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Michael Cohen has been sentenced to 3 years in prison on Wednesday on charges involving campaign finance violations, tax evasion, and lying to Congress in a New York federal court, Axios reports.
According to the Washington Post, Cohen told the judge he’s lived in “personal and mental incarceration” since he started working for Trump.
He’ll have to report to prison on March 6.
“Michael Cohen will be sentenced on Wednesday for his role in the payment of hush money to women who said they had affairs with Trump and for lying to Congress about a proposed Trump Tower project in Russia that was discussed during the 2016 election campaign,” Reuters reports.
“Believe me, he can’t handle jail.”
— Rudy Giuliani, describing “pathetic” Michael Cohen’s “sad” attempt to avoid jail time to the Daily Beast.
Special counsel Robert Mueller credited Michael Cohen with significant cooperation — including providing “useful information concerning certain discrete Russia-related matters core to its investigation that he obtained by virtue of his regular contact” with Trump organization executives during the campaign, as well as “relevant and useful information concerning his contacts with persons connected to the White House during the 2017–2018 time period,” the Washington Post reports.
They revealed that Cohen told them of what seemed to be a previously unknown November 2015 contact from a Russian national, who claimed to be a “trusted person” in the Russian Federation offering the campaign “political synergy” and “synergy on a government level.”
Federal prosecutors Friday requested that the court impose “a substantial term of imprisonment” for Donald Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen, CNN reports.
Prosecutors said the crimes Cohen had committed “marked a pattern of deception that permeated his professional life,” and though he was seeking a reduced sentence for providing assistance to the government, he did not deserve much leniency.
Said prosecutors: “He was motivated to do so by personal greed, and repeatedly used his power and influence for deceptive ends.”
Washington Post: “Cohen had asked for a sentence of no prison time, citing his cooperation with investigators, but prosecutors for the Southern District of New York filed a memo arguing that he should serve significant time, possibly years, in prison.”
New York Times: “He did all this without first obtaining a traditional, ironclad deal under which the government would commit to seeking leniency on Mr. Cohen’s behalf when he is sentenced on Dec. 12.”
“Mr. Cohen has concluded that his life has been utterly destroyed by his relationship with Mr. Trump and his own actions, and to begin anew he needed to speed up the legal process by quickly confessing his crimes and serving any sentence he receives, according to his friends and associates, and analysis of documents in the case.”
“He has told friends that he is mystified that he is taking the fall for actions he carried out on behalf of Mr. Trump, who remains unscathed. Still, he is resigned to accepting responsibility.”
President Trump said Michael Cohen does not deserve leniency for cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller, arguing that his former personal lawyer should serve a “full and complete” prison sentence, The Hill reports.
Said Trump: “He makes up stories to get a GREAT & ALREADY reduced deal for himself, and get his wife and father-in-law (who has the money?) off Scott Free [sic]. He lied for this outcome and should, in my opinion, serve a full and complete sentence.”
“Lawyers for former Trump personal attorney Michael Cohen argued Friday that their client should not go to prison for the criminal charges to which he has pleaded guilty, and unequivocally linked much of his wrongdoing to his desire to protect and support President Trump,” the Washington Post reports.
“In a late-night court filing, lawyers for the onetime Trump loyalist wrote that their client was a changed man who was eager to share his knowledge with law enforcement and mindful that he would have to ‘begin his life virtually anew.’ Their filing detailed what they said was Cohen’s already extensive cooperation, including seven voluntary interviews with the team of special counsel Robert Mueller, as well as meetings with federal prosecutors in New York, representatives of the New York State Attorney General’s office and officials with the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, which are conducting wide ranging probes into Trump’s campaign and his family foundation.”
“According to Cohen’s sentencing submission, federal sentencing guidelines in just the first case call for him to spend as many as five years and three months in jail.”
Lawfare: “Before we dive into the weeds, let’s pause a moment over this. Because in important respects, the legalities—or illegalities—at issue here are secondary points. The primary point is that this is all utterly unacceptable. That a large swath of the public, and the legislative branch, has chosen to accept it does not make it more reasonable that a man seeking to be president of the United States would at the same time publicly cozy up to a foreign dictator and negotiate with his regime over a potential business opportunity—and then cover it all up. The story is likely to get worse.”
Michael Cohen “was under the impression Trump would offer him a pardon in exchange for staying on message in support of the President in discussions with federal prosecutors,” CNN reports.
