No, sir.

SWALWELL: Then | guess it would be fair to say, to your knowledge,

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Government officials about the U.S. 2016 election cycle, either at the primary or
general election stage?
MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. GOWDY: How about Russians that weren't connected with the

62

Russian Government? Did you discuss the 2016 election cycle with them, either

at the primary or general stage?
MR. COHEN: | apologize. | lost track of the question.
MR. GOWDY: Well, | was asking you about folks you knew to be

connected with the Russian Government. You said no. And I'm just asking you

about folks that you knew to be Russian, period. Did you have a lot of
discussions or any discussions about the 2016 election cycle?

MR. COHEN: Yes.

MR. GOWDY: Who?

MR. COHEN: People who | know that we associate with as family friends.

We would be out for dinner just talking about the election.

MR. RYAN: Let me ask, could you clarify, Mr. Gowdy, whether you mean

people who are Russian Americans who are U.S. citizens as opposed to Russian

citizens or who are not U.S. citizens? Could you divide the question and maybe
ask it again?

MR. GOWDY: How about we say both, either Americans of Russian
descent or Russian citizens, discussions about the 2016 election cycle.

And there's nothing wrong with having those discussions. | can just tell
you, the question is going to come. So whether it comes from this side or that
side, it's going to come.

You've already said no to the Russian Government.

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MR. CASTRO: Was Mr. Trump aware of this, as far as you know?
MR. COHEN: At which time, sir?

MR. CASTRO: When you first discussed this project with him.
MR. COHEN: Yes.

MR. CASTRO: js
—

MR. COHEN: Yes.

MR. CASTRO: Was Mr. Trump aware of that?

MR. RYAN: Hold on, sir.

MR. COHEN: I'msorry. You're right. You're right. My time frame is off,
is allwrong. You're right. You're right. Let me rephrase. | need to correct that
answer.

MR. CASTRO: Let me ask -- okay, go ahead and correct it.

VR. COHEN:
MR. CASTRO: So let me ask you to be clear, because we've gotten
conflicting answers here. jl

Cs that correct?

MR. COHEN: That's correct.

MR. RYAN: That's how he learned of it initially. He may have learned
more about it later.

MR. CASTRO: He said he had a conversation later on with Mr. Sater
about it in our previous -- his previous testimony. All right.

How often did you describe this Trump Tower Moscow project with Mr.

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to the day of the election, how many emails did you get regarding anything and
everything Donald Trump for President?

A I'm so sorry. One more time?

Q Sure. I'm trying to figure out sort of the totality of emails that exist
that you received from individuals like Felix Sater and otherwise during the
relevant time period of this investigation. | mean, were you just getting a couple
of emails like this, or were you getting a lot?

MR. RYAN: If | could restate the question.

He asked you first, in the first round, were other people giving advice to you
about what Donald Trump needed to do in the election, separating it from Russia.

G1 ha's a better way of asking it, yeah.

MR. COHEN: And so the question is what?

MR. RYAN: Did you receive one email a month or many a month during
the campaign period for Mr. Trump that are about advice people are giving?

MR. COHEN: Many. Many.

oY

Q What's "many," if you can ballpark?

A A hundred a month, if not more.

Q And how much time are you devoting to reading and reviewing each
of these emails?

A Very, very little.

Q Why is that?

A Because | have no interest in those emails. | was not part of the
campaign. | was special counsel to Donald Trump. And | was doing my job,

which was for the real estate company and for him and the family.

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MR. CASTRO: This appears to be President Trump's first attempt to build
property in Moscow. Are you aware of any prior efforts by Mr. Trump to build in
Moscow before 1987?

MR. COHEN: No.

MR. CASTRO: Okay.

In December 1988, President Trump is quoted as saying that the Moscow
hotel project fizzled because, quote, "in the Soviet Union, you don't own anything.
It's hard to conjure up spending hundreds of million of dollars on something and
not own it," unquote.

In November of 1996, President Trump announced plans to invest $250
million in Russia and to put his name on two luxury residential buildings, Trump
International and Trump Tower, in Moscow. Neither building was constructed.

Do you have any sense why this early effort failed?

MR. COHEN: | do not.

MR. CASTRO: In 2005, prior to your joining The Trump Organization, Mr.
Trump signed a deal with Bayrock Group to build Trump Tower in Moscow.
According to The New York Times, Felix Sater, a partner in Bayrock Group, was
involved in the deal and pursued a site in Moscow that had been an old pencil
factory along the Moscow River. Letters of intent had been signed, and square
footage was being analyzed.

Do you recall anything about this deal?

MR. COHEN: No.

MR. CASTRO: Did you learn about it prior to joining The Trump
Organization?

MR. COHEN: Only what I had heard -- no, I'm sorry. Prior to? No, sir.

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Organization, you weren't aware whether a bank may or may not have been under
legal sanctions?

MR. COHEN: I'm not aware.

MR. CASTRO: To your knowledge, did Donald Trump have any such
contact before inauguration day? That is, do you know, are you aware if he had
any contact with any individual or entity under U.S. sanctions?

MR. COHEN: |'m not aware.

MR. CASTRO: To your knowledge, did anyone else on the Trump
campaign or transition team have such contact?

MR. COHEN: Sir, as | said before, I'm not part of the campaign.

MR. RYAN: That question has to be re-asked.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. | will re-ask it.

To your knowledge, did anyone on the Trump campaign or transition team
have any contact with any individual or entity under U.S. sanctions?

MR. RYAN: That you're aware of.

MR. COHEN: |'m not aware.

MR. CASTRO: To your knowledge, has anyone connected to the Trump
campaign or transition team failed to report or sought to obscure any financial
relationships with Russians or Russian banks?

MR. COHEN: I'm not aware.

MR. CASTRO: Have you done this, sought to obscure or hide any kind of
communications with anybody under sanctions, individual or business entity?

MR. COHEN: No.

MR. CASTRO: To the best of your knowledge, has Donald Trump?

MR. COHEN: Not that I'm aware.

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anybody else in this room?

MR. COHEN: Yes.

MR. CASTRO: Which persons have you met with?

MR. COHEN: Congressman King?

MR. CASTRO: Okay. Anyone else?

MR. COHEN: Yes. Congressman Stefanik.

MR. CASTRO: Any prior conversations with the persons that you've met
about this interview --

MR. CONAWAY: Excuse me. Just for the record, | was seated at a table
with Mr. Cohen at the inauguration ball in Union Square and --

MR. COHEN: Oh, that's right.

MR. CONAWAY: So that's -- | don't know how | get seated there, | don't
know how he got seated there, but that was the extent of --

MR. COHEN: You were lucky, Congressman.

MR. CONAWAY: So | remember him, and he doesn't remember me.

MR. CASTRO: Sure. Thank you, Chairman, for that.

Any conversations with any of those persons about this investigation or
your upcoming testimony?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. CASTRO: Okay.

What is your occupation?

MR. COHEN: I'm an attorney.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. When were you licensed?

MR. COHEN: 1992.

MR. CASTRO: Where are you licensed? Which States?

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Q So, at the time period in question, you were not doing any work at
the behest of the Donald J. Trump campaign for President. You're doing your job
as special counsel to Mr. Trump.

A Correct.

Q Okay. So did people attempt to make the inference that, because
you were special counsel to then-candidate Trump, that you were doing work for
the Trump campaign?

A | believe that my email address is very easy to find on the internet.
And based upon my position at The Trump Organization, as well as my profile
being on television, people believed that they were entitled to send me their
thoughts, their opinions throughout the entire campaign.

Q And this is something that actually occurred?

A Yes, sir.

Q Frequently?

A Very frequently.

Q And Mr. Sater's email, does that fall into one of those categories?
Or does it fall into the category of you conducting your role as special counsel to
Mr. Trump?

A This email is part of many email exchanges between Mr. Sater and
myself regarding the Trump Moscow proposal.

Q And that is specific for The Trump Organization, not -- does it have
any relationship to the Trump campaign for President?

A No, sir.

Q Right. So is there any portion of that email or communications you

had with Mr. Sater that sort of bled over into the realm of the Trump campaign for

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MR. COHEN: Sir, I'm sorry, | don't understand the question.

MR. RYAN: It's actually --

MR. SWALWELL: I'm sorry, it was the reverse. It was Putin praising
Donald Trump. Is that right?

MR. RYAN: Could you just start the question over?

MR. SWALWELL: You would agree that what you forwarded him was a
connection between Vladimir Putin praising Donald Trump?

MR. COHEN: That is what it appears | forwarded.

MR. SWALWELL: Why would you forward that to him?

MR. COHEN: | don't recall any conversation that could have taken or did
take place on either that day or the day before, maybe in passing conversation.
And this article may have just been on point to what we were talking about.

MR. SWALWELL: Why did you type, "Now is the time. Call me"?

MR. COHEN: Could be regarding the Trump Moscow proposal, in order to
speak to people to get me what | was looking for, which is the documentation
demonstrating ownership or control over a site with the necessary permits.

MR. SWALWELL: But you agree that nowhere in the forwarded email are
you discussing business. It's a political news clip that you're sending him.

MR. COHEN: It's a newspaper article that | forwarded to Mr. Sater.

MR. SWALWELL: And you're suggesting, though, that when you said,
"Now is the time. Call me," very cryptically, because there's no other reference to
anything else, that you could be calling back to the business deal?

MR. COHEN: Congressman, | can assure you that there are many emails
in between November 3rd of 2015 and December 17th of 2015 between Mr. Sater

and |.

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more than a dozen times in the lie-filled dossier, and so, within moments of
BuzzFeed's publication, false allegations about me were plastered all over the
national and international press. The accusations are entirely and totally false.

A core accusation was that | had traveled to Prague to meet with Russians
regarding with interfering with the election. | have never in my life been to Prague
or to anywhere in the Czech Republic.

| might also add that | only have one passport, a United States passport. |
have to say that to you today, that | only have one passport, because another
media outlet suggested that, as a Jew, | must also have an Israeli passport.
Aside from such an allegation being incredibly offensive, it is totally wrong.

So let me tell you where | was on the day the dossier said | was in Prague.
| was in Los Angeles with my son, who dreams of playing baseball next year at a
prestigious university. We were visiting a campus and meeting with the coaches.
Media sources have confirmed these facts, and | can provide the committee with
further proof.

| sent a letter to the committee in August about the dossier, and | ask that it
be incorporated into this record.

[The information follows:]

HK" COMMITTEE INSERT “he

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MR. COHEN: Yes.

MR. CASTRO: Did you discuss not going forward with it, when you
decided that you wouldn't move forward? Did you get his approval?

MR. COHEN: Yes.

I'm sorry, were you talking about approval to terminate?

MR. CASTRO: Yes.

MR. COHEN: Did | get his approval to terminate, is that your question?

MR. CASTRO: Yes. To not move forward with the project.

MR. COHEN: No.

MR. CASTRO: Well, when was the first time you discussed it with Mr.
Trump?

MR. RYAN: The termination or the project?

MR. CASTRO: The project first.

MR. COHEN: It was prior to, | would say, September of 2015.

MR. CASTRO: Did you tell him who was involved in the project, Felix
Sater and others?

MR. COHEN: The very first conversation | had with Mr. Trump was a brief
conversation where | stated to him that | received a proposal. | told him that Felix
Sater was acting as the representative of the licensee for this deal.

MR. CASTRO: Now, at this point you already know Felix Sater has had
legal trouble in the past. Is that correct?

MR. COHEN: Legal trouble about three decades ago, yes.

MR. CASTRO: What was that legal trouble, as far as you know?

MR. COHEN: He had an issue with a brokerage company, and | believe

another, which was an assault.

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me the clip. | will get it to Putin and his people quickly, and it will help our cause
in process." Do you see that?

MR. COHEN: | do.

MR. SWALWELL: What was your understanding as far as what Mr. Sater
was doing on his end with Mr. Putin or with the Russians with this business deal?

MR. COHEN: | don't know the answer to that.

MR. SWALWELL: | want to turn your attention to -- and I'm passing you a
production that you provided, MDC-H000689, and ask you if you recognize it.
And take a look at it before | ask a question.

And I'm only going to ask about the front part.

MR. RYAN: I'm sorry, sir. I'm just making sure it's not associated. Okay.

MR. SWALWELL: Do you recognize that?

MR. COHEN: | do.

MR. SWALWELL: And that is a December 17th, 2015, Google alert on
Donald Trump. Is that right?

MR. COHEN: That's correct.

MR. SWALWELL: And the Google alert is for an article titled "Russian
President Viadimir Putin praises Donald Trump as talented and very colorful." Is
that right?

MR. COHEN: Correct.

MR. SWALWELL: And the Google alert is something that you had set up
on your boss, Mr. Trump. Is that right?

MR. COHEN: That's correct.

MR. SWALWELL: And you received that at 10:36 a.m., and at 4 o'clock

p.m., you forwarded that Google alert tN Is that right?

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MR. CASTRO: Oh, that's fine. | have to get through this letter of intent
stuff.

MR. COHEN: Sure.

MR. CASTRO: Mr. Sater -- on October 12th, 2015, Mr. Sater emailed you
about a person named Andrey Kostin who is Putin's top finance guy and the CEO
of the second largest bank in Russia. According to the email, Mr. Kostin has
indicated that he would finance Trump Moscow. Mr. Sater goes on to say that,
quote, "Now all we need is Putin on board and we're golden. Meeting with Putin
and top deputy is tentatively set for the 14th."

Who is Andrey Kostin?

MR. RYAN: Sir, this is an area that's been asked and answered already in
this proceeding. ll let him answer again, but we've actually gone over this
ground already. It's --

MR. CASTRO: Well, we actually --we -- that's when we cut off earlier.
We started --

MR. RYAN: Go ahead.

MR. CASTRO: So Andrey Kostin?

MR. COHEN: I'm so sorry, Congressman, you had a very long statement
that was there?

MR. RYAN: Ask the question.

MR. CASTRO: Who is Andrey Kostin? Do you know?

MR. COHEN: Ido now, yes.

MR. CASTRO: Who is he?

MR. COHEN: He is the head of VTB Bank.

MR. CASTRO: Did you meet him at any time?

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Russian bank?

MR. COHEN: No.

MR. CASTRO: From any Russian individuals?

MR. COHEN: Can we be clear? Are you talking about --

MR. CASTRO: I'll ask it.

MR. COHEN: -- Russian Americans who are of former Soviet Union or are
you talking about people who --

MR. CASTRO: Russian citizens first, active Russian citizens?

MR. COHEN: No.

MR. CASTRO: Any Russian Americans or Americans of Russian descent?

MR. COHEN: Not that I'm aware.

MR. CASTRO: Is there a reason for hesitation on a yes or no there?

MR. RYAN: It's loans and it's U.S. citizens who have a Russian heritage,
that's the question, and you answered no.

MR. CASTRO: Well, he said he's not aware, right?

You're not aware?

