Masha Fante
Trump’s attorney Michael Cohen was sentenced to 36 months in prison today for his complicity in carrying crimes at the direction of “Individual-1” AKA Donald Trump. Cohen’s crimes involve arranging secret hush money payments to Trump’s mistresses Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal during the 2016 election.
During the sentencing, Cohen’s attorney asked the judge for leniency, calling Cohen a “very good man.” Cohen was asking for no jail time, noting that he aided Mueller’s investigation and noting that his former client and benefactor, President Trump, had vocally weighed in on the sentencing (which, just to remind you, is not a thing presidents usually do).
“I take full responsibility for each act that I pled guilty to,” Cohen said. “The personal ones for me and for the President of the United States of America.”
“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 that I deeply admired,” Cohen said, not acknowledging the massive fraud that underpinned that “business acumen.”
“Recently the president tweeted a statement calling me weak and it was correct but for a much different reason than he was implying. It was because time and time again I felt it was my duty to cover up his dirty deeds,” Cohen continued.
“Today is one of the most meaningful days of my life. The irony is that today I get my freedom back,” he said. “Blind loyalty to this man led me to choose a path of darkness over light.”
Cohen pleaded guilty to arranging the hush money payments which he admits were made to benefit Donald Trump’s election. Also, according to Special Counsel prosecutors, Cohen sang like a canary about Trump’s extensive ties to Russia.
Special Counsel's Office prosecutor Jeannie S. Rhee said that Cohen provided "credible" and "valuable information" regarding "any links between a campaign and a foreign government."
"Mr. Cohen has sought to tell us the truth," Rhee said.— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) December 12, 2018
Obviously, no one on Twitter wasted any time in dunking on Cohen and noting how extraordinary it is that a sitting president’s former attorney implicated him in criminal activity:
Sure sex is great but have you ever watched rich evil men receive their comeuppance?
— The Volatile Mermaid (@OhNoSheTwitnt) December 12, 2018
The witch hunt just sentenced a witch to three years in jail.
— Noell Scovell (@NellSco) December 12, 2018
Michael Cohen and Michael Flynn, brought to you by the people who ran on "law and order" in 2016.
— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) December 12, 2018
Three years in prison for the president's lawyer and bagman, a reminder that the president is surrounded by criminals, one of whom was his bagman–which is a thing the president had.
— Brian Beutler (@brianbeutler) December 12, 2018
https://twitter.com/OhNoSheTwitnt/status/1072905906214592512
FACT: If Trump wasn't the President of the United States, he'd be going to jail along with Cohen
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) December 12, 2018
Michael Cohen: just sentenced to 36 months
Manafort: in prison
Flynn: awaiting sentencing
Don Jr: under investigation
Individual-1: too stupid to understand just how fucked he isHillary: enjoying a nice walk in the woods, probably
Me: laughing at all you "lock her up" morons
— Jeff Tiedrich (@itsJeffTiedrich) December 12, 2018
Michael Cohen has been sentenced to 3 years prison. Sentence is bad news for Trump. In most jurisdictions,subordinates who carry out felonies at the direction of their boss get lower criminal sentences than the boss. So if camp vio big driver of Cohen sentence, Trump > 3 years…
— Neal Katyal (@neal_katyal) December 12, 2018