Off to prison, Cohen has harsh words for president

Michael Cohen took a last swipe at President Donald Trump as he reported to federal prison Monday to start a three-year sentence for crimes including tax evasion and campaign finance violations related to hushmoney payments made to protect his former boss.

Cohen, who turned on Trump last summer after a decade as his personal lawyer, fixer and “take a bullet” loyalist, didn’t mention the president by name, but he left little doubt about whom he blamed for his incarceration.

“I hope that when I rejoin my family and friends that the country will be in a place without xenophobia, injustice and lies at the helm of our country,” Cohen told reporters outside his Manhattan apartment. “There still remains much to be told, and I look forward to the day where I can share the truth.”

Cohen, 52, then stumbled through a crush of media, ignoring shouted questions, and got into a waiting Cadillac Escalade, which drove him to jail 70 miles northwest of New York City.

He got a slight jump on his prison sentence, arriving at the Federal Correctional Institution, Otisville, around 11:45 a.m., more than two hours before a court-imposed deadline.