MR. COHEN: Correct. Let me rephrase it. | do not believe so.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. If you look -- would you do us the favor of trying to
figure that out and reporting --

MR. COHEN: Can | ask you to the time period that you're referring?

MR. CASTRO: Let's say, January 2014 to the present day.

MR. COHEN: Then the answer is no.

MR. CASTRO: How about before that? There must be a reason why
you're debating it in your mind. | mean --

MR. COHEN: Not -- not that I'm aware.

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American banks. We have all the funding we need out of Russia." Are you
familiar with that statement?

MR. COHEN: No, sir, I'm not.

MR. SWALWELL: Have you ever met Sergey Kislyak?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. SWALWELL: Have you ever seen him in the building, Trump Tower?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. SWALWELL: Have you ever met Roger Stone?

MR. COHEN: Yes.

MR. SWALWELL: When did you first meet him?

MR. COHEN: On or about 2011.

MR. SWALWELL: Would you see him in Trump Tower during the
Presidential campaign, from June 2015 to November 8th, 2016?

MR. COHEN: | saw him on occasion in the Trump building.

MR. SWALWELL: Approximately how many --

MR. COHEN: A handful or so.

MR. CASTRO: Final question. The Intelligence Community has
assessed that Russia interfered with our 2016 election. Based on everything
you've seen, you've experienced, do you agree with that assessment?

MR. COHEN: | appreciate this committee and the work that's being done
by our Intelligence Community. | truly believe we have the best Intelligence
Community in the world. | have no access to any special or privileged information
that would give me a definitive answer as to what Russia did or didn't do, but what
| will say is | accept the findings that | read in the media.

What | will say, which I've been saying all along, | just had nothing to do

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Q Thanks, Mr. Cohen, for coming in.

As Mr. Gowdy referenced in the parameters outline for this committee, I'm
going to ask you some questions pursuant to that.

Do you have any information that would be useful to this committee to
illuminate some of those parameters? Do you have any information about
interactions that Mr. Trump has had, either before becoming President, during the
election cycle, that he engaged in improper activities with Russians or
representatives of the Russian Government?

A No, sir.

Q Do you have any information that individuals associated with Mr.
Trump, either in official or unofficial capacity, during the election cycle, acted
improperly at the behest of then-candidate Trump to somehow improperly
influence the elections with colluding or coordinating or conspiring with
representatives of the Russian Government or the Russian Government itself?

A No, sir.

Q About how long have you known Mr. Trump?

A A little more than a decade.

Q And, in all that time, have you known Mr. Trump to request of you,
through either your personal or professional relationship, any improper conduct
with Russians or representatives from the Russian Government to do anything
unlawful or improper?

A No, sir.

Q Mr. Gowdy asked you about the dossier, and we appreciate you
going through that point by point. Do you have any idea how your name ended

up in the dossier that was printed in BuzzFeed and discussed here today?

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accompanied to Prague by three colleagues, and the timing of the visit was either
in the last week of August or the first week of September. One of their main
Russian interlocutors was Oleg Solodukhin, operating under the
Rossotrudnichestvo cover."

And | deny, again, this allegation as being completely and entirely false.
I've never traveled to Prague or the Czech Republic. I'm not familiar with this
organization, Rossotrudnichestvo, nor the individual that's mentioned in this
allegation, being Oleg Solodukhin. Never met Mr. Solodukhin, whether it's in
August/September 2016 or thereafter or before.

Then on page 35, "In Prague, Cohen agreed contingency plans for various
scenarios to protect the operation but, in particular, what was to be done in the
event that Hillary Clinton won the Presidency."

And, again, | deny this allegation as being completely and entirely false.
I've never traveled, again, to Prague or the Czech Republic, where it claims | was.
| was also not part of any operation, nor did | ever discuss or agree to discuss any
plans of the type that is described in this allegation.

There are also other aspects of the dossier which are not included in the
statement that | put out which relate to my father-in-law, who is of Ukrainian
descent, born in Chernivtsi, Ukraine, that he's a childhood friend of Vladimir Putin.
That's absolutely inaccurate. Totally different countries. That my father-in-law
owns a dacha in Sochi directly next-door to Viadimir Putin. That's totally and
entirely false. As well as my father-in-law is one of the biggest real estate
developers in Moscow currently. Absolutely and entirely false. Sometimes |
wish it wasn't, but it is absolutely and entirely false.

MR. GOWDY: Well, you know, sometimes in life, the factual discrepancies

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question.

MR. RYAN: And in the United States district court, a judge would not
permit any question like this that is more than 10 years into the past unless it was
relevant, which is the equivalent of pertinency. So --

MR. CASTRO: Okay.

MR. RYAN: -- this is not pertinent. We can go a long time on this.

MR. SCHIFF: But, counsel, are you asserting a privilege? Because if
you're not asserting a privilege, the witness should answer the question --

MR. CASTRO: Right.

MR. SCHIFF: -- because you're under subpoena.

MR. RYAN: It's not pertinent, sir.

MR. SCHIFF: It doesn't matter whether you --

MR. RYAN: And I'm asking for a ruling of the chair --

MR. SCHIFF: It does not matter whether you believe it's pertinent,
counsel. The only question is whether you're asserting a privilege. The
witness --

MR. RYAN: No. You're --

MR. SCHIFF: -- is here under a subpoena. He's been asked a question.

MR. RYAN: With all due respect, Mr. Schiff, you're wrong about the law.

MR. SCHIFF: With all due respect, sir --

MR. RYAN: Well, let me make my objection, and then the chair will rule.

Here's the objection. If | object based on pertinency, | have the right to
know the pertinency of it, which Mr. Castro has shared. | shared back the way to
make it pertinent, to move the thing along. And I'm asking for a rule of the chair

that we're not going to be doing things 16 years ago, asking him about his income

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MR. GOWDY: Allright. The same question, but not with candidate
Trump, with his campaign, his official campaign. Any evidence, regardless of the
source, regardless of the manner in which that evidence may manifest itself,
regardless of whether or not you consider that evidence to be admissible, not
admissible, any evidence, no matter how scant, no matter the source, of collusion
between the campaign of Donald Trump and the Russian Government?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. GOWDY: The same question with respect to "coordination"?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. GOWDY: The same question with respect to "conspiracy"?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. GOWDY: All right. Now, we have covered candidate Trump, we
have covered his official campaign. Now | want to ask you about unofficial
campaign, which is, by definition, hard to define, but think hangers-on, wannabes,
people who like to appear on television and represent that they have a relationship
with Mr. Trump or someone else when, in fact, maybe they do not. So not him
and not the official campaign, anyone else who's ever represented that they were
somehow connected with the campaign.

MR. COHEN: I'm not aware of any such person.

MR. GOWDY: Let me ask the question first. Any evidence of collusion
between anyone who fits that category and the Russian Government to interfere
with or influence the 2016 election cycle, either at the primary or general election
stage?

MR. COHEN: Not that I'm aware of, sir.

MR. GOWDY: The same question, "coordination."

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MR. COHEN: | have to blame the lawyer.

MR. GOWDY: All right.

MR, COHEN: | think what we were trying to stress is that Mr. Trump
knows people in Russia, and that relationship cannot be characterized as
improper.

MR. GOWDY: Okay.

Did you have any advance -- let me ask a different one. Do you know
anything, regardless of the source -- were you aware of anything, regardless of the
source, prior to the hacking of the DNC server?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. GOWDY: Same question, prior to the hacking of John Podesta's
email account.

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. GOWDY: Did you have any preknowledge, foreknowledge, advance
notice that the contents of either one of those hacks would be made public?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. GOWDY: Were you involved in any way, shape, or form or know
anyone who was in the dissemination of the fruits of those two hacks?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. GOWDY: You went to great lengths to mention the dossier. | don't
have the dossier in front of me.

MR. RYAN: | can remedy that.

MR. GOWDY: Okay. Why don't you remedy it by giving it to your client,
because that's who I'm going to ask about it.

MR. RYAN: Thank you.

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involved in another property in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

MR. CONAWAY: So, successful, but a salesman as well.

MR. COHEN: That's correct.

MR. CONAWAY: So you say you did not discuss that email exchange,
particularly the part about helping Mr. Trump become President. Are you aware
of Mr. Sater pitching those contacts and that line of logic to anybody else?

MR. COHEN: | don't know the answer to that.

MR. CONAWAY: Okay. Thanks.

HE, "re through on our side.

MR. SWALWELL: Thank you.

Mr. Cohen, you stated that, with respect to the November 3rd, 2015, email

from Felix Sater to you, that you had extracted what was important to you. Is that

right?

MR. COHEN: Correct.

MR. SWALWELL: And what was important to you was the business deal.
Is that right?

MR. COHEN: That's correct.

MR. SWALWELL: And you said, | was looking at it as being able to
advance essentially the business deal. Is that right?

MR. COHEN: Correct.

MR. SWALWELL: ‘And Felix Sater, is he someone that at that time you
trusted?

MR. COHEN: | had no reason not to trust him. However, that would
never change my standard operating. procedure.

MR. SWALWELL: Now, Mr. Cohen, the last part of this email says, "Get

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MR. CASTRO: Are you aware of any correspondence going from Mr.
Trump -- correspondence or communication going from Mr. Trump to Mr. Putin?

MR. COHEN: I'm not aware. | would like to also just add that we've also
received cards from Mitt Romney, from many members of both Congress, Senate,
as well as even from President Barack Obama.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. All right. I'm going to move to a different subject
now, Ukraine policy. When did you first meet Andrey Artemenko, the Ukrainian
opposition politician?

MR. COHEN: | don't recall the exact date, but | met him at the request
of -- actually, | apologize. It was January.

MR. CASTRO: Of?

MR. COHEN: 25th of 2017, | believe.

MR. RYAN: On or about.

MR. COHEN: On or about.

MR. RYAN: On or about.

MR. CASTRO: At the request of who?

MR. COHEN: At the request of Felix Sater.

MR. CASTRO:

MR. COHEN: (ij

MR. CASTRO: By this time, the deal for Trump Tower in Moscow has
been terminated?

MR. COHEN: Yes.

MR. CASTRO: What prompted the January meeting with he and Felix
Sater at the Lowe's Regency in Manhattan?

MR. COHEN: I'm sorry?

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unsolicited to you from individuals through the course of the campaign? Was
there a British direction that was being offered to you? ~Was there a Mexican
direction being offered to you? Was there an Emirati direction being offered to
you?

MR. COHEN: | don't recall, and | don't know the answer. The only
documents that were produced were pursuant to the agreement between this
committee and The Trump Organization for documents that had specific terms to
it.

What | will say to you is, on a daily basis | would get unsolicited emails from
people: You should tell this to Mr. Trump. This would help him in the campaign.
This is a talking point for him. | would get these unsolicited emails all the time.

MR. SWALWELL: Mr. Cohen, | believe that. | guess my question is, do
you recall receiving unsolicited emails referencing countries other than Russia
assisting the campaign? We've gone through the ones with Russia.

MR. COHEN: | don't recall that.

MR. SWALWELL: Thank you.

How many passports have you been issued?

MR. COHEN: One, as | stated in my statement.

MR. SWALWELL: And that's the passport that we've reviewed and that we
went over?

MR. COHEN: That is correct, sir.

MR. SWALWELL: To your knowledge, has Mr. Trump ever met Vladimir
Putin in person?

MR. COHEN: | don't know the answer to that.

MR. SWALWELL: Has Mr. Trump ever told you about meeting Vladimir

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MR. COHEN: Correct.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. And on which accounts? Do you recall?

MR. COHEN: Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. Have you ever used Reddit?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. CASTRO: 4Chan?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. CASTRO: Okay.

And the committee is also in receipt of some document production from
you, and all of it appears to be from your -- or most of it appears to be from your
Trump Organization email, much of it, as opposed to the other accounts.

MR. COHEN: But those documents were turned over to this committee by
my counsel. | don't have access and privilege to those. Those belong to The
Trump Organization.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. So just for the sake of being thorough, because
you've described other accounts where you also sent messages, is it your position
that everything that was responsive to our request is contained in the production,
in terms of every written email, every written communication, including the
platforms that you just mentioned in your answer?

MR. COHEN: | believe so, yes.

MR. CASTRO: Okay.

Do you use Signal.

MR. COHEN: Yes.

MR. CASTRO: Do you message through Signal?

MR. COHEN: Yes. Actually, | apologize. January 2015 to --

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MR. SWALWELL: And if | sent an email to Ms. Graff, how would that be
presented to Mr. Trump if it was someone relevant that he would want to hear
from?

MR. COHEN: They would print out that email and give it to him.

MR. SWALWELL: And what would he do? Would he write on the email
and give it back to Ms. Graff, or would he dictate to her what he would like to be
sent back?

MR. COHEN: Ora combination thereof.

MR. SWALWELL: But this is something that you've observed before?

MR. COHEN: Yes. I've seen Mr. Trump write on emails and send them
back, either to the sender of the email or express an interest in how he wanted Ms.
Graff to respond to the sender.

MR. SWALWELL: Has Mr. Trump, in his capacity as President, conveyed
to you or your counsel that he would give you a pardon with respect to the Russia
investigation?

MR. RYAN: So, first of all, you have to divide your question. You can't
have me in that question.

MR. SWALWELL: To your knowledge, has Mr. Trump conveyed to you or
your counsel that you would receive a pardon for your cooperation or your
testimony in this investigation?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. SWALWELL: To your knowledge, has Mr. Trump or anyone on his
team conveyed that to anybody in the Russia investigation?

MR. COHEN: I'm not aware of any communication other than

communications to myself. And | want to be very clear. | would never ask Mr.

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impropriety relating to Mr. Trump's relationship with Russia, nor am | aware of Mr.
Trump having an improper relationship, political or otherwise, with officials of the
Russian Federation.

MR. RYAN: | think we found the word, the quote.

MR. COHEN: And | never have taken any action in order to cover up any
aspect of Mr. Trump's dealings in Russia.

On the following page, 33, another allegation: "Things had become even
hotter since August on the Trump-Russia track. According to the Kremlin insider,
this had meant that direct contact between the Trump team and Russia had been
farmed out by the Kremlin to trusted agents of influence working in
pro-government policy institutes like that of Law and Comparative Jurisprudence.
Cohen, however, continued to lead for the Trump team."

And this allegation is, again, completely and utterly false, and I'm not aware
of any indirect communications between the Trump team and trusted agents of the
Kremlin. | also played absolutely no role in any such communication.

On the following page, 34, Trump's representative, Cohen, accompanied to
Prague in August or September of 2016 by three colleagues for secret discussions
with Kremlin representatives and associated operators/hackers."

And | deny, again, this allegation as being completely false. | have never
traveled to Prague or the Czech Republic, as evidenced by my passport, which |
submitted to this committee. | also never participated in any discussions of any
kind, secret or otherwise, with the Kremlin representatives and associated
operators or hackers, whether it was in August/September of 2016 or at any point
in time.

