Ex-lawyer Trump jailed for three years

Former Donald Trump's personal lawyer Michael Cohen was sentenced to a total of three years in prison for violating election laws and lying to Congress. As the court found, Cohen paid with money intended for the Trump campaign for the silence of two women who talked about their close relationship with Trump.

The defendant's lawyer, Guy Petrillo, said in court that his client was "unlucky to work with Trump." Petrillo also added that Cohen would like to cooperate with the investigation, but he is “suspicious of a long-term plea deal” and would like to “hide himself and his family from the glare of television cameras,” he writes. Air force.

52-year-old Cohen became the first person from the Trump team to receive such a long time in connection with an investigation into Russia's interference in the American elections of the year. The investigation is led by special prosecutor Robert Muller.

Michael Cohen came to court with his family, his daughter and son. He did not answer questions from journalists when entering the courthouse. Judge William Pauley, known for being tough on white-collar defendants, sentenced Cohen to three years and also fined him.

“As a lawyer, Mr. Cohen could have known [the laws] better,” the judge said. Before the verdict was announced, Cohen himself noted that he takes responsibility for all the crimes charged against him. “My job was to cover up his dirty deeds,” he described his work with Trump.

The prosecution, represented at the trial by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, asked for a “substantial” prison sentence for the former Trump lawyer, arguing that Cohen’s decision to plead guilty “does not make him a hero.” Cohen asked not to be given a custodial sentence. He motivated this by admitting his guilt and cooperating with investigators from Mueller's team.

What are the charges?

In 2016, Cohen helped organize the payment of porn actress Stormy Daniels and models Karen McDougall to keep silent about their intimate connections with the then US presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Cohen, who previously said he would “take a bullet” for Trump and worked for him for 12 years as a confidant on his most sensitive matters, pleaded guilty to illicit payments. In addition, he said that Trump gave him instructions in this process. In response, the president said that his former lawyer was lying to get a shorter sentence. He also advised that no one should hire Michael Cohen if they needed a good lawyer.

Daniels, according to Cohen, received 2016 thousands of dollars from him in 130 for silence about her relationship with Trump, which they had ten years earlier. And Cohen then received from Trump's company, in which he worked as a lawyer, 420 thousands of dollars in compensation.

The lawyer, by his own admission, was going to pay the second woman, former Playboy model Karen Magdougal, $2016 through his own company in 120 for silence about her connection with Trump. This deal, however, never took place.

Since the information that the women were about to disclose could have influenced the results of the presidential election, the prosecutor's office considered the deal with Daniels to indirectly fund the campaign. At the same time, a private donation to a campaign, according to American law, cannot exceed 2700 dollars.

The danger of this charge for Trump is that, according to the prosecution, he knew about illegal payments to women. So, just like Cohen, broke the law.

Where is the Russian intervention?

Another episode for which Cohen was sentenced is related to the fact that he prepared Trump’s trip to Russia and the construction of Trump Tower in Moscow, but tried to hide this information from the investigation.

Фото: Depositphotos

Cohen admitted in late November that in 2017 he lied to the Senate Intelligence Committee about Trump’s lack of plans to build a skyscraper in the Russian capital. It subsequently turned out that the lawyer, during the US presidential campaign in 2016, tried to propose this project to the Kremlin through the press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov. He was never able to talk to Peskov, but he communicated with his assistants - both by phone and by e-mail. The Trump Tower was never built in Moscow.

In addition, it turned out that Cohen discussed with Trump the possible trip of the then presidential candidate to Russia for a meeting with Vladimir Putin. This trip also did not take place. The accusation is due precisely to the fact that Cohen at the hearings in the Senate lied about the absence of Trump's headquarters intentions to go to Moscow.

Another danger for Trump is that Cohen, according to the Mueller memo, provided “relevant and truthful” information that should help the investigation into Russian interference. In addition to talking about contacts with people from Russia during the 2016 campaign and attempts by Russians to reach the Trump campaign, Cohen also admitted that he was in contact with people associated with the White House in 2017-2018. At that time he was already under investigation.

Cohen is the first person from Trump's inner circle to be jailed in connection with Russian interference in the 2016 US election. The rest of the defendants, in particular, former Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort, campaign lawyer George Papadopoulos and former national security adviser Michael Flynn, were not so close to Trump.

The administration of Donald Trump is famous for high turnover - high-ranking officials leave themselves, receive an order of dismissal or an appointment to other posts under plausible excuses and at a record speed. ForumDaily published a short list of achievements and reasons for the departure of officials who recently left their posts.

Read also on ForumDaily:

Not worked out: who this year left the team Trump

From false testimony to ties with Russia: for what trump’s close associates face jail

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