Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s former lawyer, was sentenced to three years in federal prison today for a variety of crimes, including accusations related to paying hush money to Trump mistresses to keep their stories out of circulation during the 2016 election campaign.
Can’t wait for the Trump tweet storm.
NPR’s account included some good quotes:
Cohen had asked for leniency. He said in court, however, that he accepts responsibility for his actions.
“This may be hard to believe, but today is one of the most meaningful days of my life,” Cohen said. “Today I get my freedom back.”
He said he had been “living in personal and mental incarceration ever since I agreed to work for a business mogul.” It was “blind loyalty to this man,” he said, “that led me to choose a path of darkness, not light.”
Cohen said the president had been right to call him “weak,” but not for the reasons that Trump believes.
“I felt it was my duty to cover up his dirty deeds,” Cohen said. “I was weak for not having the strength to refuse his demands. Owning this mistake will free me to be once more the person I am.”
AND WHOOPS: New today, a non-prosecution agreement with the publisher of the National Enquirer in which the publisher admits paying hush money to a Donald Trump mistress so it could help his campaign by killing the story.
“As a part of the agreement, AMI admitted that it made the $150,000 payment in concert with a candidate’s presidential campaign, and in order to ensure that the woman did not publicize damaging allegations about the candidate,” according to a statement by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New York.
“AMI further admitted that its principal purpose in making the payment was to suppress the woman’s story so as to prevent it from influencing the election.”
Dum-da-dum-dum