Again, on the same page, another allegation is, "Cohen had been

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the record.

MR. RYAN: Thank you. Stephen Ryan of the McDermott law firm, for Mr.
Cohen.

MR. COMMONS: Good morning. James Commons, also of the
McDermott law firm, for Mr. Cohen.

HR Thank you.

To ensure confidentiality, we ask that you do not discuss the interview with
anyone other than your attorneys.

Consistent with the committee's rules of procedure, you and your counsel, if
you wish and upon request, will have a reasonable opportunity to inspect the
transcript of this interview in order to determine whether your answers were
correctly transcribed. The transcript will remain in the committee's custody.

The committee also reserves the right to request your return for additional
questions should the need arise.

The process for this interview is as follows. The minority will be given 45
minutes to ask questions; then the majority will be given 45 minutes to ask
questions. Immediately thereafter, we will take a 5-minute break if you desire,
after which time the minority will be given 15 minutes to ask questions and the
majority will be given 15 minutes to ask questions.

These 15-minute rounds will continue until questioning has been
exhausted. However, the time limits for these rounds will be strictly adhered to,
with no extensions being granted. Time will be kept for each portion of the
interview, with warnings given at the 5- and 1-minute mark, respectively, by
myself.

Our record today will reflect that you have been compelled to appear today

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used to pay off the debts of any Trump companies?

MR. RYAN: It's not pertinent, and I'm directing the witness not to answer

MR. CASTRO: Sure itis.

MR. RYAN: It's so totally not pertinent. It has nothing to do with Russia.

MR. CASTRO: We've asked the same question of other folks and it was
answered.

MR. RYAN: It's a family area, you are out of your swim lane, sir. This is
totally impertinent.

MR. SCHIFF: If you're not asserting a privilege, you need to answer the
question.

MR. RYAN: No, I'm directing the witness here. I'm going to cite the case
law. We're going to get this on the record now. We're going to look at the case
law on pertinency.

MR. Schiff: We don't need any case law on pertinency, counsel.

MR. RYAN: No, we're going to put it on the record.

MR. Schiff: Well, you can put whatever you like on the record, but he's
going to answer the question.

MR. RYAN: II United States Code 192, as interpreted by Rumely v. The
United States at 197 F.2d 166 at page 177, the D.C. Circuit, 1953. It is still the
law here that pertinent to a subject matter under inquiry not generally pertinent,
you have to establish the pertinency of the questions to your jurisdiction. You're
out of your jurisdiction, questioning about Jared's property.

MR. SCHIFF: Counsel, you're out of your jurisdiction, I'm afraid.

Depending on what Mr. Kushner may or may not have been involved in, it's very

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MR. SCHIFF: But was Mr. Sater communicating to you that he thought
that things the President was saying positively about Mr. Putin would help the
deal?

MR. COHEN: Mr. Sater, along with many other people who appear in this
document production, they all say many things in order to somehow bring
themselves into the fold and to become part of this Trump Moscow proposal.

| just want to start by saying that a proposal, based upon a nonbinding letter
of intent, is a far cry from a deal. And everybody wanted to somehow become
involved in this proposal, and they offer their relationship to somebody, that this
would be the secret sauce in order to get the project up and running.

For me, | wasn't interested in any of the noise that was attached by Felix, by
Mr. Sater, or anybody else. | was solely interested in seeing whether or nota
deal could be had between The Trump Organization and |.C. Expert.

MR. SCHIFF: | understand. What I'm asking, though, is, Mr. Sater was
communicating to you that he thought it would be helpful to move the deal forward
if Mr. Putin was aware that the President, then-candidate Trump, was saying nice
things about him. Is that a fair reading of what he was trying to get across to you?

MR. COHEN: | don't know what Mr. Sater was trying to get across.

Again, | only cared about trying to get the project done, because it would have
been a great project for The Trump Organization.

MR. SCHIFF: | think one of the emails that my colleague went over with
you also from you to Mr. Sater was indicating that there was a clip of Mr. Putin
saying nice things about Mr. Trump. Isn't that right?

MR. COHEN: Yes.

MR. SCHIFF: So isn't it fair to say you both felt that, to the degree that the

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MR. COHEN: That's what it says, yes.

MR. SWALWELL: He further says a few sentences later, "By the way, a
very close person and partner to Putin's closest friend, partner and adviser who
has been with Putin since teenage years, his friend and partner on the largest
shopping center in Moscow, is flying into the private island in the Bahamas Andrey
rented next week." Is that right?

MR. COHEN: That's what it says.

MR. SWALWELL: . So Felix is sharing with you that he knows people close
to President Putin. Is that right? That's how you understood that?

MR. COHEN: That's what he was trying to portray, yes.

MR. SWALWELL: Okay.

He also says that, "Michael, | arranged for Ivanka to sit in Putin's private
chair at the desk and office in the Kremlin." Is that right?

MR. COHEN: That's what it says.

MR. SWALWELL: So Putin is demonstrating that he knows people at the
highest levels of the Kremlin. Is that correct?

MR. COHEN: I'm sorry. Say that again, please.

MR. SWALWELL: Felix is demonstrating to you that he knows people at
the highest levels of the Kremlin. Is that correct?

MR. COHEN: That is what he's trying to say.

MR. SWALWELL: He further says, "I will get Putin on this program, and
we will get Donald elected." Is that correct?

MR. COHEN: That's what it says.

MR. SWALWELL: So this is an email that is talking not just about a Trump

Tower deal but he also now has invoked the election that your boss, Donald

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him again?

MR. COHEN: 2005, give or take.

MR. CASTRO: So, since 2005, how often do you communicate with Mr.
Sater?

MR. COHEN: On occasion.

MR. CASTRO: By telephone? By email?

MR. COHEN: By telephone, by email, in person.

MR. CASTRO: When was the last time you spoke to Mr. Sater?

MR. COHEN: Approximately 3 months ago.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. And did you ever travel with Felix Sater to Russia
or elsewhere in Eastern Europe?

MR. COHEN: No.

MR. CASTRO: Okay.

So I'm going to go through a little background and then ask you some
questions based on that.

MR. COHEN: Yes, sir.

MR. CASTRO: Prior to joining The Trump Organization, President Trump
had made repeated efforts to build or invest in hotels and luxury hotel housing in
Moscow. And it appears that he tried, as well, during your tenure with The Trump
Organization. As far back as July 1987, President Trump traveled to Moscow
with wife, Ivana, at the time. They reportedly stayed in the Lenin Suite at the
National Hotel and toured potential construction sites.

Were you aware of Mr. Trump's efforts to build Trump properties in Moscow
as far back as 1987?

MR. COHEN: Yes.

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we're pulling them for you now.

MR. COHEN: Thank you.

MR. CASTRO: While we get those prepared, why don't | ask you a few
other questions about other subjects, okay?

Or, actually, why don't | turn it over to Eric. While we get my part, we'll go
to Eric.

MR. SWALWELL: Mr. Cohen, you --

MR. RYAN: Hold on. Sir, if you're going to ask a question about this, we
need to read it.

MR. SWALWELL: |'m not asking a question yet.

Mr. Cohen --

MR. RYAN: Well, okay. We'll put it aside. When you come back to it,
we'll read it.

MR. SWALWELL: Mr. Cohen, you told Mr. Gowdy earlier -- or, actually,
| that you were never familiar with Mr. Sater working at the behest of the
Russians. Is that right?

MR. COHEN: That's correct.

MR. RYAN: | Sir, it was the Russian Government. It wasn't "the Russians."
He was certainly —-

MR. SWALWELL: I'm asking Mr. Cohen. And if you want to supplement
after, you can do that, but I'm asking Mr. Cohen.

MR. RYAN: Well, I'm just asking you to clarify your question, because
what was said by I was "the Russian Government," not "the Russians.”
And, certainly, there's a business transaction here. And | think you have to be

accurate in the question you ask in order to get an accurate answer.

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government. Mr. Artemenko -- if you would like, I'd like to give you a little bit of a
brief overview of the 10-minute meeting.

MR. CASTRO: | still have questions, but go ahead.

MR. COHEN: So, as | said, Felix had asked me to meet him at the Lowe's.
He was going to introduce me to a friend.

MR. CASTRO: Did he say who it was?

MR. COHEN: | don't recall him giving me the name, and if he did | didn't
know at the time.

So | went and |metthem. Chocolate chip cookies, coffee. Satdown. |
spoke for a few minutes about my son and baseball and what he's doing.

He then went into introducing me to Andrey Artemenko, who stated that he
was a prime minister in the Ukrainian Government and that he considers himself to
be the Donald Trump of Ukraine, he's going to run for the Presidency; then
followed by stating to me that -- this is the part that | want to be careful about,
about the USAID.

MR. RYAN: We're in a closed room.

MR. COHEN: So he stated to me at first that he has documentation
indicating that USAID to the Ukraine is being stolen, and he has all the
information. | said, well, I'm certain Mr. Trump would not be interested in
knowing -- well, Mr. Trump would be very interested in knowing that people are
stealing money from the United States.

MR. CASTRO: Who did he claim was stealing it?

MR. COHEN: He did not provide me with any of that information. This is
what he claimed. At which point in time | realized that this is not a meeting that |

belong in. I'm out of my -- I'm out of my -- I'm swimming, I'm out of my lane. |

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of any improper conduct at the behest of the Russians?

A Not that I'm aware.

Q Okay.

HSV. Gowdy, do you have anything else?

Mr. Conaway?

All right. Over to you all for 15 minutes.

MR. CASTRO: Thank you, guys.

A few cleanup questions, and then I'll get back to the Trump Tower in
Moscow stuff.

Who are you renting your apartment to right now? + You said you're renting

MR. RYAN: If you want to ask if he's renting it to a Russian, it becomes
pertinent. You really don't need, Mr. Castro, to know who he's renting his
apartment to.

MR. SCHIFF: Are you asserting a privilege?

MR. RYAN: It's pertinency.

MR. SCHIFF: Is it a privilege?

MR. RYAN: It's pertinency. Do want me to quote the Supreme Court
cases on pertinency?

MR. CASTRO: We need to know who it is, because we need to find
whatever connections they have, possibly, or maybe not. Maybe it's just some
random person.

MR. RYAN: This is a rummage. And pertinency, established by the
Supreme Court, requires you to establish pertinence.

MR. CASTRO: Counsel, you know that if it's a rummage it won't be

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apartment,
MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.

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COHEN: Maybe it was -- I'm sorry, | actually forget. But! own one
and my parents own one apartment.
CASTRO: Okay. So you own one?
COHEN: Yes.

CASTRO: And your parents own one?
COHEN: Correct.

CASTRO: Does your wife own one?
COHEN: No.

CASTRO: Does your brother own one?
COHEN: No.

CASTRO: Your sister-in-law?

COHEN: No.

CASTRO: Anyone else in your family?

RYAN: This is not pertinent. And, you know, we'll be here a long

time if this is going to go on into a dive into his life, as opposed to what's in the

committee's jurisdiction.

MR.

CASTRO: Counsel, this is in the committee's jurisdiction. | don't

know what you expected today, but this is what the other witnesses have also

been subjected to.

MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.

CONAWAY: Go ahead. Just go ahead, Joaquin.
CASTRO: All right.

CONAWAY: Get it done.

CASTRO: Okay.

So why did you choose to purchase the Trump property? Did Mr. Sater

encourage you to purchase it?

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MR. COHEN: | have no knowledge.

MR. CASTRO: Okay.

, It seems that Mr. Ryboloviev paid quite a premium for this property. Was it
your sense that he believed this was a good investment?

MR. COHEN: Yes.

MR. CASTRO: And why do you think he paid such a premium for the
property?

MR. COHEN: It was along the ocean, with a tremendous frontage which |
think is greater than most sites in the West Palm Beach area.

And there's actually an interesting joke. What is the difference between
Palm Beach and Beverly Hills?

MR. CASTRO: Well, we'll get to that another time.

MR. COHEN: Nobody in Palm Beach has a mortgage.

MR. CASTRO: But in the 4 years after which Mr. President, or Mr. Trump
at the time, had purchased it for $41.4 million, he now sells it for $95 million. Is
that correct?

MR. COHEN: | believe so.

MR. RYAN: Do you know the amounts?

MR. COHEN: | do not know the exact amounts, but from reports in the
news --

MR. CASTRO: Okay.

MR. COHEN: -- | believe so.

MR. CASTRO: Did you attend the Miss Universe Pageant in Moscow on
November 9th, 2013?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

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Bayrock? Who is involved with Bayrock?

MR. COHEN: | really don't know much about Bayrock. The deal with The
Trump Organization for the Trump SoHo project -- and it was Bayrock acted as the
intermediary -- occurred prior to my becoming employed by The Trump
Organization. | know Felix Sater is or was involved. There's another
gentleman -- | don't know his last name, but | believe his first name is
Tefik (ph) -- who's also involved. They're a real estate development company.

MR. SCHIFF: And let me ask you, just as a matter of your expertise as a
real estate lawyer for many years, I've read -- and I'm not an expert in this area at
all -- that real estate is a profitable area for people interested in laundering money,
because of the nature of real estate. Can you explain that to me, why that would
be the case?

MR. COHEN: I'm not so sure that | actually agree with that statement.
Maybe it was 70, 80, 90 years ago, but | don't believe it is now.

MR. SCHIFF: Let me ask you --

MR. COHEN: To me, it's -- | have not heard of anybody showing up to a
real estate closing with a satchel of cash, which is | guess what you're alluding to.

In New York, as an example, there are recording fees. There's transfer
taxes. There's flip taxes. If you're buying from a sponsor, you usually pick up
the sponsor tax. So real estate closings are not complicated, but generally
they're -- you work with a mortgage broker, or if it's a 1031 exchange, you just use
it -- use the money from a previous deal. | don't know if | can agree with the
statement that you're making.

MR. SCHIFF: Let me ask you about the transaction my colleague asked

you about earlier, in terms of the purchase of the Florida home for $95 million by

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are kind of subtle; you have to have a jury to kind of sort out whether the light was
yellow or kind of off-red. The allegation that you're in Prague meeting with people
while your testimony is that you were in Los Angeles is a pretty big factual
discrepancy. And | guess the good news for the committee is they both can't be
true.

So you went through a series of things, and your denial was every bit as
specific as the allegation was.

Did the FBI ever approach you and say, "Mr. Cohen, you need to be aware
that there are covert agents of foreign powers that are trying to contact you
surreptitiously. We're not accusing you of doing anything wittingly, but,
unwittingly, you need to be aware that the following is happening"? Did the
Bureau ever have that conversation with you?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. GOWDY: You mentioned Paul Manafort. Have you ever had a
conversation with Paul Manafort before he became campaign manager, while he
was campaign manager, or after he left the campaign, about Russian involvement,
interference, engagement, offers to help in the 2016 election cycle?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. GOWDY: The same question with Carter Page.

