Donald Trump denies involvement in Moscow project claiming Michael Cohen 'lying'
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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.
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.
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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.”
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“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.
To follow events as they happened please read our live blog below.
Today's sentencing of Michael Cohen - set to commence at 11am local time (4pm GMT) - will be carried out by US district judge William Pauley in Manhattan, a man with a reputation for being tough on white-collar defendants.
Though Mr Cohen asked in a 30 November court filing that he be given no jail time based on his assistance in the Mueller investigation, prosecutors asked on Friday that he receive a "substantial term of imprisonment" for his crimes with only a "modest" reduction to the roughly four to five-year term he faces under sentencing guidelines.
Though they admitted he had provided useful information about the hush money payments, prosecutors said Mr Cohen declined to sign a formal cooperation agreement, which would have required him to be fully debriefed about his entire criminal history and his knowledge of others' crimes.
His refusal to cooperate fully, they said, limited his credibility as a witness.
In another off-shoot of the Trump-Daniels controversy, the porn star has been ordered to pay $293,000 of the president's legal fees after filing a "meritless" defamation case against him after he had questioned her credibility in a tweet.
Now there's a sentence I never thought I'd write.
Mr Trump's lawyers had requested she pay $800,000 towards the dismissed suit.
Another man with something to say about Donald J Trump is Christian Bale, who has been sharing his memories of meeting the property tycoon while filming Batman blockbuster The Dark Knight Rises at Trump Tower.
"I think he thought I was Bruce Wayne because I was dressed as Bruce Wayne," the actor recalled.
Bale was speaking at the premiere of Vice, in which he plays George W Bush's right-hand man Dick Cheney. No doubt he'd make a very fine Trump one day.
For a reliably different spin on the Michael Cohen situation, here's Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson's summary of the facts:
"Two women approached Donald Trump and threatened to ruin his career and humiliate his family if he doesn't give them money... Trump caves in to it and he directs Michael Cohen to pay the ransom. Now, more than two years later, Trump is a felon for doing this."
Here's a view on Michael Cohen from the legal profession:
“If I were advising him, I’d encourage him to bring his toothbrush to court,” says Michael J Stern, a former federal prosecutor in Detroit and Los Angeles, in conversation with the AP.
Anthony Scaramucci (remember him?) has guested on Fox breakfast show Good Day New York this morning and expressed his hopes the lawyer is granted leniency.
"The president will probably be mad at me for saying this but that's OK… You don’t like seeing your friends go to jail," the Mooch said, suggesting Mr Trump's attitude towards his former advocate might be warmer than he himself has publicly indicated.
The Donald is awake and already capitalising on tragedy overseas to pressure his opponents at home. No mention of Michael Cohen from a master in the art of distraction.
The sentencing of Michael Cohen is set to commence at the US District Court in Manhattan, New York City, at 11am local time (4pm GMT).
It will be carried out by judge William Pauley, a man with a reputation for being tough on white-collar defendants.
President Trump's former ally pleaded guilty in August to paying out six-figure sums to two women - porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal - in order to buy their silence about alleged affairs with Mr Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Mr Cohen is expected to apologise for lying to prosecutors after initially saying he knew nothing about the payments in question.
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