At least he didn’t vote illegally (woman in TX jailed for 5 years for (unknowingly) voting illegally.)
*
Imagine if somehow the hold breaks and this happens to trump supporters
President Trump’s former personal attorney and “fixer,” Michael Cohen, was sentenced to 36 months in jail for nine felonies, including a criminal scheme to help Trump win the 2016 election.
Cohen broke down sobbing before the judge at his sentencing in Manhattan Wednesday morning, and in brief, emotional remarks, invoked one man whose presence loomed over the proceeding: President Donald Trump.
“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.
“Today is one of the most meaningful days of my life,” Cohen continued. ”The irony is that today I get my freedom back.”
In fairness, I can see that last part being true.
At least at this point, he’s going to jail and doesn’t need to be permanently embroiled in a criminal operation.
I am willing to believe that Michael Cohen really did have an epiphany and is no longer a force for evil. He seems sincere. Good for him. I hope he and his family get through his incarceration OK.
If you have even the slightest twinge of empathy for a mob lawyer like Cohen, enjoy this little snippet of his language and behavior to journalists, from just last year.
If by “had an epiphany” you mean “got caught”, sure.
I have a .jpeg of a bridge to sell you.
Is it at least flyable?
SOON™
I get that maybe it wasn’t all fun and games working for Trump, and certainly the campaign finance crimes were done at Trump’s behest; but it’s hard to see how Cohen can blame Trump for Cohen’s own income tax evasion and bank fraud. He’s a crook. He’s lucky it’s only 3 years after he tried to stiff the SDNY.
National Enquirer admitting it was done to help the campaign too:
This is a big one, as there are now multiple witnesses on the record indicating the payoffs were part of a coordinated effort to illegally influence the election.
Bonus points - Mueller probably asked Trump about this as well, and he may well have lied in his written answers about it, thinking he could get away with a he said/she said against Cohen only.
Yep, was just coming to post this, and to mention the significance. As Ken White detailed on All the President’s Lawyers podcast earlier this week, one difficult part of prosecuting this kind of stuff as a felony is the requirement of intent. We can see Trump trying to cop to that angle earlier this year, when Giuliani said that the payoffs were to save Trump some personal embarrassment. If you can show that, the wrinkle in the law probably gives you a strong defense.
BUT…with the AMI deal today, we now know specifically that the intent was not to save Trump personal embarrassment but instead to illegally influence the election. And that’s the shit that gets you 36 months in jail.
And to counter the whatabouters:
You can tell me all you want that Donald Trump was too stupid to know that Michael Cohen’s money was a campaign contribution, but you cannot credibly say that Trump didn’t know the National Enquirer’s money was not a contribution, or that he didn’t recognize catching-and-killing McDougal’s story was an “in-kind” contribution.
So that means Trump is left with arguing that he didn’t know that the Enquirer was paying off mistresses on his behalf which… MAKES NO GODDAMN SENSE.
Karen McDougal has always been a bigger danger to Trump than Stormy Daniels because of AMI’s involvement. Trump’s defenses against campaign finance violations involving McDougal basically requires Cohen and David Pecker to organize expensive payments and underhanded schemes to kill McDougal’s story, without once asking Trump, “Hey, did you f**k Karen McDougal?”
Missed this earlier today.
Lots of clues to potentially big stories dropped under the radar today with this and AMI.
Susan Collins was doing one helluva Katharine Hepburn impersonation there.
Well, this is interesting. If true, it’s clearly a Logan Act violation.
A possible 3D chess explanation for why she would risk death after or in prison by pleading guilty? The Russians (who obviously do play 3D chess) main goal is discord. They got crazy train elected, now time to tear down the institutions that prop up crazy train’s party. She’s not risking anything - she’s just doing what she’s told to do. (no - of course I don’t have any evidence…)
What a troll. “‘I asked all the heads of our intelligence services what is going on. Nobody knows anything about her,’ Putin said.”
Documents obtained by NBC News say Butina will admit she conspired with an unidentified American to act at the direction of a Russian official “to establish unofficial lines of communication with Americans having power and influence over U.S. politics … for the benefit of the Russian Federation.”
The same documents talk about Butina’s efforts to build ties with a “gun rights organization,” and “Political Party 1,” which is the Republican Party.
The documents also confirm that Butina was involved in arranging a trip by NRA members to Moscow in late 2015.
The charge that Butina plans to plead guilty to carries a maximum possible sentence of five years in prison, but the estimated federal sentencing guideline range for her will be from no time in jail to up to six months. She also faces deportation after her sentence ends.
Putin, according to the Reuters news service, said Tuesday that it is unclear to him why Butina was arrested in the United States, because the chiefs of Russia’s intelligence agencies had informed him they do not know anything about her.
“She risks 15 years in jail. For what?” Putin asked.
“I asked all the heads of our intelligence services what is going on. Nobody knows anything about her,” Putin said.
I think it’s unlikely the Logan Act would survive a Supreme Court challenge. First Amendment and all…