Michael Cohen, President Trump’s former lawyer and self-proclaimed fixer, should receive “substantial term of imprisonment,” Federal prosecutors said in a sentencing memo filed in New York on Friday.
Cohen pleaded guilty in August as the News Blender reported at the time, two of those charges were related to campaign finance violations. According to Cohen, he oversaw payment at the direction of the President then candidate-Trump, buying the silence of two women who allege sexual affairs with President Trump around 2006. The payments happened shortly before the general Presidential Election of 2016.
Cohen again, pleaded guilty to lying to investigators, this time his plea deal was reached with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Office as the News Blender reported.
Brad Heath of USA Today posted snips of the court filings on Twitter.
This is new. Federal prosecutors have said for the first time in a court filing that Cohen committed campaign finance crimes “in coordination with and at the direction of” President Trump. pic.twitter.com/mOYvdMqHS7
— Brad Heath (@bradheath) December 7, 2018
Josh Russell with Courthouse News explains in his tweet that Cohen “does not have a cooperation agreement.”
Meanwhile Special Counsel Robert Mueller has also filed his sentence recommendations against Cohen. According to Heath via Twitter, the Special Counsel’s Office calls Cohen’s crimes “serious,” and writes, “the sentence imposed should reflect the fact that lying to federal investigators has real consequences, especially where the defendant lied to investigators about critical facts, in an investigation of national importance.”
Mueller’s bottom line: Cohen’s crime was “serious” and “the sentence imposed should reflect the fact that lying to federal investigators has real consequences, especially where the defendant lied to investigators about critical facts, in an investigation of national importance.” pic.twitter.com/VpplEnbemN
— Brad Heath (@bradheath) December 7, 2018
Some take away’s from Heath’s screen shots.
Mueller’s office says that in Nov. 2015, Cohen “received the contact information for, and spoke with, a Russian who claimed to be a ‘trusted person’ in the Russian Federation who could offer the campaign ‘political synergy’ and ‘synergy on a government level.’” pic.twitter.com/sN3LiMcta3
— Brad Heath (@bradheath) December 7, 2018
And Cohen provided information “concerning his contacts with persons connected to the White House during the 2017-2018 time period.” pic.twitter.com/BVlURTXPZi
— Brad Heath (@bradheath) December 7, 2018
In both Mueller’s filing and Federal Prosecutors “individual 1” is President Trump.
CNN is also reporting that Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team filing that details how Paul Manafort, breached his plea agreement with Mueller’s Office, will be filed under seal, a federal judge said Friday.
For what it’s worth on Tuesday Mueller recommended no prison time for former National Security adviser Michael Flynn.
Bonus Tweets
Of note, these are developing stories, more will follow.