“After a March 2018 visit to Mar-a-Lago, the President’s private club in Florida, Cohen returned to New York believing that his former boss would protect him if he faced any charges for sticking to his story about the 2016 payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels… Trump was also at Mar-a-Lago at the time of Cohen’s visit.”
“Another source said that after the April 2018 FBI raid on Cohen’s office and home, people close to the President assured Cohen that Trump would take care of him. And Cohen believed that meant that the President would offer him a pardon if he stayed on message. It is unclear who specifically reached out to Cohen.”
“Donald Trump Jr.’s testimony to Congress about his family’s real estate negotiations with powerful Russians does not comport with the new version laid out by Donald Trump’s ex-attorney Michael Cohen,” NPR reports.
“Trump Jr. told the Senate Judiciary Committee in September 2017 that although there had been negotiations surrounding a prospective Trump Tower in Moscow, they concluded without result ‘at the end’ of 2014.”
“Trump’s account contrasts with the new version of events given by Cohen on Thursday in a guilty plea in federal court. In that new version, Cohen says the discussions with at least one Russian government official and others in Moscow continued through June 2016, well into Trump’s presidential campaign.”
Update: This story has been amended by NPR.
The Atlantic: “The third remarkable thing about Cohen’s plea was its substance. The president of the United States’ personal lawyer admitted to lying to Congress about the president’s business activities with a hostile foreign power, in order to support the president’s story.”
“In any rational era, that would be earthshaking. Now it’s barely a blip. Over the past two years, we’ve become accustomed to headlines like ‘President’s Campaign Manager Convicted of Fraud’ and ‘President’s Personal Lawyer Paid for Adult Actress’s Silence.’ We’re numb to it all. But these are the sorts of developments that would, under normal circumstances, end a presidency.”
Garrett Graff: “Remember Michael Cohen’s two major revelations so far have come in just two, fairly limited, specific episodes, both of which investigative reporters have unearthed ahead of time: Stormy Daniels’ hush money payments and the Moscow Trump Tower project. Cohen, though, worked with Trump — on his most sensitive messes — for a decade. What other episodes does he know about that we haven’t unearthed yet?”
“Prosecutors ethically can’t let a witness testify or plea to things they don’t believe are true. So remember that everything Michael Cohen is saying in court, or pleading guilty to doing on paper, has been combed over for corroboration.”
“If Cohen is standing up in court and saying Donald Trump ordered him to do something, prosecutors aren’t going just off his word. They have independent corroboration. Remember all those emails and telephones seized in the April raid on Cohen’s office? We haven’t seen any of that come out yet.”
“Michael Cohen was once President Trump’s most militant loyalist. Now House Democrats are eyeing him to become their star witness. Democrats think Cohen could be a linchpin in their upcoming efforts to spotlight Trump’s relationship with Russia and are hoping to call him to testify before the House once they seize control of Congress,” Politico reports.
“They’re well aware of Cohen’s close connection to the president — and that he’s turned on Trump, making him a potential ally in their quest to uncover and highlight Trump’s alleged dirty laundry. Even Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr has joined his Democratic counterpart, Sen. Mark Warner, in suggesting Cohen should come back to the Hill — particularly after he pleaded guilty Thursday to lying to lawmakers about Trump’s awareness of the proposed Trump Tower Moscow deal in the heat of the presidential election.”
A source close to Michael Cohen told CNN that Cohen has “the goods” on his former boss, President Trump.
Said the source: “Michael has the goods. He has extremely valuable information.”
The Atlantic: “The plea includes evidence, for the first time, that could show how Trump was compromised by Russia while Russian President Vladimir Putin was waging a direct attack on the 2016 election. The formal agreement also incentivizes Cohen, the former executive vice president of the Trump Organization and Trump’s right-hand man for over a decade, to tell Mueller everything he knows—and sets Cohen up as a more credible witness should Mueller ask him to testify in the future. Significantly, the guilty plea was finalized after Trump submitted his written answers to Mueller, who reportedly asked Trump specifically about the Moscow deal.”
“Cohen, moreover, has indicated that he has no loyalty to the president and does not want or expect a presidential pardon. He has also not been sharing information with the president’s legal team throughout the course of his cooperation with Mueller, as Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort has been. Whereas Manafort has kept one foot in the door of Trumpworld, Cohen severed his ties to the president months ago.”
Lawfare: “President Trump could be forgiven if he feels like the walls are closing in on him.”
President Trump told reporters that Michael Cohen is “a weak person” for pleading guilty to lying to Congress about plans for a Trump Tower in Moscow, and said he believes Cohen is “lying” to get a reduced sentence, Axios reports.
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.