Michael Cohen sentencing: Trump's former lawyer attacks president's 'dirty deeds' as judge hands him three years in prison

Cohen given jail term over tax fraud and hush money payments to two women who have alleged affairs with president

Donald Trump denies involvement in Moscow project claiming Michael Cohen 'lying'

Michael Cohen has warned that he has more to say about what he called the “dirty deeds” of Donald Trump as the president's former lawyer and fixer was sentenced to three years in prison for facilitating payments to two women who allege affairs with Mr Trump.

Cohen was sentenced to 36 months for tax fraud and his role in the payment of hush money to adult actress Stormy Daniels and former playboy model Karen McDougal who said they had affairs with Mr Trump before the 2016 presidential election. The judge in a district court in New York also handed Cohen an extra two months for lying to Congress about a proposed Trump Tower project in Russia. Cohen had pleaded guilty to the charges.

The payments have implicated Mr Trump directly in criminal conduct according to a court filing from prosecutors last week, which said that Cohen was working in co-ordination with the president.

Cohen's adviser Lanny Davis, who was his attorney for the case, said after the sentencing that Cohen will disclose more information concerning Mr Trump, once Robert Mueller wraps up his probe into Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election and possible collusion with Trump campaign officials.

“At the appropriate time, after Mr Mueller completes his investigation and issues his final report, I look forward to assisting Michael to state publicly all he knows about Mr Trump – and that includes any appropriate congressional committee interested in the search for truth and the difference between facts and lies,” Mr Davis said in a statement.

“Mr Trump's repeated lies cannot contradict stubborn facts,” Mr Davis added.

Cohen is due to surrender and begin his sentence on 6 March, 2019. He must also forfeit $500,000, restitute $1.4m, and pay a $50,000 fine.

US District Judge William H Pauley III said Cohen deserved a harsh punishment for crimes including tax evasion, lying to Congress and arranging illicit payments to silence women who posed a risk to Trump's presidential campaign. Those payments have directly implicated the president in criminal.

“While Mr. Cohen pledges to help in further investigations that is not something the court can consider now,” the judge added.

The sentencing capped a stunning about-face for Cohen who had previously said he would “take a bullet” for the president.

In an emotional statement to court which included tears, Cohen described his disillusionment with Trump and that he had committed his crimes out of “blind loyalty” to the president.

“I have been living in a personal and mental incarceration ever since the day that I accepted the offer to work for a real estate mogul whose business acumen that I deeply admired,” Cohen said. “I know now, in fact, there is little to be admired.”

“It was my own weakness and a blind loyalty to this man that led me to choose a path of darkness over light,” Cohen said. “I felt it was my duty to cover up his own dirty deeds,” referring to Mr Trump.

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[12 December 2018 17:31 · Chris Stevenson]

He repeatedly calls Cohen a lair and says he “deserves every day” of his three-year sentence

[12 December 2018 17:33 · Chris Stevenson]

Mr Avenatti ends by saying:“Michael Cohen has been sentenced today, Donald Trump is next”

[12 December 2018 17:40 · Kristin Hugo]

A look back at Trump's previous comments about Michael Cohen: 

[12 December 2018 17:53 · Kristin Hugo]

Cohen's former attorney Lanny Davis has issued a statement defending Cohen, saying that Cohen "owned up to his mistakes and fully cooperated" with the Mueller probe. 

Mr Davis notes that Mr Mueller gave Cohen credit for coming clean, but it's unfortunate that the prosecution in this case did not do the same. "To me, their judgment showed a lack of appropriate proportionality," Mr Davis writes. 

[12 December 2018 17:57 · Kristin Hugo]

After the Mueller investigation is over and the final report is issued, Cohen's former lawyer Lanny Davis says that Cohen will "state publicly all he knows about Mr Trump."

[12 December 2018 18:09 · Chris Stevenson]

He is the statement from Cohen's representative Lanny Davis about what he and his client and willing to talk about after Mr Mueller releases his final report.

 

[12 December 2018 18:21 · Chris Stevenson]

So far, 36 people and entities have been charged in special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation.

Of those, seven people pleaded guilty.

• George Papadopoulos
• Michael Flynn
• Paul Manafort
• Rick Gates
• Richard Pinedo
• Alex van der Zwaan
• Michael Cohen

There are now four who have been sentenced to prison:

• Papadopoulos
• Pinedo
• van der Zwaan
• Cohen

[12 December 2018 18:24 · Chris Stevenson]

Of the others on that list, Manafort has been convicted at trial but is yet to be sentenced.

[12 December 2018 18:35 · Chris Stevenson]

Still no tweet from the president on the Cohen sentencing. On Monday, he had claimed that Cohen had been looking to get his sentence reduced by cooperating with Mr Mueller.

 

 

[12 December 2018 18:48 · Chris Stevenson]

Prosecutors for the Southern District of New York have also announced today that they had reached a settlement with American Media Inc (AMI) - publisher of the National Enquirer - about the $150,000 payment Cohen made to Karen McDougal, the former Playboy Playmate who says she had an affair with Donald Trump.

Here is the relevant paragraphs from the press release about the deal:

 

"The Office also announced today that it has previously reached a non-prosecution agreement with AMI, in connection with AMI’s role in making the above-described $150,000 payment before the 2016 presidential election.  As a part of the agreement, AMI admitted that it made the $150,000 payment in concert with a candidate’s presidential campaign, and in order to ensure that the woman did not publicize damaging allegations about the candidate before the 2016 presidential election.  AMI further admitted that its principal purpose in making the payment was to suppress the woman’s story so as to prevent it from influencing the election.

"Assuming AMI’s continued compliance with the agreement, the Office has agreed not to prosecute AMI for its role in that payment.  The agreement also acknowledges, among other things, AMI’s acceptance of responsibility, its substantial and important assistance in this investigation, and its agreement to provide cooperation in the future and implement specific improvements to its internal compliance to prevent future violations of the federal campaign finance laws.  These improvements include distributing written standards regarding federal election laws to its employees and conducting annual training concerning these standards."