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. GOWDY: Were you ever present for any conversations, did you ever
have any conversations with anyone by any means -- written, oral,
encrypted -- about Russian efforts to interfere with our election via social media?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. GOWDY: Have you ever had any discussions with any Russian

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MR. CASTRO: Okay. Sure.

MR. RYAN: And | think he was accurately answering. But you could ask
him about litigation.

| don't know if there was litigation that you were involved with.

MR. CASTRO: Were you involved in litigation?

MR. COHEN: Yes.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. Did you also do work for The Trump Foundation?

MR. COHEN: No.

MR. CASTRO: In the production that you provided, there is an agreement
between a foundation in the Ukraine having to do with a speech that Mr. Trump
gave over a video link, and it seems as though you arranged the -- you finalized
the agreement with the grantor. Do you recall that?

MR. COHEN: | do.

MR. CASTRO: It seems that that work was for the foundation, not for the
organization.

MR. COHEN: No, sir. Doug Schoen, who's a frequent guest on cable
television, had been putting together a symposium and requested Mr. Trump to go
to the Ukraine in order to --

MR. CASTRO: Okay. It's okay. | just want to know, was it -- so it wasn't
for the foundation.

MR. COHEN: It was not.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. We'll get to the other part later.

MR. RYAN: The money went there, but the client wasn't the foundation.

MR. CASTRO: Well, that's got to be his answer, not yours.

MR. RYAN: But if we ask the question correctly, we'll get the right answer,

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MR. RYAN: If you can use something other than the pronoun, just
whoever you're talking about. ,

MR. CASTRO: Sure. The meeting between -- that included Andrey
Artemenko and Felix Sater at the Lowe's Regency, which you were invited to by
Felix Sater, why do you believe he reached out to you to invite you? What was
your purpose of being there?

MR. COHEN: Mr. Sater asked me to meet him and a friend of his. He
wanted to discuss with me some opportunities.

MR. CASTRO: Business opportunities?

MR. COHEN: | believed that they were business opportunities. And now,
free to take on new clients and to explore opportunities of my own, | elected to go.

MR. CASTRO: But this is the same man that never came through with that
property for the Trump Moscow deal that you basically characterized as a
bullshitter.

MR. COHEN: That's correct. But he had been successful in other
opportunities, including, as an example, the Trump SoHo project. So while this
one did not actually come to fruition, others have. And, as | had previously
stated, Mr. Sater is actually pretty successful at putting together.

The Lowe's Regency is two blocks from my home. He asked me to meet
him over there. | figured, why not? | took a 2-second walk, have a cup of coffee,
and see what Felix was asking me to appear.

MR. CASTRO: How long did the meeting last?

MR. COHEN: Approximately 10 minutes, 12 minutes.

MR. CASTRO: That's a quick meeting.

MR. COHEN: It sure was.

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MR. SWALWELL: I'll pass it back to you. We've got more questions.

MR. RYAN: | think it is probably time to take a short break.

MR. CONAWAY: Yes, we're done on our side.

MR. SWALWELL: Okay.

[Recess.]

MR. CASTRO: We're going to come back to the letter of intent on that
Moscow project,

MR. COHEN: I'm so sorry.

MR. CASTRO: We're going to come back to that letter of intent ina
second. We're lining up the emails to that when | ask you about the emails you
can take a look at them.

MR. COHEN: Sure.

MR. CASTRO: Allright. But for now let me ask you about some
trademarks. ;

In late 2016, the Russian Government approved the extension of six
trademarks held by The Trump Organization. Four of the trademarks, all of which
were related to hotel and branding efforts in Russia, were officially finalized on
November 8th, 2016, election day. These trademarks were originally filed
between 1996 and 2007 when Donald Trump was working to build hotels in
Russia.

Were you involved in obtaining Trump Organization trademarks in Russia?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. CASTRO: So no legal work associated with any of that?

MR. COHEN: No. There was a trademark attorney that worked with

outside counsel.

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Donald J. Trump Foundation, Inc.?

MR. COHEN: As | was trying to explain to you before -- | think we took a
break at that time -- Doug Schoen had asked Mr. Trump to appear. It's important
that you understand the context.

MR. CASTRO: But --

MR. COHEN: It was not on behalf of The Donald J. Trump Foundation.
They received the money for it. Because Mr. Trump didn't want to take money
from it, | recommended that they send the --

MR. RYAN: Don't disclose your privileged communication. The bottom
line is the money was sent to the foundation. It doesn't mean he represented the
foundation. He represented Mr. Trump.

MR. CASTRO: Counsel, you agree the document says: "Signed on
behalf of The Donald J. Trump Foundation, Inc." Your counsel is familiar with
legal documents. You don't put an extraneous sentence like that on a contract.

Is that correct? You're an attorney. You know that's the case.

MR. COHEN: Let me also say, sir, that my signature does not appear
anywhere in the document.

MR. CASTRO: So you're saying that this agreement was never effected?

MR. COHEN: That's not what I'm saying.

MR. CASTRO: Okay, so it was effected. This was the agreement. And
it says on behalf of the foundation. Is that correct?

MR. COHEN: On behalf of -- the foundation received the money, but | was
not doing legal work on behalf of the foundation.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. We can --

MR. RYAN: He received the money as President, or it's POTUS who

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Expert.

| One minute, Mr. Castro.

MR. CASTRO: And who owns that? Do you know?

MR. COHEN: Andrei -- and I'm sorry, I'm blanking on his lastname. You
threw me off with the Rybolovlev.

MR. CASTRO: |.C. Expert. Do you know if it was an American company
ora Russian company?

MR. COHEN: | believe it's a Russian company.

MR. CASTRO: Okay.

Okay. We'll turn it over to you guys.

MR. CONAWAY: All right.

MR. RYAN: Sir, do you mind if we just take a 5-minute break? Is that
acceptable?

MR. CONAWAY: Sure.

MR. RYAN: Thank you very much.

[Recess]

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Do you understand the question?

MR. COHEN: | don't.

MR. SWALWELL: So, Mr. Cohen, "Now is the time. Call me." Why
would you want to talk to Mr. Sater over the phone rather than have an email
exchange?

MR. COHEN: Because there could have been a lengthy conversation,
and, instead of typing out paragraph after paragraph after paragraph, I'm
old-school, | prefer to speak on the phone.

MR. SWALWELL: But when you said, "Now is the time, call me," and the
only subject line is a Google alert on Donald Trump and the body of the email is a
news clipping about Vladimir Putin praising Donald Trump, wouldn't you agree that
it appears that you're asking him to call you about the news clipping?

MR. RYAN: It's argumentative. He's asked and answered the question,
and you're --

MR. SWALWELL: Can you answer, Mr. Cohen?

MR. RYAN:  -- arguing with the witness, Mr. Swalwell.

MR. SWALWELL: Mr. Cohen, | don't understand why you would ask him

to call you --

MR. RYAN: He's already answered that, sir.

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MR. CONAWAY: So put a timeframe on your question that's relevant to
what's going on.

MR. CASTRO: Sure. Okay. All right.

In the last 3 years, do you know of any --

MR. CONAWAY: That's too wide. Trump wasn't even President.

MR. CASTRO: Okay, January 2015.

MR. CONAWAY: He announced for the Presidency in what, June of
2015?

MR. CASTRO: Well, he was probably thinking about it before that. So
can we say January of 2015?

MR. CONAWAY: That will work.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. Since January of 2015 to the present time, are you
aware of any Trump debts that were paid using Kushner assets?

MR. RYAN: What is a Trump debt, sir? | apologize. | have no idea what
a Trump debt is.

MR. CASTRO: Well, Trump, anything that Mr. Trump or the Trump
companies have owed to anyone or any bank or organization. If the answer is no,
it should be --

MR. COHEN: The answer is I'm unaware of any Kushner payment on
behalf of a Trump debt.

MR. CASTRO: So you're not aware that the Kushners have used any of
their assets to pay off any of the debts of Mr. Trump since January 2015?

MR. RYAN: Wait a minute. We're going to make a record now. Deutsch
v. The United States, 367 U.S., page -- or beginning at 456.

MR. CASTRO: Chairman, we went through this.

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Sater. I'm going to ask you a couple follow-up questions.

For as long as you've known Mr. Sater, has he provided you with any
reason to believe that he's working for the Russian Government or at the behest of
the Russian Government?

A He has not.

Q And do you have any information in your dealings with Mr. Sater over
the years that he was directed by then-candidate Trump and/or any of his

associates to improperly influence the 2016 U.S. election?

A I'm not aware of any such.

Q And your last communication with Mr. Sater? Please remind me.
A Approximately 3 months ago.

Q Phone call? Email? Do you remember?

A | believe it was a text message.

Q Regarding?

A How am | doing.

Q Generally, can you provide this committee with the following
information: Is there any nexus between you, Michael Cohen, and the Trump
campaign or then-candidate Trump that would show or allow us to infer that he
was acting on behalf of the Russians?

A I'm a little confused by the question, sir.

MR. RYAN: My apology. If you could restate it. | missed it too.

ME S.<.
a

Q Basically, what I'm asking, sir: Is there any information to show a

nexus between yourself and Donald Trump and the Trump campaign for President

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[12:15 p.m.]

MR. SWALWELL: Are you asking him to call you about Mr. Trump and
Vladimir --

MR. RYAN: He already answered that.

MR. SCHIFF: Let him finish the question.

MR. SWALWELL: Let me finish.

MR. RYAN: Sure. My apologies. | apologize for speaking over you.

MR. SWALWELL: Mr. Cohen, you said, "Now is the time. Callme." The
only information in the email is that Vladimir Putin praises Donald Trump as
talented and very colorful. Wefe you asking him to call you about the news
article?

MR. RYAN: Sir, it has been asked and answered. Sir, you've been
asking about 10 minutes about this.

MR. SWALWELL: He hasn't given us a clear answer.

MR. RYAN: Well, that's your opinion.

MR. SWALWELL: And that's your opinion.

Mr. Cohen, do you want to answer it or you want to assert a privilege?

MR. RYAN: You're commenting on his testimony. We can stay as long
as we want. Let me explain something. There's an independent --

MR. SCHIFF: You're going to cause him to be here longer.

MR. RYAN: There's an independent counsel who's going to want this
transcript. {'m not letting him answer questions that are all over the map when
he's already answered it. If you want to ask a clear question about a factual issue
related to this, please ask him, but you haven't asked for it.

MR. SWALWELL: When you said, "Call me," was it with respect to the

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[1:17 p.m]

MR. CASTRO: | understand your statement and your position. I've
pointed out two factual points there, that you read an email from Felix Sater and
that you were in an email exchange less than 2 weeks later with Dmitry Klokov,
and we've gone over what that exchange says.

MR. COHEN: Felix Sater, sir, was not involved with Dmitry Klokov.

MR. CASTRO: | need to ask my question. Okay.

MR. RYAN: But you're trying to take an inference of the two emails, and
he's rejecting that. So if you want to ask a factual question --

MR. CASTRO: He's already said that. | get that. Okay.

So did you --

MR. KING: There's a vote on now. So! guess what time do you want
to -- | think they're about 3, 4 minutes into the vote.

MR. CASTRO: We'll come back.

MR. SCHIFF: Maybe when there's 5 minutes left, we'll vote and come
back.

MR. KING: We'll come back.

HS ive minutes from your time?

MR. SCHIFF: Weill let you know.

MR. CASTRO: After the November 3rd, 2015, email exchange -- or the
email you received from Felix Sater, did you have a followup phone conversation
with him about that or communicate with him in any other way about that
November 3rd, 2015, email that he sent you that you said you read?

MR. COHEN: | don't recall.

MR. CASTRO: So if we were to take a look at your phone logs, do you

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MR. CASTRO: Well, I'm not going to ask you about that email. All right.

Would it be fair to say that the Trump Tower Moscow project failed not for a
lack of interest by The Trump Organization, but because the due diligence didn't
come through?

MR. COHEN: That is correct. The due diligence did not come through. |
lost confidence in the licensee, and | abandoned the project.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. It's still, if everything -- it would have been a
profitable project for him. Is that fair to say?

MR. COHEN: Yes. That was my -- that was my intention.

MR. CASTRO: I'msorry. If they had presented a piece of property and
proven that they owned it, you would have probably gone forward?

MR. COHEN: No, sir. Notjusta piece of property. Then it would go to
the second prong, which was the ability within which to obtain the necessary
permit and zoning requirements.

And then the third requirement would need to be met, which is to
demonstrate ability to finance the property.

That would then bring me to the creation of the definitive document
agreements. So there would be a commercial element to it; there would be
what's called an HMA, a hotel management agreement; and then the residential
portion of it, at which point in time | would have brought on many more people in
order to work on this project.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. We have some more questions.

Eric.

MR. SWALWELL: | want to turn your attention to a July 23rd, 2016, email

from Ivan Markov. Do you have that email? Actually, this is the correct one.

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MR. COHEN: | don't have the answer to that.

MR. CASTRO: So you're not aware whether they --

MR. COHEN: I'm not aware.

MR. CASTRO: Also in 2007, President Trump testified during a
deposition. Mr. Trump spoke highly of real estate prospects in Russia, saying,
quote, "We will be in Moscow at some point."

Mr. Trump acknowledged meeting with Russian investors at Trump Tower
to explore a Moscow development deal and said his son Don, Jr., was working to
get a separate deal there off the ground.

On June 4th, 2008, at a Moscow real estate summit, President Trump's son
Donald Trump, Jr., announced that The Trump Organization had plans for
construction of luxury housing and hotels in three Russian cities -- Moscow, Saint
Petersburg, and Sochi -- and reportedly told the audience that he'd been to Russia
six times in the last year and a half. The Trump Organization worked with Paul
Fuchs of the Moss City Group to negotiate a developer's license to use the Trump
brand.

Did you attend the real estate summit?

MR. RYAN: So | have an objection to the way you're asking these
questions. You're asking a very long and complex statement of fact, some of
which he may know, none of which he may know, or all of which he may know,
and then you're posing a question atend. You should not interpret that he is --

MR. SWALWELL: Counsel, why don't you stop telling him how to ask the
questions? He can answer it or not answer it, but you're not --

MR. RYAN: Well, let me just say something. A Federal judge would not

permit this --

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platforms, because | didn't perceive that there would be responsive materials on
them. Whether there are or there aren't, we're going to go search for it and I'll get
back to you as promptly as | can.

MR. SCHIFF: Thank you, Counsel.

And just so that | have clarity on this other document issue, were there
communications relevant to the investigation that you have withheld because you
believe them to be privileged?

MR. RYAN: There are a handful. And, | mean, | think there are less than
five documents that have been withheld by the Trump Org to date as they try to
resolve privilege issues. I'll work with the general counsel of Trump Org. We will
present you either with a document that we have decided is not privileged or with a
privilege document log that would give you the necessary information to evaluate
the privilege. And | will work with Mr. Garten, who's the general counsel of The
Trump Org.

