Trump's former lawyer Cohen to report to prison for hush payments

SNIP
Michael Cohen, the lawyer who once vowed to “take a bullet” for President Donald Trump but now calls him a “con man,” on Monday will begin serving a three-year prison sentence for arranging hush payments to two women who said they had sexual encounters with the president and lying to the U.S. Congress.

Prosecutors said Trump himself directed illegal payments orchestrated by Cohen to adult film star Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal to avert a scandal shortly before the 2016 election. Cohen told the court Trump ordered a $130,000 payment to Daniels and a $150,000 payment to McDougal to keep them quiet.

During his sentencing in December in New York, Cohen said, “My weakness can be characterized as a blind loyalty to Donald Trump, and I was weak for not having the strength to question and to refuse his demands. I have already spent years living a personal and mental incarceration.”
ENDSNIP

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...ort-to-prison-for-hush-payments-idUSKCN1SC0RZ

Prison life is hard, likely even in the minimum security section Cohen is heading to.

It's gotta be a scary time, but this man's behavior certainly warrants prison time. I'm not a huge fan of non-violent criminals spending time in prison, but that's the system we have today and Cohen deserves what he got. It's possible Cohen would have received even less time if he had cooperated fully, but it's too late now.

Will the co-conspirator Individual 1 be charged after he is out of office in 2021? I'm pretty sure that's within the Statute of Limitations for that crime...

I don't want your life story, but has anybody on here ever been in prison?? I personally have not. What can Cohen expect?

 

Didn’t he get convicted of a number of things? Including tax evasion? Things totally unrelated to the President? If you reading the sentencing memos on Cohen, at least as it relates to the campaign fin law violation, the lawyers go to great lengths highlighting how he was a lawyer and in a position of trust and should have known better, highlighting the difference between a regular businessman. Cohen is gonna have a hard time, and will only have a harder time by blaming others for his own behavior...

 

It's a Club Med style prison for pampered white collar criminals. Aside from somebody swiping his Pudding Pop off his tray he's going to be just fine. As to his prison time, all that means is that he discovered a bit of hard reality; that even after agreeing to Mueller's terms to get out of prison free and telling all sorts of RINO and leftist approved lies regarding Trump he's going to prison anyway for not having any actual proof that will hold up in a court of law. It's just his word against Trump and since Cohen was already convicted for lying to Congress and thus his 'word' is meaningless, that's why he's ending up doing time behind bars.

 

He'll probably luv it there, Tennis courts, bocce ball, Instagram access - hanging w/ reality TV personalities & the who's who of white collar finance bad boys (they also cater to the whole Judaism thing too) etc... give me a F'n break (tax payer funded) is what is galling about it...

https://theweek.com/speedreads/8396...time-jersey-shore-bro-fyre-festival-fraudster

 

Well that's great... there is a prison just for reality TV personalities?? That could come in handy in 2021....

Not saying it's Sing Sing, but it's not Manhattan Cigar Bars either....

It's not so much where you are as where you CANNOT be...... anywhere else...

 

Exactly my thinking. Yes, Cohen's a political prisoner like Dinesh D'Souza.

 

The only prison I've been in is a maximum security prison, for a few hours. And not the visitors area, either. Right inside, face to face with the inmates.

Your last sentence is spot-on and is my lasting memory of that place. As I was walking out through the many locked doors, that swung open for me, I was extremely conscious that those doors would not have swung open for any of the men I had just met. Prison is, very literally (and obviously), a loss of freedom. No matter what "comforts" are there, you can't leave.

 

Dont act surprised

The feds have had posh prisons for the elites for many decades

 

Wahh! They're sabotaging Trump's (criminal) presidency.

 

You are correct for a change

The 2016 sore losers are trying to sabatage the 2016 winner

Very undemocratic

 

“I pled guilty in federal court to felonies for the benefit of, at the direction of, and in coordination with ‘Individual 1,’” Cohen said, reading from his prepared statement. “And for the record: ‘Individual 1’ is Donald J. Trump.”

Normally, the outgoing president leaves a letter for their successor after leaving office... This could be the first time in history the outgoing president will find something on his desk.

I mean, how AWESOME would that be?? Trump should invite cameras and make a show out of it...

 

Blaming others for their own misdeeds is common among criminals, liberals, and children.

 

What happened to the deal he was going to cut regarding his recent ability to access a computer hard drive containing more than 14 million files against Trump? Guess no one was interested...LOL

 

Very clear sign folks just didn’t believe his desperate pleas

 

It appears so. I hear he may speak before he enters jail today. That should be interesting...

