Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer, pleaded guilty on Thursday to lying about the work he did for the US president on a Moscow real estate deal, admitting that discussions about the development continued well into the 2016 presidential campaign.

During a brief hearing at the federal courthouse in Manhattan, New York, Mr Cohen entered the guilty plea to one count of making a false statement to Congress. The charge was brought by Robert Mueller, the special counsel who is investigating links between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia.

Mr Cohen admitted to working on a deal to build a Trump-branded tower in Moscow as late as June 2016, just before Mr Trump secured the presidential nomination at the Republican convention in Cleveland.