US President Donald Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen on Wednesday apologized for covering up the “dirty deeds” of his former boss as he was sentenced to three years in prison for multiple crimes, including hush money payments implicating Trump.
Pleading for leniency in a packed Manhattan courtroom before US District Court Judge William Pauley III, Cohen said he had been led astray by misplaced admiration for Trump.
An emotional Cohen told the court that he accepts responsibility for his personal crimes and “those involving the president of the United States of America.”
Photo: EPA-EFE
Cohen’s lawyers had argued for no jail time after he admitted charges brought by federal prosecutors in New York City of tax evasion, providing false statements to a bank and illegal campaign contributions.
Cohen also pleaded guilty to making false statements to the US Congress — a charge stemming from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into whether Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign colluded with Russia to get him elected.
However, Pauley said that Cohen — as a lawyer — “should have known better” and sentenced him to three years in federal prison, ordering him to surrender to custody by March 6.
He was also ordered to pay US$2 million in fines and restitution.
“Each of these crimes standing alone warrant considerable punishment,” Pauley said, adding that Cohen was “motivated by personal greed and ambition.”
“A significant term of imprisonment is fully justified in this highly publicized case to send a message,” the judge said.
Before Pauley passed the sentence, Cohen addressed the court, saying it was his devotion to Trump that caused him to choose “a path of darkness over light.”
“Today is the day that I am getting my freedom back,” he said.
“I have been living in a personal and mental incarceration ever since the day that I accepted the offer to work for a real-estate mogul whose business acumen I deeply admired,” Cohen said. “I now realize there was little to admire.”
Cohen referred to a tweet from Trump calling him “weak,” saying his only weakness had been “blind loyalty” to his former boss.
“Time and time again I felt it was my duty to cover up his dirty deeds rather than to listen to my own inner voice and my moral compass,” he said.
Among the charges against Cohen was making secret payments to silence two women threatening to go public during the election campaign with claims they had affairs with Trump.
Cohen told prosecutors the payments totaling US$280,000 to porn actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal were made “in coordination with and at the direction” of Trump — referred to by prosecutors as “Individual-1.”
Prosecutors have characterized the payments as illegal campaign contributions intended to influence the election.
“Cohen deceived the voting public by hiding alleged facts that he believed would have had a substantial effect on the election,” prosecutors said.
The payment to McDougal was funneled through American Media Inc, publisher of the National Enquirer, and prosecutors announced following Cohen’s sentencing that the firm had been granted immunity from prosecution in exchange for its cooperation.
Trump this week sought to minimize the importance of the payments, saying they were a “simple private transaction” and were “wrongly” being called campaign contributions.
There was no immediate reaction from Trump to Cohen’s sentencing.
While federal prosecutors said that Cohen’s cooperation was limited and selective, the special counsel’s office said Cohen had “gone to significant lengths” to assist their investigation.
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