Cohen had personally reached out to the Kremlin for aid in building a Trump Tower in Moscow well into the business mogul's presidential campaign, he said Monday, adding that he discussed the project with Trump three times.

Cohen told the House intelligence committee that he worked on proposal with Felix Sater, a Russia-born associate who he said claimed to have deep connections in Moscow. The panel is one of several on Capitol Hill investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia.

The potential deal shows that the Trump Organization was actively considering doing business in Russia during the presidential election, providing special counsel Robert Mueller's investigators considerable fodder for turning their investigation into Russian collusion toward Trump's personal and business finances. Trump has said Mueller would be crossing a red line by delving into his finances.

Previous reports had indicated that efforts to build a Trump Tower in Moscow were underway during the presidential campaign in 2015, but it had not been reported that those efforts continued into 2016.

The negotiations of the possible Trump Tower Moscow deal were first reported Sunday night by The Washington Post. On Monday, The New York Times reported on an email, in which Sater appeared to boast that the real estate deal could help Trump get elected.