— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) August 21, 2018
Michael D. Cohen, President Trump’s former lawyer, on Tuesday reached a plea agreement with prosecutors investigating payments he made to women on behalf of Mr. Trump, a deal that does not include cooperation with federal authorities, two people familiar with the matter said.
Mr. Cohen is expected to plead guilty to multiple counts of bank and tax fraud charges and campaign finance violations. For months, prosecutors in New York have been scrutinizing him for those crimes and focusing on his role in helping to arrange financial deals to secure the silence of women who said they had affairs with Mr. Trump.
The United States attorney’s office announced that there would be a “proceeding of interest” in a case against a defendant identified only as John Doe, language that almost always indicates a guilty plea. One person with knowledge of the matter said the proceeding would be the guilty plea by Mr. Cohen.It's official. Cohen surrendered to the FBI a short time ago. Stay tuned.
UPDATE: Read the plea agreement here.
UPDATE II: From Cohen's attorney, the importance of the campaign finance violations contained in the plea agreement --
Today he stood up and testified under oath that Donald Trump directed him to commit a crime by making payments to two women for the principal purpose of influencing an election. If those payments were a crime for Michael Cohen, then why wouldn't they be a crime for Donald Trump?— Lanny Davis (@LannyDavis) August 21, 2018
5 comments:
I have no legal expertise. So a guilty plea without cooperation would mean sentencing and possible prison time? And does that mean Trump can turn around and pardon Cohen, with no time served? I have no idea what's going on, obviously, but do the bad guys win again?
donnah - no, it's very bad news for Rump. A cooperation agreement could very well follow, but at least one count implicates Rump in Cohen's campaign finance charge (the Stormy Daniels payment). All the leverage is with the 2nd district attorneys.
"Second district attorneys."
Sorry - all hyped up - it's the Southern District of New York attorneys. Time for a beer!
Thanks, Hackie! Feelin' a little better and hoping for Manafort fallout, too.
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