Michael Cohen: Jailed ex-Trump lawyer says he 'sold his soul' and quotes Othello as he pleads for clemency

Michael Cohen 'painfully recognises the need to atone' following guilty pleas to cover for president

Michael Cohen says he has been "disbarred, financially crushed, and personally embarrassed and humiliated" in his request to shorten a three-year prison sentence for lying to Congress and a number of financial crimes, including flouting campaign finance laws while working for Donald Trump.

The president's embattled former lawyer is seeking a reduced one-year sentence or "home confinement" under supervision of a probation office with weekly community service as part of his "personal atonement".

In a six-page sworn affirmation filed in US District Court, Cohen says everything he had "thought was important and valuable has been painfully revealed as derived" from a "Faustian bargain" in which he cast the president as the Devil, to whom Cohen "sold his soul" and "foolishly frittered away his integrity" on behalf of Mr Trump.

Cohen said he became an "enabler" to the Trump Organisation and to the president himself, who Cohen said can be "magnetic, powerful and charismatic".

He said he now understands what the character Iago meant when he said in Shakespeare's Othello: "He who steals my purse steals trash, he who steals my good name steals all."

In the play, Iago is the title character's supposedly trusted adviser, who manipulates Othello and is ultimately imprisoned and tortured for his crimes.

Cohen says he now "painfully recognises the need to atone for his conduct", calling his incarceration a "powerful and painful humbling" experience.

He entered a New York prison in May.

Mr Cohen was prosecuted for multiple offences surrounding Mr Trump in both US District Court and following special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into foreign interference in US elections in 2016.

He also facilitated "hush money" payments from the president to porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal, who both claimed to have had sexual affairs with Mr Trump. The president has denied the affairs.

On behalf of Mr Trump, Mr Cohen said he paid Ms Daniels $130,000, and he arranged $150,000 to Ms McDougal from the publisher of the National Enquirer in an effort to prevent politically damaging stories from reaching the public prior to the 2016 election.

Mr Mueller praised Mr Cohen for his cooperation, including giving "valuable information" tying the Trump campaign to Russia.

But federal prosecutors said he did not "come anywhere close to assisting" the US Attorney's Office, nor did he offer "full cooperation".

In his defence, Mr Cohen listed several meetings with the New York Attorney General's office, the New York Department of Taxation, and House Judiciary Chair Jerry Nadler's counsel, a nine-hour hearing at the House Oversight Committee, and, while incarcerated, three meetings with the New York District Attorney's office, all totalling "170 hours" of testimony, he said.

In a letter attached to his affirmation, federal prosecutors say "concerns about Mr Cohen's ability to provide cooperation have not diminished".