 

Last minute Hail Mary.... There is nothing Michael Cohen has (had) access to anymore that the SDNY cannot get to faster...

Absolutely no one was interested... Even though he may have found some religion at the 11th hour, there's still way too much con man in him...

I imagine the only time he will sniff free air in the next 3 years will be to testify at Trump's trial, late 2021...

 

Really? What are you expecting to hear, that he didn't already tell Congress?

I can't imagine he has anything I want to hear anymore, until his testimony at Trump's trial for criminal campaign finance violations..

 

I heard that Lori Laughlin could be making a guest appearance soon.

 

Oh I honestly wouldn't expect to hear anything of importance.

 

He just left his apartment and made a few comments... nothing earth shattering...

But I could move to Mongolia for life with the clothing I could pack in the bags under his eyes... He never looks like he gets 8 hours a night, but the man clearly hasn't been sleeping....

 

Meh....he made his own bed. Perhaps he can get a nice facial once he is in "prison". That might help with those dark circles.

 

I'd volunteer to be her cellmate.

 

For those people interested in the actual facts of Cohen's demise:

1. Cohen plead guilty to 5 counts of tax evasion. All of these counts relate to Cohen's personal taxes and were not related to Trump or his campaign.
2. Cohen plead guilt to 1 count of making a false statement to a bank. This count is related to Cohen's personal business dealings and were not related to Trump or his campaign.
3. Cohen plead guilt to 2 counts of Campaign Finance Violations.

• Violation 1: On June 16, 2015, Cohen was hired by the Trump Campaign to advise the campaign, including matters of interest in the press.
• Cohen made a special arrangement with "Corporation-1" (A.M.I.), the owners of "Magazine-1" (National Inquirer) to notify him (Cohen) of any negative press involving Donald Trump or his campaign.
• On June 2016, Corporation-1 notified Cohen that Karen McDougal (through Michael Avenatti) was trying to sell a story about an affair with Trump.
• Corporation-1 reached a deal with McDougal to buy her story for $150,000 and signed an agreement to transfer the rights to Cohen for $125,000.
• Cohen set up a shell company (Resolution Consultants LLC) to use for the transaction
• On October 2016, Corporation-1 told Cohen that the agreement with McDougal fell through and he should tear up the agreement....which he did not.

• Violation 2: On October 8, 2016, Corporation-1 notified Cohen that Stormy Daniels (through Michael Avenatti) was trying to sell a story about an affair with Trump.
• Cohen reached a deal with Avenatti to purchase Daniel's silence for $130,000.
• Cohen dragged his feet on making payments to the point where Avenatti threatened Cohen that Daniel's will sell her story to another outlet.
• Cohen set up another shell company (Essential Consultants LLC).
• Cohen then withdrew $131,000 from the fraudulent company (HELOC) he built through his false statement to a bank and transfer it to Essential Consultants LLC.
• Cohen then paid Avenatti through the shell company.
• Cohen then billed his Law Firm $180,035....and the Law Firm "grossed up" the invoice for tax purposes to $420,000....which they paid to Cohen at $35,000 a month for 12 months.
• There is no indication in public records that the Trump campaign paid the Law Firm.

At this time, there is no indication in public that Cohen was directed or order by Trump to make these deal to these women. Cohen was hired to handle "bad publicity" and indications are that he committed these violations on his own, however, there are also indications that one or more people in Trump's campaign knew of his actions. Cohen set up the shell companies on his own and paid Daniel's through his shell company. McDougal was not paid. The payment to Daniel's and the intent to pay McDougal were considered as a "campaign donation", which is a violation of the $2,700 maximum per election. If Cohen has proof that he was order by Trump to make these payment, I would suspect that Mueller would already have seen this proof and it would have likely been in his report (maybe redacted?).

https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/4779489/Cohen-Information.pdf

 

Great post, Nunya!

I'd like to point out that unless the $ came out of Trumps' campaign those payments ARE NOT CAMPAIGN LAW VIOLATIONS.
'Historically, the FEC has said these things are not campaign contributions.'
So says Bradley Smith - former FEC chairman and law professor that teaches campaign finance law, and potential defense witness #1 in another donk witch hunt.
https://www.dailywire.com/news/29365/former-fec-chairman-mark-levin-stormy-daniels-jacob-airey

 

Agreed. The punishment is about having your freedoms taken away...being away from family, friends and your day to day life.

I feel no sympathy for him - he was a willing participant in illegal activity.