The reason | say that, Congressman, is he doesn't control the privilege.
The final decision is the general counsel of Trump Org, because they're Trump
documents.

MR. SCHIFF: Counsel, | understand. I'm also interested, though,
whether there are any of your own documents that you haven't turned over that
are pertinent that you've withheld because you believe them to be privileged.

MR. RYAN: | don't think we have any document that has been withheld
other than a Trump Org document. And, again, I've indicated that's a very, very
small number.

MR. SCHIFF: Okay.

Mr. Cohen, can you tell me a little bit more about Bayrock? What is

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MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. SWALWELL: To your knowledge, has Donald Trump or The Trump
Organization ever received a personal or business loan from VEB?

MR. COHEN: I'm aware of who even VEB is.

MR. SWALWELL: How about VTB?

MR. COHEN: | don't believe that he does, but | don't know the answer.

MR. SWALWELL: Have you ever met Sergey Gorkov?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. SWALWELL: To your knowledge, has Donald Trump?

MR. COHEN: | don't know.

MR. SWALWELL: To your knowledge, has Jared Kushner?

MR. COHEN: | don't know.

MR. SWALWELL: In 2008, Donald Trump Jr. -- and you knew him in 2008.
Is that right?

MR. COHEN: Yes, sir.

MR. SWALWELL: He stated: "Russians make up a pretty
disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets. We see a lot of money
pouring in from Russia." Was he correct when he said that?

MR. COHEN: | don't know what he was referring to, whether he was
referring to a specific project, but my understanding would be that | don't agree
with that statement. | don't believe that there's a large cross-section of Russians
in the building that | live in, which is a Trump property. | believe there's only 1
family out of 80.

MR. SWALWELL: In August 2013, it was reported that at a Trump

National Golf Club event in Charlotte, Eric Trump said: “Well, we don't rely on

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proposal. My decision to end the proposal's consideration had nothing to do with
Mr. Trump's campaign for the Presidency, but it occurred before the Presidential
caucus or primary was held. At the point | terminated consideration, Mr. Trump
was 1 of 16 Republican candidates for the Presidency.

In the end, this was solely a real estate proposal and nothing more. | was
doing my job.

On several occasions during the Moscow building proposal period and
afterwards, | received offers to travel to Russia and others to seek Mr. Trump's
travel to Russia. | never went, and | never told Mr. Trump about requests for him
to go to Russia. And he did not travel there during this period of time.

| would ask that the two-page statement about the Moscow proposal that |
sent to the committee in August and which is attached to my testimony be
incorporated into this record.

[The information follows:]

sen" COMMITTEE INSERT *

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MR. COHEN: | don't recall doing that.

MR. SWALWELL: How about Ms. Graff?

MR. COHEN: That would be a no.

MR. SWALWELL: How about Mr. Schiller, Keith Schiller?

MR. COHEN: | don't recall.

MR. SWALWELL: Do you know if Mr. Schiller has a Signal account?

MR. COHEN: | don't.

MR. SWALWELL: How about Mr. Paul Manafort, using Signal?

MR. COHEN: No.

MR. SWALWELL: Would you communicate at all during the campaign with
Paul Manafort when he was the chairman of the campaign?

MR. RYAN: Communication being in person, on the phone, email. Any of
that would be a communication.

MR. SWALWELL: Let's start broadly.

MR. COHEN: Have | ever had communication with Paul Manafort is your
question?

MR. SWALWELL: While he was chairman.

MR. COHEN: Yes.

MR. SWALWELL: And aside from in-person communications, how would
you, if you weren't in his presence, how would you communicate with him?

MR. RYAN: Can you establish there's some pertinency, that he ever
communicated with him about Russia, about anything associated with Russia,
about Ukraine? Let's try and move on to things that are pertinent.

MR. SWALWELL: Counsel, I'll conduct the investigation the way that we

would like to, not the way --

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had no interest in his political aspirations, and I'm not versed in order to discuss
Crimea, Ukraine, Russia. And then he proceeded to tell me that the best way to
do it is to lease Crimea to Russia. That's fantastic, was my response to him.

They then turned around and asked me if | would give a document to Mr.
Trump, at which point | told him that he should mail it to Mr. Trump at 1600
Pennsylvania Avenue.

He said, well, who else do you think that we should mail it to? Well, send it
to General Flynn, seemed the right person to do, at the same address.

Then they asked me if | would take a document with me, because | had
already told them that | got to go, | don't have time.

MR. CASTRO: Who asked you do that?

MR. COHEN: Felix asked me if ! would take the document, in case | saw
them, if | would give it to them. And that document was either one or two pages
in total, because | saw him put it into an 8-1/2 x 11 envelope. So, to be polite, |
took it and | left.

The entire meeting was approximately 10, 12 minutes in total, with most of
it being talked about personal stuff, including my children.

MR. CASTRO: Did you tell anyone about this meeting?

MR. COHEN: I did not. I don't recall. But it was widely reported in the
press adayorso. Yes, | spoke to The New York Times.

MR. CASTRO: Did you speak to anybody -- did you speak to Mr. Trump
about this?

MR. COHEN: | don't recall -- actually, yes, | did, after the article came out.

MR. CASTRO: What did.you communicate to him about this?

MR. COHEN: I had no idea why | took this meeting. | should not have.

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MR. SWALWELL: Did you leave London?

MR. COHEN: No.

MR. SWALWELL: What do you mean, you were in London twice?

MR. COHEN: So we were there one time for Thanksgiving, and | was
there one time --

MR. SWALWELL: | guess, I'm sorry, | meant prior to the election. Soon
the October 6th transit to London, did you ever leave London?

MR. RYAN: Do you recall going to London in October of 2016, and do you
recall leaving London for another place in the United Kingdom? Is that your
question?

MR. SWALWELL: Did you ever leave the United Kingdom?

MR. COHEN: | did not. And | went in -- the October one was my
daughter's birthday.

MR. SWALWELL: And you said you--

MR COHEN:
MR, SWALWELL: |

MR. COHEN: | don't recall the exact number of dates, but | can get that for
you. | will send you an itinerary.

MR. SWALWELL: Where did you stay?

MR. COHEN: | forget the name of the hotel.

MR. SWALWELL: Okay. Which part of London was the hotel in?

MR. COHEN: Central London. If you give me a phone and two seconds,
| will ask my wife.

MR. SWALWELL: | just want to -- did you stay the whole trip, were you in

the same hotel the whole time?

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have appreciably different meanings to you? And, if so, how would you define the
three differently?

We'll start with "collusion." "Collusion," “coordination,” “conspiracy.”

MR. COHEN: "Collusion" | would define as working with at least one
additional individual for the purpose of effectuating a result. "Conspiracy," | would
add that they knew that what they were intending to do was improper. And
"coordination," | would say that you facilitated in some act to create the collusion.

MR. GOWDY: Well, to the extent that you have even nuanced differences
with respect to the definitions, I'm going to ask you about them separately.

MR. COHEN: Yes, sir.

MR. GOWDY: Do you have any information, evidence of collusion
between then-Presidential candidate Donald Trump and the Russian Government

* to either interfere with or influence the GOP primary in 2016 or the general election
in 20167

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. GOWDY: Do you have any evidence or information of coordination
between then-Presidential candidate Donald Trump to interfere with or influence
the 2016 primary or general election?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. GOWDY: Do you have any evidence, information, knowledge, access
to facts, whatever, however you want to frame it in the most liberal way possible,
the word “information,” of a conspiracy between then-Presidential candidate
Donald J. Trump and the Russian Government to interfere with or influence the
2016 election cycle, either at the primary or general election stage?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

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MR. COHEN: Now | turn to the Moscow proposal.

In 2015, | received a proposal to build a world-class Trump-branded
property in Moscow, Russia. It is important to note that this was always going to
be a licensed transaction. The Trump Organization would lend its name and
management skills, but it was not going to borrow any money and it would not
have any resulting debt for the purchase of the land and the building of the facility.
The Trump Organization routinely received numerous similar proposals to build
licensed properties throughout the world.

| ultimately decided that The Trump Organization would reject the Trump
Tower Moscow proposal, and no project went forward. | was involved in the
proposal as part of my routine work at The Trump Organization.

After some due diligence on the preliminary proposal, The Trump
Organization entered into a nonbinding letter of intent with a Moscow-based
developer. The LOI was a very preliminary nonbinding agreement and simply
confirmed that both sides wanted to explore the proposal further. Itwas nota
term sheet.

After the LOI was executed, | expected the developer to accomplish three
core tasks. First, | expected the developer to identify the appropriate site for the
Trump Tower Moscow project and demonstrate that they owned or controlled the
site. Second, | expected the developer to obtain the relevant permits and
approvals for the project. And, third, | expected the developer to secure the
financing needed to acquire the site and build this five-star property.

By the end the January 2016, | had determined that the developer had not

made satisfactory progress on the three core tasks, and | decided to abandon the

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MR. CASTRO: Been solicited or solicited them for business?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. CASTRO: All right.

Did you meet anyone who worked for Sberbank?

MR. COHEN: Not that I'm aware of.

MR. CASTRO: During his trip, President Trump is quoted as saying, "I
have plans for the establishment of business in Russia. Now I'm in talks with
several Russian companies to establish this skyscraper."

Do you recall being involved in any of these business discussions?

MR. COHEN: In what years, sir?

MR. CASTRO: At anytime, but this is around 2013.

MR. COHEN: No.

MR. CASTRO: Any other year that you recall during your work for The
Trump Organization?

MR. COHEN: The Trump Moscow proposal.

MR. CASTRO: Which was after 2013.

MR. COHEN: Yes, in 2015.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. We'll get to that.

So did you make it out to Russia at that time, in 2013?

MR. COHEN: I've never been to Russia.

MR. CASTRO: Okay.

Hive minutes, Mr. Castro.

MR. CASTRO: On November 11, 2013, Mr. Trump made a deal with the
Crocus Group for Trump Tower in Moscow. Were you involved in that deal?

MR. COHEN: For the Miss Universe Pageant?

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MR. COHEN: It's not factual, it's inaccurate. | received a communication
from Dmitry Klokov, who was a Russian Olympian in weightlifting. And like many
Russians when they hear of a significant opportunity, they talk about their
relationships to either Putin or somebody else in the government to show their
abilities, because this, like all projects, would require government intervention.

And he talks to me in his email and makes many, many statements about
Mr. Trump and the campaign and becoming President and meetings and so on.
And my response to him, which is what you're referring to, is thank you for your
email. And as discussed during yesterday's conversation, I'm currently under an
LOI with a local developer to brand a five-star Trump property in Moscow city.

So my intent was solely about the Trump Moscow proposal. What anyone
else was talking about, that's their interest and that's their desire. | was solely

focused on a Trump Moscow proposal and nothing more.

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and where it came, unless it's about Russia. And I'm asking for the ruling of the
chair.

MR. CONAWAY: So, ask the question that gets to the point of what it is.
If you've got a financial transaction that's a little closer to the date --

MR. CASTRO: Right.

MR. CONAWAY: But that one is a little dated.

MR. CASTRO: And the reason that | asked about that is because that's
the first interaction with The Trump Organization, the first purchase of a property.
| can't control that.

MR. CONAWAY: Well, just ask him if he had any Russian financing or
anything, any Ukrainian financing, something that's a little closer to the mark.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. We'll get to it so we get to a closer period here.

It's been reported that yourself and your family members have owned 10 or
11 properties within the Trump realm of properties. Is that correct?

Or how many properties have you and your family owned within the Trump
properties?

MR. COHEN: | own one, which | purchased in 2001.

MR. CASTRO: Okay.

MR. COHEN: That was 15 years prior to my employment at The Trump
Organization.

MR. CASTRO: Sir, | thought you started working in --

MR. COHEN: I'm sorry, 2006, 5 years. Actually -- I'm so sorry. 2001 is
not -- I've owned the apartment for, what, 13 years? | apologize. I'll get you the
exact date that | purchased it on. But I've owned it for over 10 years.

MR. CASTRO: Okay.

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MR. CASTRO: To the present day.

MR. COHEN: To the present day? Then the answer is yes.

MR. CASTRO: Okay.

What about text messaging on your cell phone?

MR. COHEN: | use text message.

MR. CASTRO: Okay.

Also, before | forget, counsel, did y'all turn over a privilege log? You
discussed in one of the letters that you would provide a privilege log.

MR. RYAN: We have not turned over a privilege log as yet. And the
reason for that is the privilege ultimately belongs to Trump Org. In other words,
Mr. Cohen doesn't have control over that. And | believe that Trump Org is
preparing that and eventually will produce it to the committee.

MR. CASTRO: It just makes our job tougher today, because that would've
been helpful to see ahead of time, what you may assert a privilege --

MR. RYAN: To the extent that | can, if there are any -- there are very few
documents that have been withheld based on privilege by the Trump Org at this
point.

MR. CASTRO: Okay.

MR. RYAN: If | recognize a situation where there is a privileged document,
| will do my best to help. He would not be able to be do that. | alone would know
that information. So I'll --

MR. CASTRO: Okay. We'll take it ad hoc.

MR. RYAN: Yeah, ad hoc. But I'll try and help you on that.

MR. CASTRO: Sure.

MR. RYAN: But, candidly, there are so few that that's the reason | think |

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pursuant to a subpoena issued on May 25th.

| know the procedures adopted for the 115th Congress have been provided
to you, along with Rule XI of the Rules of the House of Representatives.

Only you or your personal counsel may make objections during a
deposition. Objections must be stated concisely in a nonargumentative manner.
If your counsel raises an objection, the interview will proceed, and testimony is
taken subject to any objection.

You may refuse to answer a question only to preserve a testimonial
privilege. If you and your counsel have refused to answer a question or preserve
a testimonial privilege, the objection may be ruled on by the chairman after the
interviewed has recessed.

Finally, you are reminded that it is unlawful to deliberately provide false
information to Members of Congress or staff.

As this interview is under oath, Mr. Cohen, would you please raid your right
hand to be sworn?

MR. COHEN: Sure.

HM, ank you. Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you
are about to give is the whole truth and nothing but the truth?

MR. COHEN: | do.

HE Thank you.

The record will reflect that the witness has been duly sworn.

Mr. Chairman, over to you for opening comments.

MR. CONAWAY: Thank you.

And | understand, Mr. Cohen, you have a statement you'd like to make?

MR. COHEN: Yes, sir.

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because | want to make sure that that is the case. Then that he --

MR. CONAWAY: You've done that.

MR. SWALWELL: Okay. If you want to ask him during your time, I'm
happy --

MR. CONAWAY: No. We're done. I'm just saying | find it unproductive
for you to read paragraphs to him and ask him to read them back to you.

MR. SWALWELL: I'm doing it for an important record that | think is being
created on this issue.

MR. RYAN: If we could just put the document in the record, the document
speaks for itself.

