On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge William Pauley sentenced Michael Cohen to 36 months in a federal penitentiary for a total of nine crimes including bank fraud, tax evasion, lying to Congress, and two instances of campaign funding violations conducted at the direction of Donald Trump. Cohen has until March 6 to surrender himself to authorities and begin serving his sentence.
The campaign finance violations were carried out under supervision and direction from Donald Trump, in order to suppress the stories of two women with whom Trump had affairs from reaching the public in advance of the 2016 election. These were not “civil” matters as Trump has maintained, but felony violations of federal law intended, according to US attorneys for the Southern District of New York, to deceive the public and defy the “transparency” required of campaigns.
The lying to Congress charge was also directly related to Trump. In appearances before both the Senate and House, Cohen maintained that Trump had ended efforts to execute a real estate deal with Russia before beginning his campaign for the White House. That was not true. Cohen and Trump associated Felix Sater coordinated with a variety of Russian oligarchs and officials on an effort that continued until at least the summer of 2016. During this period, Trump was involved and aware of the ongoing effort, as were Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump.
The SDNY argued that, though Cohen cooperated with them on some issues, his cooperation came late, after it was clear he was going to be convicted, and was never complete. In fact, Cohen and his attorneys continued to argue that he could not say everything he knew out of concerns for his family. However, most of this seemed to be related to Cohen’s testimony related to organized criminal organizations other than the Trump Organization.
Cohen left the court without speaking, but attorney Lanny Davis did make a statement.
Davis: After Mr. Mueller completes his investigation and issues his final report, I look forward to assisting Michael to state publicly all he knows about Mr. Trump.
During his last moments before the court, it must have been clear to Cohen that a substantial sentence could not be avoided. He paused at several times in his final address to the judge, expressed that he was sorry and promised to “be better.” But Cohen was more strident when it came to the subject of Donald Trump.
Cohen: Recently the president tweeted a statement calling me weak and it was correct but for a much different reason than he was implying. It was because time and time again i felt it was my duty to cover up his dirty deeds.
The 52-year-old Cohen joined the Trump Organization in 2006. He was vice president for the company and Trump’s personal attorney until May 2018. Cohen appeared to relish his role as Trump’s “fixer” frequently threatening reporters, demanding retractions, and pushing back against anyone he saw as an obstacle to his boss. He was the co-founder of the National Diversity Coalition for Trump and only a year ago, Cohen was named national deputy finance chairman of the Republican National Committee. Throughout the campaign, Cohen served as a surrogate for Trump, frequently appearing on news programs, defending Trump’s statements, and attacking Hillary Clinton.
In addition to his work on the Moscow Project for Trump, the documents collected by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele indicate that Cohen traveled to Prague in 2016 to meet with Russian officials as part of their coordination with the Trump campaign. Recent sources have indicated that Cohen’s testimony to the special counsel’s office may have supported these allegations. Cohen is also reported to have made statements regarding Trump’s knowledge of the Trump Tower meeting between Trump campaign leadership and Russian operatives.
In 2016, Cohen created a shell company called “Essential Consultants” that was used both to disguise some of the payments made to Stormy Daniels, and to receive money from companies that Cohen solicited for funds in order to gain access to Trump. The largest of the payments collected by Essential Consultants came from a company controlled by another Russian oligarch.
When Cohen’s office was raided in April of this year, Trump was outraged. In a series of tweets, Trump defended Cohen, blaming the media for stories about his actions to defend Trump. Those tweets now seem only marginally less ironic than Cohen’s Twitter attack on Clinton.
Trump: The New York Times and a third rate reporter named Maggie Habberman, known as a Crooked H flunkie who I don’t speak to and have nothing to do with, a it means lying or making up stories. Sorry, I don’t see Michael doing that despite the horrible Witch Hunt and the dishonest media!
The collapse of Trump’s reliance on his fixer is easily measured out by subsequent tweets.
April 21—“Michael is a businessman for his own account/lawyer who I have always liked & respected. “
May 3—“Mr. Cohen, an attorney, received a monthly retainer, not from the campaign and having nothing to do with the campaign, from which he entered into, through reimbursement, a private contract between two parties, known as a non-disclosure agreement, or NDA.”
August 22—“If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I would strongly suggest that you don’t retain the services of Michael Cohen!”
December 3—“’Michael Cohen asks judge for no Prison Time.’ You mean he can do all of the TERRIBLE, unrelated to Trump, things having to do with fraud, big loans, Taxis, etc., and not serve a long prison term?”
The special counsel’s office made only a brief statement at Cohen’s sentencing hearing, but the judge appeared to give the statement and earlier documentation from Robert Mueller’s team considerable weight. The SDNY had collected crimes that should have netted between five and seven years in prison, and had recommended that Cohen’s cooperation should earn him only a “modest” reduction. In sentencing Cohen to 36 months, Judge Pauley appeared to value the information Trump’s former attorney passed onto the special counsel quite highly.
Sources have indicated that Cohen’s sentence will be served at the Federal Correctional Institution in Otisville, New York. This would leave Cohen in range of family visits. It’s also regarded as one of the nation’s “cushiest prisons.”
White-collar criminals and crooked politicians are banging down the door to get into Otisville Federal Correctional Facility in New York — described by some as a castle behind bars.
Not a bad deal for someone who gave less than complete cooperation to the U.S. attorney and who participated in an effort to alter the outcome of a U.S. presidential election through deception and cover-up.