Cohen said he arranged at the direction of a candidate for office payments of hush money to two women before the 2016 election. AT&T and Novartis were among the companies that retained him.Now we're going to get reaction to what unfolded today in Manhattan when Michael Cohen, President Trump's former personal lawyer and fixer, pleaded guilty to eight charges, including campaign finance violations. Mueller reportedly referred Cohen’s case to federal prosecutors in Manhattan.Īs Trump was taking office, Cohen sought to line up clients to exploit his connections to the White House. Attorney’s office in New York and is separate from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. Giuliani has insisted that Cohen acted on his own in making the payment to Daniels.Ĭohen’s prosecution is being conducted out of the U.S. In news interviews, Giuliani, attacked Cohen as untrustworthy and a liar. You and your client completely misplayed this…” he wrote.Ī month ago, it looked as if Cohen was prepared to reach an agreement in which he would cooperate with federal prosecutors. We will disclose it all to the public.”Īvenatti also directed a message to Giuliani. Davis last month released a secret recording that Cohen made of a conversation with Trump in October, 2016, and they are heard discussing making a payment to AMI.ĭaniels’ attorney, Michael Avenatti, tweeted that Cohen’s guilty plea “will permit us to have the stay lifted in the civil case & should also permit us to proceed with an expedited deposition of Trump under oath about what he knew, when he knew it, and what he did about it. McDougal, a former Playboy model, claimed that American Media Inc., the owner of the National Enquirer, bought the rights to her story for $150,000 in order to squelch it before the election. That ignited speculation that federal prosecutors were scrutinizing payments that Cohen set up in the amount of $130,000 to Daniels, an adult film actress, on behalf of Trump in October, 2016. If those payments were a crime for Michael Cohen, then why wouldn’t they be a crime for Donald Trump?”Ĭohen was steadfastly loyal to Trump and known as his fixer until authorities raided his office, home, and hotel room in April. Cohen’s actions reflect a pattern of lies and dishonesty over a significant period of time.”Ĭohen’s attorney, Lanny Davis, said on Twitter, that his client “stood up and testified under oath that Donald Trump directed him to commit a crime by making payments to two women for the principal purpose of influencing an election. It is clear that, as the prosecutor noted, Mr. Trump’s attorney, Rudy Giuliani, issued a statement in which he said, “There is no allegation of any wrongdoing against the President in the government’s charges against Mr. “It doesn’t involve me, but it’s a very sad thing that happened,” Trump said. He did address the conviction of Paul Manafort, his former campaign chairman, who was found guilty on eight of 18 counts of fraud and other crimes related to his political consulting business. Va., for a rally on Tuesday, Trump did not answer questions about Cohen’s guilty plea. The charges for tax evasion and making a false statement related to his family’s taxi business, while another federal count, for giving a false statement to a financial institution, had to do with making false statements about the extent of his debt on an application for a home equity line of credit.Īrriving in Charleston, W. His plea agreement did not include cooperation with prosecutors. Khuzami said that Cohen then sought reimbursement from the Trump Organization, but misrepresented the nature of the expense.Ĭohen’s plea agreement includes a substantial fine, and four to five years in prison.
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