MR. CONAWAY: Exactly.

MR. RYAN: He is --

MR. SWALWELL: Well, I'll let you conduct your side's investigation the
way you want to and we'll do ours.

MR. CONAWAY: Just know that it's tiresome.

MR. RYAN: | have a concern.

MR. SWALWELL: It's what?

MR. CONAWAY: It's tiresome, at best, what you're doing.

MR. SWALWELL: Well, there's a lot of documents, sir.

MR. CONAWAY: I gotyou. | understand.

MR. SWALWELL: So, Mr. Cohen, the sentence says: "Please feel free to
incorporate me in the Russian direction, as you know | have an insider level
knowledge on what is happening in Russia after 10 years of hosting Russian
ministers, governors, businessmen, and public leaders." Do you see that?

MR. COHEN: | see that.

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MR. CASTRO: It certainly seems like a lucrative deal.

MR. COHEN: Which is why | was interested in the deal taking place.

MR. CASTRO: But it didn't work out in the end. Is that correct?

MR. COHEN: Correct.

MR. CASTRO: But it if had, it would have been a big profit for Mr. Trump,
Trump Organization.

MR. COHEN: Yes.

MR. CASTRO: Did -- what made you not finally get into this agreement?

MR. COHEN: Well, we did have an agreement. We had a nonbinding
letter of intent. Why did the deal not come to fruition?

MR. CASTRO: Why was this property not --

MR. COHEN: Because | had lost confidence in the licensee for months,
and you will see that in the documents that were submitted by my counsel to you.
For months | had been asking for the same thing over and over and over again: |
need to see the very first prong of my three-prong requirement, which is the
ownership or control over a piece of property that we would be able to brand this
five-star project on. We would not have taken some second rate or third rate
property. We were looking for a specific location in Moscow.

MR. CASTRO: When abouts did you decide that you weren't going to do
the deal after all?

MR. COHEN: By the end of January of 2017.

MR. CASTRO: This is --

MR. RYAN: 2016.

MR. COHEN: In 2016, I'm sorry. | apologize, 2016.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. Did you discuss this with Mr. Trump, the project.

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On November 3rd, 2015, Mr. Sater emailed you, responding to a comment
made by President Obama. Mr. Sater says, "Get that clip, Michael. We can own
this story."

Sater goes on to talk about Trump's business background being conducive
to working with Putin. He then says, quote, "I think | can get Putin to say that at
the Trump Moscow press conference. If he says it, we own this election."

Did you send a clip to Mr. Sater?

MR. COHEN: I'm unaware of that communication. | don't recall it.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. They were part of the production, so we'll come
back. They're Bates-stamped.

MR. RYAN: And | guess it might be just easier to hand him that, let him
read from that, so he can be refreshed on it.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. Why don't we get those emails lined up. We're
going to present them all to you, and then we can --

MR. COHEN: If | can just clarify, I'm unaware of the clip that you're
referring to.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. Are you aware of the -- do you recall the email
communication that | read from?

MR. COHEN: | recall many communications with Mr. Sater.

MR. CASTRO: Well, do you know whether Mr. Sater was referring to a
press conference about the Trump Tower Moscow project? Is that fair to say?

MR. COHEN: Yes, it was regarding the Trump Tower Moscow project.

MR. CASTRO: Okay.

MR. SCHIFF: Mr. Castro, you might wantto take 1 minute.

lt may refresh your recollection to be able to review the documents, and

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in a sense.

MR. CASTRO: All right. We'll get to that.

So when did you meet Donald Trump, Jr.?

MR. COHEN: In 2004.

MR. CASTRO: All right. And how often did you work together over the
years on business matters?

MR. COHEN: With Donald Trump, Jr.?

MR. CASTRO: Yes.

MR. COHEN: Very rarely. Donald Trump, Jr., was constructing my
apartment at Trump Park Avenue.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. Do you consider him a friend?

MR. COHEN: | do now.

MR. CASTRO: Do you socialize with him?

MR. COHEN: Yes.

MR. CASTRO: Okay.

When did you first meet Eric Trump?

MR. COHEN: In 2006.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. Do you work with Eric Trump on business matters?

MR. COHEN: | worked with the entire family, yes.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. And would you consider him a friend who you
socialize with?

MR. COHEN: | consider Eric Trump to be a friend as well.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. Did you attend his wedding?

MR. COHEN: No.

MR. CASTRO: Okay.

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MR. CASTRO: What prompted the January meeting between he and Felix
Sater at the --
MR. COHEN: | don't know the answer to that. | was no longer employed

by The Trump Organization. | had resigned at the time that Mr. Trump was

inaugurated.

MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.

CASTRO: What was your employment at that time?

COHEN: | did not have employment at the time. Yes, | --
CASTRO: Did you have any other clients?

COHEN: | was given the title as personal attorney to the President.

CASTRO: | got to sort this out. You said you no longer worked for

The Trump Organization.

MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.

COHEN: Correct.

CASTRO: So was Mr. Trump paying you out of his personal funds?
COHEN: Yes, as his personal attorney.

CASTRO: Did you visit the White House?

COHEN: Ihave visited the White House.

CASTRO: While Mr. Trump was President?

COHEN: While Mr. Trump was President.

CASTRO: In your role as his personal attorney?

COHEN: That's correct.

CASTRO: So during this meeting, you were his personal attorney?
COHEN: | had not been to the White House as of that time period.
CASTRO: But you were already his personal attorney?

COHEN: That's correct.

CASTRO: Okay. Why did they ask you to come to the meeting?

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MR. COHEN: New York.

MR. CASTRO: Any other States?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. CASTRO: Has your license ever been suspended? Your license
ever lapsed?

MR. RYAN: So --

MR. CASTRO: Ever been disbarred? Anything like that?

MR. RYAN: -- Congressman, it's not pertinent. I'm going allow you to ask
the question, but we're here about the Russia investigation, not the state of his
license.

But you may answer.

MR. CASTRO: Sure. And let me explain real --

MR. RYAN: It's not pertinent.

MR. CASTRO: Well, | disagree.

MR. RYAN: Okay.

MR. CASTRO: But let me explain real quick. We expect that sometimes
you will probably answer with a privilege, for example, that you're going to exert a
privilege. That privilege may be affected by whether your license was in effect.
That's why | asked the question.

MR. COHEN: The answer is no.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. Thank you.

MR. COHEN: And I'm fully up to date with my CLE credits.

MR. CASTRO: Very good.

Are you married?

MR. COHEN: | am.

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senior officials or oligarchs in Russia? Given your position, would you be aware if
that had happened?

MR. COHEN: Sir, can you please identify the time period you're referring
to?

MR. CASTRO: Since your employment began.

MR. COHEN: So that would be 2007. | have never seen Mr. Trump
engage with Vladimir Putin on a telephone call.

MR. CASTRO: How about in person?

MR. COHEN: | have never witnessed Mr. Putin and Mr. Trump together at
any given time.

MR. CASTRO: Is it fair to say that you're not aware of any communication
between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump?

MR. COHEN: No.

MR. CASTRO: It's not fair to say?

MR. COHEN: That would not be fair to say.

MR. CASTRO: So what communication are you aware between the two of
them?

MR. COHEN: | believe at some point in time Vladimir Putin sent Mr.
Trump a card.

MR. CASTRO: What did the card say?

MR. COHEN: Idon'tknow. It was a congratulation type card.

MR. CASTRO: Was this before or after the election?

MR. COHEN: It was way before the election.

MR. CASTRO: Do you know why he sent it?

MR. COHEN: It may have been post the Trump Moscow pageant.

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MR. CASTRO: How about afterwards?

MR. COHEN: After, yes.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. From who? Was it Mr. Trump? Was it news
reports?

MR. COHEN: News reports.

MR. CASTRO: Did you speak to Mr. Sater about it?

MR. COHEN: And Mr. Sater.

MR. CASTRO: You had a conversation with him about that?

MR. COHEN: He had mentioned it, yes.

MR. CASTRO: And do you recall what he told you about it?

MR. COHEN: That he had previously tried to construct and bring a project
to The Trump Organization in Moscow.

MR. CASTRO: Did he say why it failed?

MR. COHEN: No.

MR. CASTRO: Okay.

In 2007, the same year you joined The Trump Organization, Mr. Trump
launched the Trump SoHo development project with Bayrock Group and another
New York real estate firm called the Sapir Organization.

Are you familiar with that transaction?

MR. COHEN: I'm familiar with it, yes.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. So you:recall the project.

MR. COHEN: | recall the project.

MR. CASTRO: What was your role in the project?

MR. COHEN: I had no role.

MR. CASTRO: . You didn't give legal counsel, advice, guidance?

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they say things like he, meaning yourself, did not meet officials from the PA Legal
Department clandestinely in an EU country in August of 2016. And that's a very
lawyerly answer.

And so let me ask you, without confining it to August of 2016, | take it your
testimony is you never met with anyone that you knew to be affiliated with the PA
Legal Department?

MR. COHEN: That's correct.

MR. SCHIFF: And it's also your testimony that you never met with anyone
affiliated with the Kremlin, to your knowledge, in any either EU or non-EU country,
during the campaign to discuss any coordination with the Trump campaign of any
kind?

MR. COHEN: That's correct.

MR. SCHIFF: And if the allegations in the dossier concerning Michael
Cohen don't refer to you, because -- let me ask you it this way. All of the
allegations -- are any of the allegations in the dossier that pertain to you or pertain
to a Michael Cohen, are any of them true as they pertain to you?

MR. COHEN: They are not true, and | have stated -- happy to do so
again -- they are false in its entirety.

MR. SCHIFF: And are you aware of anyone else within the Trump
campaign that those allegations may pertain to, that is, if the identity were not
Michael Cohen, is there anyone else from the Trump campaign that you have
reason to believe Mr. Steele may have been referring to?

MR. COHEN: I'm unaware as to what Mr. Steele was referring to as it
relates to me in the dossier.

MR. SCHIFF: Just to make sure that I'm asking the question clearly. It's

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MR. CASTRO: 2015? 2016?

MR. COHEN: Some point in time. I'm sorry, | don't -- | don't recall.

MR. CASTRO: Well, okay. What were the circumstances of your
meeting, your first meeting, how did you come to know him?

MR. COHEN: | was in Mr. Trump's office regarding certain matters that |
was discussing with him and | was introduced to General Flynn.

MR. CASTRO: At Trump Tower.

MR. COHEN: At Trump Tower.

MR. CASTRO: And you were also at times a surrogate on television for
the campaign. Is that correct? You had a famous exchange with Brianna Keiler.
| know that.

MR. COHEN: Says who? And | was right.

Can you explain your -- how you define surrogate?

MR. CASTRO: Well, you were a surrogate. You went on television in the
production that your counsel and you sent over. You had emails of talking points
for the surrogates it looked like. Is that correct?

MR. COHEN: Correct.

MR. CASTRO: And you sometimes would go on television. You met up
with George Stephanopoulos and had lunch regarding the campaign, | imagine. |
don't imagine you were talking about Mr. Trump's legal business with George
Stephanopoulos, right?

MR. COHEN: That's correct. | was not speaking about Mr. Trump legal's
business with George Stephanopoulos.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. So at the time of the November 3rd email that Mr.

Swalwell went over with you, you had had a role in the campaign.

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MR. RYAN: You are fishing for contacts with him. Manafort was in the
Trump circle, so there's going to be contacts. You're not entitled to know all of the
contacts with Manafort. You're certainly entitled to know every one of them that's
about the things that are pertinent to what you do.

MR. CASTRO: Counsel, you know also in depositions the questions and

answers are broader than what actually is admitted into evidence or anything like

that.

MR. RYAN: But, sir, he's already -- | let him answer did he ever talk
to Paul --

MR. SWALWELL: You didn't let him do anything. He's here under
subpoena.

So, Mr. Cohen, did you ever speak with Mr. Manafort, other than being in
his presence, through a messaging device?

MR. COHEN: | don't believe so.

MR. SWALWELL: How about just over the telephone?

MR. COHEN: I'm certain that I've spoken to him on the telephone.

MR. SWALWELL: Did you ever talk to him about any of the allegations
regarding the campaign and Russia during the course of the campaign?

MR. COHEN: Not that | recall.

MR. SWALWELL: Did he ever ask you about the Trump Tower deal that
was being worked up and ultimately fell through?

MR. COHEN: Not that | recall.

MR. CASTRO: Listen, we're trying not to retread ground, so give me a
second here. But given your position in The Trump Organization during this

period, would you be aware if Mr. Trump had spoken to Vladimir Putin or other

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MR. CASTRO: Do you know who that attorney was?

MR. COHEN: | don't --

MR. CASTRO: Was he on the legal staff of The Trump Organization?

MR. COHEN: Outside counsel

MR. CASTRO: Oh, so no inside person?

MR. COHEN: No, sir, not at that time period

MR. CASTRO: Do you know the law firm by chance?

MR. COHEN: | can provide that to you at a later date.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. Thank you

Do you know which Russian officials or government agents or anyone in
Russia assisted in securing the extensions?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. CASTRO: And do you know why the trademarks -- why they didn't
just lapse or why The Trump Organization did not allow these to just lapse?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. Or why they were renewed? Any knowledge on
why they were renewed?

MR. COHEN: Sir, | didn't work with trademarks at The Trump
Organization.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. | just need to ask because we need to be
comprehensive. All right.

Some questions on financial interests in Alfa Bank. Do you have any
financial investments or interests in Russian banks?

MR. COHEN: No.

MR. CASTRO: Have you ever received personal or business loans from a

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MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.

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CASTRO: And your wife's name?
COHEN: Laura, L-a-u-r-a.

CASTRO: What's her full name?
COHEN: Laura Cohen.

CASTRO: Okay. Any middie name?
COHEN: No.

CASTRO: And what's her occupation?
COHEN: Housewife.

CASTRO: Okay.

| want to ask you a few questions. For the next few questions, the time

period will be January 2015 until the present time.

15

So, from January 2015 to the present time, how many email accounts have

you used for your personal use or your business use in your own name?

MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.

Now, | also have an [J account that | haven't used for a long, long time.

COHEN: | only use the Trump Org email account.
CASTRO: And what is that one?
COHEN: Itwas. It no longer exists.

CASTRO: Okay.

COHEN: twas

| don't even recall the password.

MR.
MR.

MR.

CASTRO: What was the name of that one, or do you remember?

CONN: a.
CASTRO: (I. Okay. Do you know when you

stopped using it, more or less?

MR.

COHEN: Idon't recall. It was a long time ago.

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a property that Donald Trump Jr. was connected to in North Carolina.

MR. CASTRO: Do you know what year that was?

MR. COHEN: 2014, | believe.

| Five minutes, Mr. Castro.

MR. CASTRO: Five minutes, okay. Thank you.

What role did Russian financial support play in securing or play any role in
Deutsche Bank loans to The Trump Organization?

