Michael Cohen Pleads Guilty To Hush Payments, Tax Evasion
NEW YORK — Michael Cohen, a longtime lawyer for President Donald Trump, pleaded guilty to eight felony counts in Manhattan federal court Tuesday, including crimes stemming from hush money he said he paid to two women at Trump’s request.
In an apparent reference to Trump, Cohen admitted that he worked at the “direction of a candidate” to pay off the women to influence the 2016 election in violation of campaign finance laws, according to reports from the courtroom. Cohen reportedly arranged hefty payouts worth a total of $280,000 to the porn star Stormy Daniels and previous Playboy model Karen McDougal to keep quiet their alleged affairs with the president.
“He worked to pay money to silence two women who had information that he believed would be detrimental to the 2016 campaign and to the candidate,” Deputy U.S. Attorney Robert Khuzami told reporters outside the Lower Manhattan courthouse where Cohen appeared.
Cohen also submitted bogus invoices to “the candidate’s company” seeking reimbursement for the money, Khuzami said. Cohen worked for years at the Trump Organization, the president’s eponymous real estate firm.
In addition to the two campaign finance crimes, Cohen pleaded guilty to one count of making false statements to a bank and five counts of tax evasion for failing to report more than $4 million in income over five years — including more than $1.3 million from his New York taxi medallion business, according to the criminal information filed in the case.
“These are very serious charges and reflect a pattern of lies and dishonesty over an extended period of time,” Khuzami said.
Cohen faces up to 65 years in prison for all of the charges. He’s scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 12.
Cohen’s guilty plea marked a stark downfall for a New York City lawyer and onetime City Council candidate who was reportedly Trump’s longtime confidant and fixer.
His court appearance came as a jury convicted former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort of eight counts in his separate criminal trial.
Trump stayed silent on Twitter as news of the nearly simultaneous legal developments involving two of his former aides exploded. He only tweeted to announce his arrival in West Virginia for a Tuesday evening campaign rally.
He told reporters there that he felt “very sad” about Manafort’s conviction, but did not answer questions about Cohen, the New York Post reported.
The Cohen case reportedly came to the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s Office from a referral by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who has been investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. The FBI reportedly raided Cohen’s Manhattan law office and hotel room in April, sparking outrage from Trump.
Cohen’s plea deal reportedly does not require him to cooperate with federal prosecutors in Manhattan, though that does not prevent him from giving the special counsel information, according to The New York Times.
Though Cohen copped to Trump’s role in the illegal payments to the women, a lawyer for the president noted that he wasn’t accused of any wrongdoing.
“It is clear that, as the prosecutor noted, Mr. Cohen’s actions reflect a pattern of lies and dishonesty over a significant period of time,” the lawyer, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, said in a statement, according to the Times.
Cohen’s taxi business played a significant role in the charges. Companies owned by him and his family have more than 30 New York City taxi medallions; the firms had open state tax warrants totaling nearly $174,000 as of April. He also owned medallions in Chicago, federal prosecutors said.
In addition to concealing taxi-related income from the Internal Revenue Service, Cohen “significantly understated” his medallion debt in a successful effort to get a $500,000 home equity line of credit that would not have been approved otherwise, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said the dark day for Trump — who ripped the mayor on Twitter earlier Tuesday — was unlike any since the end of Richard Nixon’s presidency in 1974 following the infamous Watergate scandal.
“A lot is going to change as a result of today,” de Blasio, a Democrat, said at an unrelated news conference. “A lot more dominoes are going to fall.”
(Lead image: Michael Cohen leaves Manhattan federal court after pleading guilty to eight criminal counts. Photo by Noah Manskar/Patch)