Ivanka Trump's involvement with Moscow Trump Tower plan 'being investigated by Mueller'

President's daughter suggested architect for project, emails reportedly show

Robert Mueller is reportedly investigating Ivanka Trump‘s involvement in her father’s plans to build a skyscraper in Moscow, a project under renewed scrutiny after the president’s former personal lawyer admitted lying to congress over his business dealings in Russia.

The US special counsel is said to have asked questions about the role played by Ms Trump and her brother Donald Trump Jr in the proposed property deal.

Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s ex-lawyer, admitted in a surprise court plea on Thursday that he intentionally misled congress when he claimed talks over the tower had ended months before the Republican won the party’s presidential candidacy in June 2016.

He said he had lied out of “loyalty” and to “be consistent with” Mr Trump’s “political messaging”.

Court documents filed by Mr Mueller’s team show Mr Cohen had discussed plans for the tower “as late as approximately June 2016” and had done so directly with the president multiple times.

Ms Trump and Mr Trump Jr were also copied into emails about the project in late 2015, a person close to the Trump Organisation told Associated Press. Ms Trump even suggested an architect to work on the tower, they added.

The emails have been handed over to congressional committees by the Trump Organisation, according to the source.

According to Yahoo News, which cited multiple anonymous sources, Mr Trump’s children were working independently of Mr Cohen to make the Moscow skyscraper a reality.

Ms Trump, now a White House adviser, was an executive at the Trump Organisation at the time. Her elder brother remains a senior executive at the company.

A Trump Organisation source told Yahoo News the siblings worked on plans for a Moscow Trump Tower “years earlier” than Mr Cohen and concluded in 2013.

“They were not looking at any other deals after that,” said the source, although they confirmed they had been aware Mr Cohen was working on the project.

Mr Trump’s plan for a skyscraper in Moscow dates as far back as 1996, when the future US president paid a visit to the Russian capital to check out building sites on land being developed by an American company.

He revived the idea in 2013 during a visit to Moscow as owner of the Miss Universe pageant, and reportedly scouted a potential site before the project again failed.

The tower idea came back yet again in October 2015, when Andrey Rozov, an obscure Russian property developer, signed a letter of intent sent by Mr Cohen to advance the construction of a Trump Tower featuring 250 luxury condos, no fewer than 15 floors of hotel rooms, commercial and office space, a fitness centre and an Ivanka Trump spa.

It would have been a lucrative deal for Trump‘s company, handing it $4m (£3.1m) in upfront fees plus potentially millions more from a cut on everything from food and banquet fees to spa charges.

However, the project soon ran aground again. According to Mr Cohen’s testimony in 2017 and his plea agreement, negotiations with Mr Rozov’s group stalled, prompting the lawyer to turn to aides of Mr Putin to move the project forward.

Mr Cohen told congressional investigators last year that he had sent an email in January 2016 to Dmitry Peskov, the Russian president’s spokesman. He told the committee he never heard back from Mr Peskov and the tower deal collapsed by the end of that month.

But according to Mr Cohen’s new statement to prosecutors, the tower deal remained viable as late as June 2016, after Mr Trump had vanquished his Republican presidential rivals and was mounting his general election campaign against Hillary Clinton.

Mr Cohen said he had spoken by phone with an assistant to Mr Peskov in January 2016 and outlined the project and “requested assistance in moving the project forward.”

According BuzzFeed News, Mr Trump‘s company considered giving the Moscow tower’s penthouse apartment to Mr Putin. Mr Cohen’s business associate Felix Sater told the website: “My idea was to give a $50 million penthouse to Putin and charge $250 million more for the rest of the units. All the oligarchs would line up to live in the same building as Putin.”

Mr Sater and Mr Cohen continued to email about the foundering project well into June 2016, soon after a much-scrutinised meeting at Trump Tower in New York between Mr Trump‘s son Donald Jr, son-in-law Jared Kushner, campaign chairman Paul Manafort, and several Russian attendees, purportedly to discuss the possibility of “dirt” on Hillary Clinton.

Mr Trump accused his former lawyer of being a “liar” following his guilty plea on Thursday.

“He’s trying to get a reduced sentence for things that have nothing to do with me,” the president added.

He said he “decided ultimately” not to pursue to Moscow tower plan, but added: “There would be nothing wrong if I did do it.”

“There was a good chance that I wouldn’t have won [the presidency], in which case I would have gone back into the business, and why should I lose lots of opportunities?”