MR. COHEN: I'm not! aware of any.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. Just so we're clear, not aware of any Russian
financiers, business people, anybody involved in the deals that involved Deutsche
Bank with which you were involved?

MR. COHEN: There were none, that I'm aware of.

MR. CASTRO: Were you part of any discussion in 2016 regarding Alfa
Bank in any context or subject?

MR. COHEN: No.

MR. CASTRO: Are you aware of any relationship between The Trump
Organizations and Alfa Bank?

MR. COHEN: Unaware.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. We can come back.

Let me ask you about some persons of interest here.

Michael Flynn. When did you first meet retired general -- Lieutenant
General Michael Flynn?

MR. COHEN: When he became involved with the campaign.

MR. CASTRO: When was that, roughly?

MR. COHEN: | apologize, | don't recall the date.

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MR. COHEN: | don't recall. | can get that for you. That was being
handled by the IT department.

MR. RYAN: It is the IT department, IT company that was --

MR. CASTRO: Well, whoever was exchanging messages back and forth
or receiving or sending messages to Alfa Bank server. So whoever that third
party is. Or how about this? Anybody associated with those transactions at all
back and forth. All right?

MR. RYAN: No, but we can take it up later.

MR. CASTRO: Okay.

MR. RYAN: | will work with your staff on it to figure out how we can help
you.

MR. CASTRO: All right.

Sergey -- let me ask you again about some more folks. Actually back to
Michael Flynn. Did you work with him regularly?

MR. COHEN: | didn't work with Michael Flynn. Michael Flynn was part of
the campaign. | was not. ,

MR. CASTRO: Well, you were still volunteering for the campaign, which
you said earlier. So how much did you interact with him during the Trump
Presidential campaign?

MR. COHEN: | would talk to him when | would see him in the hallways?

MR. CASTRO: How often was that about?

MR. COHEN: Sometimes on a daily basis.

MR. CASTRO: Did you discuss the matter of Mr. Trump and Russia?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. CASTRO: With Michael Flynn?

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November 18th, 2015, you emailed Dmitry Klokov --

MR. RYAN: We're going to review them real quick?

MR. COHEN: Yes, sir.

MR. CASTRO: The second page --

MR. RYAN: Read the second page.

| apologize, Mr. Castro.

MR. CASTRO: No problem.

MR. COHEN: Okay, sir.

MR. CASTRO: Allright. So is the letter of intent referred to in this email
the same one you had sent'to Mr. Sater on November 3rd?

MR. COHEN: November 18th?

MR. CASTRO: Well, let me read the whole thing. So on November 18th,
2015, you emailed Dmitry Klokov, quote, "Dmitry, thank you for your email. As
discussed during yesterday's conversation, The Trump Organization is currently
under an LOI with a local developer to brand a five-star Trump property in Moscow
city. It's always been my intent to come to Moscow in the very near future to
discuss locations with the local developer as well as other items. | would gladly
meet with you and your contact in Moscow to discuss setting up the meeting
between our two individuals."

Who are the two individuals you're referring there?

MR. COHEN: First, Congressman, the email below is actually the
beginning of the email chain of Dmitry Klokov to me and mine is therefore a
tesponse.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. But who are the two individuals that you reference
there?

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MR. COHEN: Yes, sir.
MR. CASTRO: Okay. Who did you sell it to?
MR. COHEN: | just sold it to a gentleman that lives in the building named

MR. CASTRO: Okay.

Pn e—“C;SSCSCC‘iéC

MR. COHEN: Yes.

MR. CASTRO: At what point in time did you become aware of that?

MR. COHEN: Approximately 2015.

MR. CASTRO: Was this before or after the email exchange where you talk
about the project in Moscow? Did you become aware of this before or after that?

MR. COHEN: | don't recall.

MR. CASTRO: How did you become aware of it?

MR. COHEN: There was an ABC television segment done on Mr. Sater.

MR. CASTRO: Have you been an informant for any intelligence agency of
the United States?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. CASTRO:
Pe

MR. COHEN: Yes.

MR. CASTRO: What was the nature of that conversation?

MR. COHEN: ie
ee
ee
as

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MR. SWALWELL: Mr. Cohen, you also told Mr. Gowdy that you were not
familiar and you had no knowledge of any collusion, conspiracy, or coordination
between Russia and Donald Trump. Is that right?

MR. COHEN: That's correct.

Hive minutes, Mr. Swalwell.

MR. SWALWELL: So I'm showing you an email that your counsel has -- it
was actually provided by you -- subject line, "Putin/Trump," from Felix to Michael
Cohen. You're familiar with that email, aren't you?

MR. RYAN: Hold on. He can't say he's familiar with it if he hasn't looked
at it.

Read the email, and then look up and you can answer his questions.

MR. COHEN: Okay, sir.

MR. SWALWELL: The date is November 3rd, 2015. Is that right?

MR. COHEN: According to the document presented, yes, that's the date.

MR. SWALWELL: And this is an authentic document that you received
from Mr. Sater. Is that right?

MR. COHEN: It appearsso. Yes.

MR. SWALWELL: And November 3rd, 2015, Donald Trump is a candidate
for President at that time in the Republican primary. Is that right?

MR. COHEN: | believe so.

MR. SWALWELL: The subject of the email is "Putin/Trump"?

MR. COHEN: That's what it says.

MR. SWALWELL: And Felix writes to you in the second sentence, "I just
watched the Trump press conference. Loved Putin/Russia reference." Is that

right?

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social media platform. It's --

MR. CASTRO: A messaging platform. I'm sorry.

MR. COHEN: Okay. | use Dust -- would be the only other one.

MR. CASTRO: How do you spell that?

MR. COHEN: D-u-s-t.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. Just so that we don't have to keep asking each
one, right, anything else that --

MR. COHEN: | believe that's it.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. Thanks.

So we're in receipt of text messages from another witness, Felix Sater,
communicating with you. And so we wanted to ask you if you could go back and
search your social media platforms for relevant communications between you and
he. Any of the other ones that you mentioned besides what's already been
produced.

MR. RYAN: We'll absolutely do that, and we'll check for you, and we'll
produce anything that we find.

MR. CASTRO: Thank you, counsel.

All right. When did you first purchase property in Trump Tower or any
Trump property?

MR. COHEN: 1990 or '91.

MR. CASTRO: This was before you were licensed to practice law, while
were you still in law school?

MR. COHEN: No, | apologize. Hold on. I'm sorry. 2001, not 1991.
2001. My apologies.

MR. CASTRO: And what was your occupation at the time?

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MR. SCHIFF: And my question was really not focused so much on the

pageant as it was on what you could tell us about Mr. Agalarov. Do you know

about his relationship with Mr. Putin?

MR.
MR

Agalarov?

MR.
MR.

Sr.?

MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.

. COHEN:
. SCHIFF:

COHEN:
SCHIFF:

COHEN:
SCHIFF:
COHEN:
SCHIFF:
COHEN:
SCHIFF:

| do not.

And, now, you've met the son, Emin, as well as the senior

The wife and the daughter as well.

And how many interactions have you had with Mr. Agalarov,

One.

And that was while -- during the pageant?

That was the Miss USA Pageant, yes.

And how about the son, how well do you know the son?
Twice I've met him.

And are you aware of what kind of relationship either father

or son have with the President?

MR. RYAN: Which President?

MR. SCHIFF: President Trump.

MR. RYAN: Thank you.

MR. COHEN: They know one another.

MR. SCHIFF: Have they had interactions with each other, to your

knowledge, since the pageant?

MR. COHEN: Post the pageant?

MR. SCHIFF: Yes.

MR. COHEN: Yes.

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MR. COHEN: No, sir. | was never part of the campaign. | was a
volunteer. | elected to go on television. | was never placed --

MR. CASTRO: You were paid by the campaign. Is that correct?

MR. COHEN: | was not paid by the campaign.

MR. CASTRO: But you were still involved with the campaign. You went
on television.

MR. COHEN: As a volunteer, as a person who knows Mr. Trump, yes.

MR. CASTRO: Sure. Okay.

MR. COHEN: | believe that's my right.

MR. CASTRO: Let me read you this and then we have emails from your
production here.

How much longer do | have?

Ho minutes.

MR. CASTRO: In your July 2017 production to the committee you
provided an email from a reporter who appears to have sent you, quote, "computer
logs that show 2,700 computer messages or lookups from Alfa to a Trump email
receiving server in the last few months," unquote. The email is dated September
28th, 2016. So the activity referred to would have been between June and
August?

MR. COHEN: | don't recall. If you have a document | could take a look

at?

MR. CASTRO: It Bates stamp No. MDC-H-000019.

MR. COHEN: 00019?

MR. CASTRO: Could | get through this question, you guys, before y'all
take over?

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MR. COHEN: No.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. Do you live in that unit now that you still --

MR. COHEN: No.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. How is it used?

MR. COHEN: It was rented --

MR. CASTRO: Okay.

MR. COHEN: -- as an investment property.

MR. CASTRO: Before purchasing, did you ever meet Donald Trump or
any of his family members?

MR. COHEN: No.

MR. CASTRO: Allright. How long have you known Donald Trump?

MR. COHEN: Since 2005.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. When was the first time that you had contact with
him, and do you remember the circumstances?

MR. COHEN: Yeah. | was invited to a Dennis Vacco fundraiser, and it
was in his apartment.

MR. CASTRO: And so how and when did you come to work for The
Trump Organization?

MR. COHEN: There was an issue in approximately 2006 at Trump World
Tower. | know several people that live in the building, and they thought | could be
of significant help in terms of dealing with the board that had made certain
allegations about The Trump Organization and Mr. Trump that would have, in my
opinion, damaged the building's reputation and value.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. And so what was the nature of the work that you

started doing for Mr. Trump and the organization?

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very tough to interfere with and influence an election after the election. So we'll
end that Wednesday after the election. And we'll start 2 years before. How's
that? Because | know when he announced, but | don't know when in his head he
decided to run. So we'll say January 2014 through the Wednesday after the
election.

MR. COHEN: | know that there were positive statements made by
President Putin about Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump responded with positive statements
about President Putin. I'm unaware of any additional relationship between the
two.

As far as individuals from Russia, there are several who Mr. Trump knows
that we have done some form of business with as an organization. And other
than that, I'm not aware.

MR. GOWDY: These two clauses are separated by a comma, at least in
what | read to you. And | understand that you're not taking ownership of it; you
just have testified to its accuracy. There's acomma: "Nor is he aware of Mr.
Trump having an improper political relationship with officials of the Russian
Federation."

So, again, I'm assuming every word matters. So take out the word
"improper." Tell me what you know about his political relationship, proper or
otherwise, with officials of the Russian Federation.

MR. COHEN: | don't believe Mr. Trump has any relationship with Russian
Government employees or people working at the government in Russia.

MR. GOWDY: You can see how that would lead a casual reader to
wonder why you used the word "improper" to modify a political relationship.

MR. RYAN: Blame the lawyer.

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MR. CASTRO: How about anyone in The Trump Organization?

MR. COHEN: Not that I'm aware.

MR. CASTRO: Has The Trump Organization or any affiliates taken loans
from Deutsche Bank?

MR. RYAN: | object on pertinency. Could you tie it up and make it
pertinent to the Russia investigation?

MR. CASTRO: Sure. There's issues about financing, Russian financing
in Deutsche Bank, and The Trump Organization. Some of that has been
previously discussed in our other hearings

So let me ask the question.

MR. RYAN: fillet you answer it.

MR. CASTRO: Has The Trump Organization or any affiliates taken loans
from Deutsche Bank?

MR. COHEN: | believe so.

MR. CASTRO: Do you know when?

MR. COHEN: | know Mr. Trump has had a relationship with Deutsche
Bank going back many, many years.

MR. CASTRO: Do you know the purposes of those loans?

MR. RYAN: Hold on. Could you establish that there is a loan as opposed
to that he has a relationship with the bank because he hasn't testified --

MR. CASTRO: Okay. Well, no, that was my question, has he
taken -- affiliates taken loans from Deutsche Bank?

MR. COHEN: And | believe | answered yes.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. So what was the purpose of the loan that you know

of?

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MR. CASTRO: Okay. Well, I'm trying to provide context because some of
these are intricate and complex.

MR. CONAWAY: All this context goes in his 45 minutes, so just --

MR. CASTRO: All right.

MR. RYAN: | have no objection to the context.

MR. CASTRO: Okay.

MR. RYAN: | just have -- | need a separation of the question so that he's
not impliedly ignoring some aspect of it with which he disagrees. That's all I'm
asking, sir.

Thank you.

MR. CASTRO: So did you attend the real estate summit that | mentioned
in 2008?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. CASTRO: Allright. Do you know who attended from The Trump
Organization?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. CASTRO: Do you know Paul Fuchs?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. CASTRO: Have you ever met Paul Fuchs?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. CASTRO: Were you involved in negotiating the license for use of the
Trump brand?

MR. COHEN: .No, sir.

MR. RYAN: I'm sorry, sir. Is that related to this particular thing?

Because he has been involved globally. Which are you asking?

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George Papadopoulos, bringing you up in conversation. Do you know any
George Papadopoulos?

MR. COHEN: | don't.

MR. SCHIFF: And let me just ask you the more general question
concerning money laundering. During your time in The Trump Organization, has
it ever come to your attention that foreign nationals have used Trump properties to
launder their money?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. CASTRO: You mentioned earlier, Mr. Cohen, that you only have
been the attorney -- prior to January 20th of 2017, you only represented Trump
Organization. Is that correct?

MR. RYAN: That's not true.

MR. CASTRO: Okay, Trump Organization and Mr. Trump?

MR. RYAN: Keep going.

MR. CASTRO: Who else?

MR. COHEN: The family.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. Which individuals?

MR. COHEN: The family.

MR. CASTRO: What do you mean by that?

MR. COHEN: Our First Lady, the children, on some occasions the
spouses of the children.

MR. CASTRO: You represent each of these folks individually or do they
have some companies and subsidiaries?

MR. COHEN: Whatever their needs are, they call me in order to handle.

MR. CASTRO: | guess | need something more specific than that.

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MR. SWALWELL: So this is, again, another individual contacting you
about Russian support of the campaign. Is that right?

MR. COHEN: Congressman, something | had said previously before.
Because my email address and my information is readily available on the internet,
couple that with my position at The Trump Organization and my profile, because of
television and print, my email address was used by many people, whether it's
Sergi Millian, whether it was the Ivan Markov and others, who, like Klokov and like
many of the other people that you will be referring to from the document
production, they tried to insert themselves somehow into this campaign, whether it
was the Sergi Millian, who says it himself right here, feel free to incorporate me in
the Russian direction. It also with Klokov, who was looking to insert himself into
what could have been a financially lucrative project, all of whom claim the same
thing -- | know this guy, | know that guy, | know this guy -- because they believe
that that gives them power and opportunity.

