President Donald Trump’s former lawyer has been sentenced to three years in prison.
US District Judge William H Pauley III said on Wednesday, 12 December, that Michael 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.
The judge rejected arguments by Cohen’s lawyers that he should be spared jail time because he cooperated in multiple federal investigations involving Trump.
Cohen said his “blind loyalty” to Trump made him feel a duty to “cover up” the president’s “dirty deeds.”
Cohen’s crimes included evading $1.4 million in taxes and misleading Congress about his talks with Russians about a Trump skyscraper project in Moscow.
Trump had called for a tough sentence for Cohen, whom he labeled a liar.
A judge says Michael Cohen’s cooperation with prosecutors “does not wipe the slate clean” of his crimes.
US District Judge William Pauley III made the comments on Wednesday as he handed down a three-year prison sentence to the former lawyer for President Donald Trump.
Pauley said that Cohen “appears to have lost his moral compass” and that the lawyer “should have known better” than to dodge taxes, lie to Congress and violate campaign finance laws.
Cohen Takes ‘Full Responsibility’
The 52-year-old Cohen pleaded guilty to those offenses.
Cohen said he takes “full responsibility” for the crimes he admitted committing. But he also said his “blind loyalty” to Trump made him feel a duty to “cover up” the president’s “dirty deeds.”
Trump had called for a tough sentence for Cohen, whom he labeled a liar.
An adviser to former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen says the former political fixer will “state publicly all he knows” about President Donald Trump after special counsel Robert Mueller completes his investigation.
Lanny Davis said that Cohen “continues to tell the truth about Donald Trump’s misconduct over the years.”
Davis, who was previously an attorney for Cohen, said he will assist Cohen in testifying before any Congressional committee “interested in the search for truth and the difference between facts and lies.”
Cohen was sentenced on Wednesday to three years in prison for orchestrating payments to alleged Trump mistresses, other financial misdeeds as well as lying to congressional investigators. He said nothing as he walked out of court. He has been ordered to turn himself in March 6 to start his sentence.
(Published in arrangement with AP)
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