Michael Cohen was sentenced to 36 months in prison by US District Judge William H. Pauley III on Wednesday, December 12th, for assorted crimes he has committed while working for President Donald Trump.
Michael Cohen has been President Trump’s lawyer for a long time now but has recently been under investigation for multiple crimes. The Southern District of New York has been looking into whether he violated campaign-finance laws, committed bank or wire fraud, and engaged in illegal lobbying. Cohen has also pleaded guilty to not one but five accounts of tax evasion. He has also admitted to making a false statement to a bank and making unlawful contributions. [1]
From the Begining
In April the FBI visited Michael Cohen’s house, hotel room, and his office, and seized over 4 million papers. Over the past several months those documents have been reviewed for attorney-client privilege, which only a few were protected by that. The rest of the papers were given to the government for use in the prosecution of Cohen.
What Happens Now?
Federal prosecutors for the Southern District of New York released a sentencing memo that recommended Cohen receive 3 1/2 years in prison. Along with paying a $100,000 fine. The prosecutors said Cohen “deceived the voting public by hiding alleged facts that he believed would have had a substantial effect on the election.” [2]
He was sentenced to three years in prison on Wednesday, December 12th.
Lanny Davis, one of Cohen’s advisers, said that Michael Cohen would “state publicly all he knows” about President Trump after Mueller completes his investigation. Lanny Davis said this could include testifying before Congress. [3]
How does President Trump feel about Cohen now?
He took to Twitter to express his distaste of what Cohen had done, claiming that he had never told Cohen to break the law. He also stated that he believes Cohen is guilty and should receive full sentence rather than a reduced sentence.
I never directed Michael Cohen to break the law. He was a lawyer and he is supposed to know the law. It is called “advice of counsel,” and a lawyer has great liability if a mistake is made. That is why they get paid. Despite that many campaign finance lawyers have strongly……
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 13, 2018
….guilty even on a civil basis. Those charges were just agreed to by him in order to embarrass the president and get a much reduced prison sentence, which he did-including the fact that his family was temporarily let off the hook. As a lawyer, Michael has great liability to me!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 13, 2018
Notes:
- ^Allan Smith, Grace Panetta. “Michael Cohen pleads guilty and says he broke campaign finance law at Trump’s direction.” Business Insider, 22 Aug. 2018, www.businessinsider.com/michael-cohen-plea-deal-prosecutors-trump-2018-8. (go back ↩)
- ^michael cohen https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/5453395/USDOJ-Cohen-20181207.pdf (go back ↩)
- ^Haltiwanger, John. “Michael Cohen says he felt it was his ‘duty’ to ‘cover up’ Trump’s ‘dirty deeds,’ is sentenced to 3 years in prison.” Business Insider, 12 Dec. 2018, www.businessinsider.com/michael-cohen-sentenced-sentencing-trump-crimes-2018-12?utm_source=feedly%00utm_medium=referral. (go back ↩)
