Cohen gets 3 years for ‘dirty deeds’
First member of Trump’s inner circle to serve time
NEW YORK – Michael Cohen was sentenced on Wednesday to three years in prison, making the longtime personal attorney for Donald Trump the first member of the president’s inner circle to serve time in a case that could place the former real estate mogul in legal jeopardy.
Cohen, known for years as Trump’s fixer in legal and business matters, had pleaded guilty in August to a series of crimes, including campaign-finance violations and tax evasion in the Southern District of New York. And Cohen admitted last month lying to Congress as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election.
“My own weakness was blind loyalty to the man that caused me to choose the path of darkness,” Cohen said, his voice cracking at times. “Time and time again, I felt it was my duty to cover up his dirty deeds.”
Cohen said he took “full responsibility” for the nine felonies to which he had pleaded guilty – “the personal ones to me and those involving the president of the United States of America.”
Cohen must surrender for prison on March 6. He was also ordered to pay $1.4 million in restitution for his unpaid taxes, and another $100,000 in fines.
Manhattan U.S. District Court Judge William Pauley walked through each of the counts against Cohen, saying “each of these crimes is a serious offense against the United States.” Pauley agreed to a modest reduction of Cohen’s
prison sentence to reward him for his cooperation, but said his “veritable smorgasbord of fraudulent conduct” required a punishment to match.
After Pauley announced his sentence to a crowded Manhattan courtroom, Cohen’s father, Maurice Cohen, 83, who had entered in a wheelchair, held his face in his hands. “I’m dizzy as hell,” he said. “My world is spinning out of control.”
Cohen, who once said he would take a bullet for Trump, has been cooperating with Mueller’s team, and has provided prosecutors with a potential bounty of information about the Trump campaign’s contacts with the Kremlin. Prosecutors have said he has given them information about “core” aspects of the Russia probe, based in part on his connections to Trump’s private company and his administration.
Cohen apologized to his family and the public, who he said “deserved to know the truth.”
Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor and Trump’s personal attorney, dismissed Cohen as a “complete liar” and a “scoundrel.”
Cohen and Trump once seemed a united team. Trump’s fame and wealth grew with the licensing of his name and his starring role in The Apprentice, while Cohen took on the real estate developer’s critics in legal combat.
But their relationship ruptured this year as federal prosecutors and Mueller investigated both men. Cohen seemed to cement the split as he sought leniency on Wednesday, telling the judge that he had been in a form of “personal and mental incarceration” since the day he began working for the businessman he admired so much that acquaintances said Cohen referred to him even privately as “Mr. Trump.”
Mueller’s investigation began in May 2017. The New York prosecutors executed search warrants at Cohen’s office, home and hotel room last year after being referred by Mueller’s team.
The New York prosecutors say Cohen paid hush money to former Playboy Model Karen McDougal and adult film star Stormy Daniels to keep them from publicizing claims they had sexual affairs with him, potentially jeopardizing his presidential campaign. Trump has denied the women’s accounts.