BAWL AND CHAINS
Weepy Cohen gets 3 years for Trump hush money, lies
Michael Cohen, President Trump’s fixer, looks glum after being sentenced Wednesday.
Cohen, Cohen, gone! A teary-eyed Michael Cohen was sentenced to three years in federal prison Wednesday for “a veritable smorgasbord of fraudulent conduct,” including evading taxes, lying to Congress, bank fraud and campaign finance violations that could represent a dire threat to President Trump.
Judge William Pauley handed down the sentence after prosecutors sought “substantial” prison time for the disgraced, bullying barrister who implicated his longtime employer in a pair of felonies.
“Time and time again I felt it was my duty to cover up his dirty deeds rather than listen to my own inner voice,” said Cohen, 52.
“My weakness can be characterized as a blind loyalty to Donald Trump.”
Pauley said each of Cohen’s crimes warranted “considerable punishment.”
“Somewhere along the way Mr. Cohen appears to have lost his moral compass and sought to monetize his newfound influence. That trajectory, unfortunately, has led him to this courtroom today,” the judge said.
“Our democratic institutions depend on the honesty of our citizenry in dealing with the government.”
Cohen must begin serving his sentence March 6.
Once the real estate heir’s pugnacious personal attorney and “fixer,” Cohen split from his former mentor when he pleaded guilty in August to making hush-money payments to women who claimed they had affairs with Trump. He also admitted to unrelated tax and bank fraud. He also copped to lying to Congress.
Cohen, tears forming in his eyes, said receiving his sentence liberated him.
“I have been living in a personal and mental incarceration ever since the fateful day that I accepted the offer to work for a famous real estate mogul whose business acumen I truly admired,” he said.
“It was my own weakness, and a blind loyalty to this man that led me to choose a path of darkness over light.”
Prosecutors said Cohen orchestrated payments to a porn star and a former Playmate “in coordination and at the direction” of the President. The secret payouts are violations of campaign finance law.
In an interview with Reuters on Tuesday, Trump denied the payments were campaign contributions. “If it were, it’s only civil, and even if it’s only civil, there was no violation based on what we did,” he said.
Trump’s attorney, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, echoed that argument.
"Paying off a claim to avoid harassment is not a crime," Giuliani said.
"Nobody is going to impeach or indict anyone on the credibility of Michael Cohen."
Cohen further embroiled Trump in legal jeopardy late last month by admitting he lied to Congress about his contacts with Russia in the 2016 campaign regarding a Trump Tower project in Moscow.
“I made these misstatements to be consistent with Individual 1's political messaging and out of loyalty to Individual 1,” Cohen said in court Nov. 29. Trump is “Individual 1.”
He had asked for no prison time, arguing that he chose to cooperate with Manhattan federal prosecutors and special counsel Robert Mueller's office in the face of attacks from the White House.
“No other defendant would be treated in this fashion on those offenses,” Cohen's attorney Guy Petrillo said Wednesday. “But Mr. Cohen had the misfortune of being counsel to the President.”
Despite Cohen's efforts at redemption, prosecutors from the Southern District of New York painted him as a crook unwilling to tell the full truth.
“The charges portray a pattern of deception, of brazenness and of greed,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicolas Roos said in court.
The campaign finance charges and lies to Congress were particularly “serious because of the tremendous societal costs,” Roos added.
Mueller's office gave more credit to Cohen for cooperation, noting he had met with prosecutors probing Russian interference in the 2016 election seven times.
Prosecutor Jeannie Rhee, representing Mueller's team, said Cohen “sought to tell us the truth.”
Cohen told Congress that his pursuit of the Trump Tower Moscow deal stopped in January 2016. He actually discussed the plan as late as July 2016 — well into the campaign. He had a 20-minute phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin's longtime adviser and press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, about the development. He also fielded calls from an unidentified Russian national promising “synergy on a government level” and a meeting with Putin, according to Mueller's office.
“I want to apologize to the people of the United States. You deserve to know the truth and lying to you was unjust,” Cohen said.
In imposing sentence, the judge also hit Cohen with a $100,000 fine and $500,000 in forfeiture. He must pay $1.39 million in restitution to the IRS.
A source close to Cohen said his decision to cooperate was the right choice, but added that he could have been more straightforward with prosecutors from the beginning.
“This is a man with children, a man whose loyalty was misplaced,” the source said. “He realized, albeit a little late, that his first loyalty should be to his family, to his wife and children.”