Michael Cohen pleads guilty, says he lied about Trump's knowledge of Moscow project

President Donald Trump spoke more extensively during the presidential election with his-then attorney Michael Cohen about the proposed Trump Tower project in Moscow than Cohen admitted to Congress last year, Cohen said while pleading guilty Thursday in federal court to a charge from special counsel Robert Mueller's office.

Cohen, who previously said talks about the Moscow project had ended in January 2016, just prior to the Iowa caucuses, said he had lied out of a sense of obligation to Trump.

"I made these statements to be consistent with Individual-1's political messaging and out of loyalty to Individual-1," Cohen said. Individual-1 was identified in court filings as Trump, and Cohen identified him as such in a New York courtroom Thursday.

Cohen, who famously once declared he would "take a bullet" for Trump, is cooperating with Mueller and has spoken with the special counsel's office for more than 70 hours on topics beyond Moscow, a source with knowledge of the discussions told CNN.

He pleaded guilty earlier this year to eight counts in a separate case from the Manhattan US attorney's office. Cohen did not have an agreement to cooperate with prosecutors on that case.