MR. SWALWELL: Now, my question is --

MR. COHEN: If! can just answer one more thing.

MR. SWALWELL: Go ahead.

MR. COHEN: The thing I'm hoping at the end of this interview and at the
end of this investigation is that you acknowledge that | exercised really good
judgment in terms of all of the communications. | was asked to go to Russia on
almost a dozen or half a dozen occasions. | was asked to bring Mr. Trump to
Russia.

| want to be very clear about this. | never went. | never agreed to go. |
never filed fora visa. | never booked a plane ticket. | never booked a hotel. |

never intended to go unless there was a deal that had been consummated.

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MR. COHEN: An attorney.

MR. CASTRO: And the source of your income to this property was
from your work as an attorney?

MR. RYAN: No. This is not pertinent, and it is a fishing expedition. As to
how he bought his apartment? | honestly do not believe that's pertinent. I'd ask
for the chair to rule that it's not pertinent about what we're doing here. He
admitted he bought a Trump apartment. | don't think the amount or the source of
his funds of something in 2001, which is 16 years ago, is pertinent to the Russia
investigation.

MR. CASTRO: Counsel, the first thing is that they're on record, emails with
folks with deep ties to Russia. Putting aside your client's own involvement, there
have been questions about leverage and influence that has been used because of
financial arrangements among those persons. And so this question is aimed to
get at any influence or leverage that these persons might have over somebody
who is obviously very close and important to Mr. Trump.

MR. RYAN: Let me make a suggestion, Congressman. Why don't you
ask the question whether he's ever received any money from Russia that related
to the purchase of his apartment, and then it would be pertinent. It's not pertinent
to just fish in these areas. But if you want to ask about Russia with regard to
them, | think it's perfectly okay.

MR. CASTRO: Well, | was going to get there, but | need to ask what was
the source of your income. That's a basic question --

MR. RYAN: Look, you're --

MR. CASTRO: -- that any request for production or interrogatory would

contain, counsel. You've done this for a long time. You know that's a basic

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A No, sir. Actually, I'm waiting for the committee to force somebody to
tell us who paid for that dossier and find out how my name became involved with
this.

Q So is it your testimony today, Mr. Cohen, that you are not a source
for Mr. Christopher Steele for the dossier or otherwise?

A No, sir, | am not.

Q Do you know anybody that is a source for Mr. Steele or the
information that was produced in the dossier, personally or through a third party?

A No, sir, | do not.

Q Can you confirm if any of the allegations against you or any
individuals associated with the Trump campaign as you reference in the dossier
are accurate in any way?

A I'm sorry. One more time, please.

Q Sure. No problem. Can you confirm to us whether or not any of
the representations made against you or any of those individuals associated with
Donald J. Trump in the dossier are accurate in any way?

A | can't answer for anyone else. | can only answer for myself. And
every allegation raised against me or my family are completely and entirely false.

Q Do you know Christopher Steele, personally or otherwise?

A | do not.

Q Do you know any of his representatives or any representatives that
may have provided information in the creation and production of the dossier?

A No.

Q All right.

There was some discussion earlier about your interactions with a Mr. Felix

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MR. SWALWELL: Do you see it now?

MR. COHEN: | see it now.

MR. SWALWELL: Did you ever pass this email along to the FBI or any law
enforcement authority out of concern that, again, it was a foreign country
attempting to coordinate with your boss' campaign?

MR. COHEN: No.

MR. SWALWELL: | want to turn your attention to a March 15th, 2016,
email, Bates stamped MDC-H-00261, if you want to take a second and read it.

MR. COHEN: (Reviewing.)

MR. SWALWELL: Mr. Cohen, we're not going to go into Mr. Millian.
We've discussed him before.

MR: COHEN: Yes.

MR. SWALWELL: But this email is from a Sergi Millian to your email
address on March 15th, 2016. Is that right?

MR. COHEN: That is correct.

MR. SWALWELL: And in the second sentence, it says to you: "Hi,
Michael" --

MR. CONAWAY: Excuse me a minute. Have you established if he's read
it or not read it first?

MR. SWALWELL: Have you read that email now?

MR. COHEN: | just read it, yes.

MR. RYAN: | think the Congressman was asking if you'd read it at the
time.

MR. CONAWAY: Had you read this before today? Do you recall reading

it?

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MR. COHEN: There is --

MR. RYAN: A portion of this conversation is privileged. He can tell you
the nonprivileged part and point you to the privileged --

MR. CASTRO: For the privileged portion, please explain which privilege
you're asserting.

MR. RYAN: Attorney-client privilege.

MR. CASTRO: Attorney for The Trump Organization or for Trump
personally?

MR. RYAN: No, for The Trump Organization.

MR. CASTRO: But not for Trump personally?

MR. RYAN: Not for Mr. Trump personally.

MR. CASTRO: Okay. All right. What was the nature of the
conversation?

MR. COHEN: | described to him the economics of the deal, the fact that
the deal is a nonbinding letter of intent, we're not obligated to do anything. It just
gives me the opportunity to receive the documents from Mr. Sater in order to try to
bring this project to fruition.

MR. CASTRO: Did he ask you any questions about it that you can
discuss?

MR. RYAN: Don't describe any privileged conversation.

MR. COHEN: Only about the various terms in the LOI.

MR. CASTRO: Did he ask you any of the personalities involved, not the
legal stuff but the personalities involved?

MR. COHEN: No, sir. So all three of these communications took place in

Trump Tower, in his office. | had been in his office for communications with Mr.

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began to lose both patience as well as confidence that there was actually a piece
of property.

MR. CASTRO: Let me ask you, did you ever come to an understanding as
to why he was never able to deliver that?

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. CASTRO: Did you ever have a subsequent conversation with him
after this thing was terminated about what happened, how did it fall apart?

MR. COHEN: | never asked him that question. | terminated the
agreement and | didn't want to speak to him about it again.

MR. CASTRO: All right. Let me ask you some more here.

You provided a statement to this committee elaborating on this project and,
why the Trump Org did not proceed. In your statement you said that, quote, that
you, quote, "performed some initial due diligence to assess whether the Trump
Tower Moscow proposal aligned with The Trump Organization's strategic business
interests."

During what timeframe did you conduct the due diligence?

MR. COHEN: From the receipt of the initial communication with Mr. Sater,
up and through December of 2016/January 2017, somewhere in that timeframe.

MR. CASTRO: In this due diligence, how did you —-

MR. COHEN: Sorry, 2016 to 2015.

MR. CASTRO: Please restate that to make the record clear.

MR. COHEN: I'm sorry.

MR. RYAN: We need to slow down. You need to slow down. He needs
to slow down. But! can't control him, | can't control you. You need to slow

down.

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MR. CONAWAY: If you could limit that to 5 minutes, and then we'll
proceed with questions.

MR. COHEN: I'll try.

HE, 414, Mr. Cohen, if you could please make sure the
microphone is on, the green light. Thank you.

MR. COHEN: Thank you, Representatives Conaway and Schiff and the
other members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, for
inviting me to appear before the committee today.

! am confident that, once the investigation is completed, the committee will
conclude that | had no involvement whatsoever in any collusion with Russia or
anyone else to interfere in our election. | also believe it will conclude that
President Trump had no involvement in these issues.

Before responding to the committee's specific questions, | would like to
address two critical issues: the dossier and the Trump Tower Moscow proposal.

| am completely innocent of the allegations raised against me in the public
square by the dossier, which are not only factually wrong but are based upon
unnamed and unverified sources. | have never engaged with, been paid by, paid
for, or communicated with anyone representing the Russian Federation or anyone
else to hack anyone or any organization or to interfere with our U.S. election.

What | seek is the committee making a public conclusion about the truth
and falsity of the dossier allegations about me.

My reputation was damaged in December of 2016 when BuzzFeed and
others in the media published the so-called dossier prepared by a retired British
spy, Christopher Steele. The dossier was riddled with total falsehoods and

intentionally salacious but false accusations about me. My name is mentioned

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MR. CASTRO: Okay. We would just ask if you determine that that -- if
there is, please.

MR. RYAN: As far as I'm concerned, if he 24 hours from now comes up
and realizes he gave an answer that is no and he can remember a yes, we're
going to correct the record on anything like that. It's certainly possible. | know --

MR. CASTRO: No, | got it, Counsel. I gotit. I gotit. I got it.

To your knowledge, does Donald Trump have any financial investments or
interests in Russian banks?

MR. COHEN: I'm not aware.

MR. CASTRO: So your answer is not no, only that you're aren't personally
aware.

MR. COHEN: My answer is | don't believe so, but I'm not aware.

MR. CASTRO: Have you overseen any legal transactions involving Mr.
Trump and Russian banks?

MR. COHEN: No.

MR. CASTRO: Has Donald Trump or The Trump Organization ever
received personal or business loans from a Russian bank or from individuals
connected with the Russian Government?

MR. COHEN: Not that I'm aware.

MR. CASTRO: Have you ever had any contact with any individual or entity
under U.S. sanctions?

MR. COHEN: Unfortunately, | can't answer that question because | don't
know which banks are and are not under U.S. sanctions.

MR. CASTRO: So as you were interacting with any banks that you may

have interacted with in your role as legal adviser to Mr. Trump or The Trump

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MR. CASTRO: Did you have any involvement in the planning of that?

MR. COHEN: Yes.

MR. CASTRO: What was your role?

MR. COHEN: | was on the board of the Miss Universe Pageant.

MR. CASTRO: Do you recall where the pageant was held?

MR. COHEN: Yes.

MR. CASTRO: Where is that?

MR. COHEN: At the Crocus Center in Moscow.

MR. CASTRO: Mr. Trump at the time told Real Estate Weekly that he
networked at the pageant's after-party and said, quote, "The Russian market is
attracted tome. | have a great relationship with many Russians, and almost all of
the oligarchs were in the room."

During this trip, Mr. Trump also met with a businessman from Sberbank,
Russia.

Did you attend any of these events, either at the pageant or anything
leading up during the planning for the pageant?

MR. RYAN: So all of that has to be answered more precisely. | would ask
you to just reformulate the question. He said he wasn't to Russia, he said he was
on the board and that he was involved. So he's answered both. But if you could
just ask a more precise question, I'm sure he'll --

MR. CASTRO: As part of your planning, did you attend any parties,
receptions, functions where Mr. Trump was dealing with any of these Russian
oligarchs or any of the Russian oligarchs were present?

MR. COHEN: I'm --

MR. RYAN: Let me just make sure we understand the question. First of

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Mr. Ryboloviev. That had been purchased 4 years earlier for $41 million. Is that
right?

MR. COHEN: Correct. | believe it was also out of a bankruptcy. And |
believe that Mr. Trump was successful in getting it because he could stroke a
check for an amount that had him as the highest bidder.

MR. SCHIFF: And do you know how much work or money Mr. Trump put
in the property prior to its being sold for more than twice that number?

MR. COHEN: | don't know that exact number, no.

MR. SCHIFF: And do you know whether Mr. Trump had any other offers to
purchase the property between the time of his purchase of it and the sale to
Mr. Ryboloviev?

MR. COHEN: | don't know the answer to that. That's something that the
real estate broker would have the answer to. But remember, in real estate, it only
takes one buyer.

MR. SCHIFF: | understand that. But it would also be significant if there
was only one offer and it was well beyond what anybody else would be willing to
pay for the property.

MR. COHEN: In all fairness, sir, the original ask by Mr. Trump on the
property was greater than the $100 million that Mr. Ryboloviev ended up paying.

MR. SCHIFF: But are you aware of whether there was any other offer for
$95 million or $45 million or anything in between?

MR. COHEN: | am not aware of that answer.

MR. SCHIFF: Tell me, if you would, what you know about Mr. Agalarov.

MR. COHEN: | met Mr. Agalarov when | was with Mr. Trump in Las Vegas

at the Miss USA Pageant. | know that he owns the Crocus Center in Moscow.

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MR. RYAN: I'm sorry, did you say '167

MR. SWALWELL: July 23rd, 2016, yes.

MR. KING: Two minutes to the 5-minute bell.

MR. SWALWELL: Okay.

MR. RYAN: Could | ask what the intention of the committee is vis-a-vis
us?

MR. SWALWELL: Get lunch. You'll have 20 minutes, right, probably?
How many votes?

MR. KING: The votes will be a half hour. We have three votes.

MR. RYAN: How long do we think we're going to go?

MR. SCHIFF: I'm not sure.

{Recess.]

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MR. COHEN: Yes.

MR. CASTRO: You recall the email exchange?

MR. COHEN: | do.

MR. CASTRO: All right, | could pick up after you guys go.

ES. King.

MR. KING: Yeah. I'd just ask one question, going back to the question of
Russian Americans. Isn't it a fact that there are many, many, for instance, Soviet
Jews living in New York who we even forget they are Russians? | mean
after -- since the 1980s on, if somebody asked me how many Russians | have
met, | don't consider myself very close to Russians, I'm sure I've had political
dealings, business, social dealings. We have -- we have been
really overwhelmed by the number of Soviet Jews -- thank God they came -- from
the 1980s on. So | just wanted to put that in context, why you may not consider
yourself dealing with the Russians.

MR. COHEN: It was actually 1973, 1974 when there was the mass exodus
out of the Ukraine of Jews. My wife happened to have been one of them at the
time when she was approximately 4 years old and came to the country when she
was 5, became a citizen, and that was four decades ago. So, yes, we happen to
know a good number of individuals in New York and around the country who are of
former Soviet descent.

MR. KING: | would say particularly in the Brooklyn five towns area.

MR. COHEN: Specifically in those areas.

MR. CASTRO: Oh, back to me?

MR. RYAN: So here is what we are going do. Every time you get a new

15-minute block, we are going to stand up and sit down. I'm going to stand up,

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MR. CASTRO: He made a deal with the Crocus Group for Trump Tower in
Moscow.

MR. COHEN: No.

MR. CASTRO: Do you know who else was involved?

MR. RYAN: I'm sorry, sir. If you could ask a more complete question. Is
it about the Crocus Group?

MR. CASTRO: Yes.

MR. RYAN: Okay.

MR. COHEN: | don't recall from the organization who was working on it.

MR. CASTRO: From The Trump Organization or the other organization?

MR. COHEN: You're talking about the --

MR. CASTRO: The deal with the Crocus Group.

MR. COHEN: It would have been done between attorneys for the Crocus
Group and The Trump Organization. And as | said, | don't know -- | don't recall
who it was that was working on that specific letter of intent.

MR. CASTRO: Do you recall why this attempt to create a Trump Tower in
Moscow fell through?

MR. COHEN: | do not.

MR. CASTRO: You were general counsel at the time.

MR. COHEN: No, sir.

MR. CASTRO: What was your position?

MR. COHEN: | was special counsel to Donald Trump.

MR. CASTRO: You were a legal adviser, though.

MR. COHEN: One of.

MR. CASTRO: Of how many?

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