Michael Cohen surrenders to FBI, plea deal expected soon

[Zippyjuan]

https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/21/politics/michael-cohen-plea-deal-talks/index.html


Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former personal attorney, has surrendered to the FBI ahead of a 4 p.m. court proceeding, where the government is expected to disclose a plea deal, according to a law enforcement source.

As part of the deal, Cohen is expected to plead guilty to multiple counts of campaign finance violations, tax fraud and bank fraud, according to three sources. The deal would include jail time and a substantial monetary fine.

Among the sticking points in the talks, the two sides were negotiating over jail time, according to one source. Cohen is pressing for three years but prosecutors are seeking 50 months.

Cohen has been concerned about asset forfeiture, leaving his family with nothing. Prosecutors made clear that there was a bigger risk should he go to trial and be found guilty that he would have to forfeit assets.

As part of the plea deal under discussion earlier Tuesday, Cohen was not expected to cooperate with the government, one source told CNN. However, by pleading guilty both Cohen and prosecutors would avoid the spectacle and uncertainty of a trial.

A plea deal could be a significant blow for Trump. Cohen was part of Trump's inner circle for more than a decade, working as his personal attorney at the Trump Organization and continuing to advise the President after the election. Cohen once said he would take a bullet for Trump, but the relationship between the two men has frayed since an FBI raid in April of Cohen's office, hotel room and home.

Trump has distanced himself from Cohen, who has told friends he has felt isolated, according to the friends. Last month, Cohen told ABC News his loyalty is to his family and country first, not the President.

On Tuesday morning, Cohen was seen entering his attorney's office and did not respond to questions. Cohen's attorneys, Guy Petrillo and Lanny Davis, didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. A spokesman for the US attorney's office declined to comment.

The Cohen investigation was referred to the Southern District of New York by special counsel Robert Mueller. If the plea deal does not include cooperation by Cohen, then it is unclear if he would follow through on his previous assertion to friends, according to sources, that he is willing to talk to Mueller.

Prosecutors said in court their investigation is into Cohen's personal financial dealings. The search warrant authorizing the FBI raid referenced Cohen's taxi medallion business, the identity of banks that loaned him money and payments made to suppress negative information during the presidential campaign, such as the $130,000 hush money payment Cohen made days before the election to porn star Stormy Daniels, who alleges she had an affair with Trump nearly a decade ago. Trump has denied an affair.

It's not clear how any plea deal with Cohen might affect other entities that have been under scrutiny by federal prosecutors as part of the Cohen investigation, including the publisher of the National Enquirer, American Media Inc., which gave a $150,000 contract during the 2016 election cycle to another woman who alleged an affair with Trump.

Investigators are also examining more than $20 million in loans obtained for Cohen and his family's taxi companies, The New York Times reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

CNN and the Times reported Sunday that investigators were finalizing criminal charges against Cohen and could announce them by the end of the month.

According to the Times, investigators are trying to determine whether Cohen misrepresented the value of his assets to obtain the loans from two financial institutions that have catered to the taxi industry. They are also scrutinizing whether he failed to properly report his income from taxi medallions to the Internal Revenue Service, the Times reported.

CNN previously reported in April that Cohen is under investigation for possible bank and tax fraud, that his taxi medallions are a focus of the investigation, and that one of the banks that made the loans was Sterling National Bank, whose spokesman declined to comment earlier this month about federal scrutiny of the loans. The Times, citing financial records and people with knowledge of the matter, reported that the other financial institution is the Melrose Credit Union.

Prosecutors have been scrutinizing a variety of documents submitted by Cohen to various institutions, including those to the Internal Revenue Service and those to Sterling National Bank, CNN has reported.

[oyarde]

So basically it sounds like he is willing to volunteer for thirty six months or so of prison to avoid the govt taking everything he owns .

[EBounding]

How will this make Trump not president anymore?

[timosman]

How will this make Trump not president anymore?

Trump will pardon him and everybody will pile on Trump yelling collusion! That would be the end of his presidency. :cool:

[Schifference]

A pardon would cost Trump some political capital.

[Zippyjuan]

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/michael-cohen-plea-deal_us_5ad20bd8e4b0edca2cba4685


Michael Cohen Implicates Trump In Illegal Election Interference Plea

Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s former lawyer and personal fixer, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to illegally interfering in the 2016 election at the direction of the president.

Cohen says he worked “at the direction of a candidate for federal office,” ostensibly Trump, for the purpose of influencing the election. He has also pleaded guilty to five counts of tax evasion, two counts related to an illegal campaign contribution and one count of making a false statement.

The plea announcement came shortly after multiple outlets reported that Cohen had reached a plea deal with prosecutors of the Southern District of New York.

The deal is specifically related to payments Cohen made to women on behalf of Trump, The New York Times reported. The attorney is at the center of a yearslong legal entanglement between the president and adult film actress Stormy Daniels, who says she had an affair with Trump back in 2006. Daniels’ attorney Michael Avenatti claimed last month that Trump’s team paid off three additional women ahead of the election.

Prosecutors have also zeroed in on potential bank and tax fraud violations related to the Cohen family’s taxi medallion business, The Times reported over the weekend citing people familiar with the matter. The investigators were said to be evaluating $20 million in loans the attorney obtained from two New York area banks to determine whether he misrepresented the value of his assets. They also looked into whether Cohen failed to report income from the taxi business to the IRS.

A lawyer for Cohen said in April that federal prosecutors in New York were investigating his client on a referral from special counsel Robert Mueller, who is looking into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Cohen, 51, had reportedly been expecting an indictment for some time. Combined with his deteriorating relationship with the president, the attorney’s legal quagmire could push him to cooperate with prosecutors in any way he can.



No details on the "deal" side yet.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/michael-cohen-plea-deal-details-today-2018-08-21/


Former longtime Trump attorney Michael Cohen pleaded guilty in federal court in Manhattan Tuesday to eight counts — five counts of tax evasion, one count of making false statements to a financial institution, one count of willfully causing an unlawful corporation contribution, and one count of making an excessive campaign contribution at the request of a candidate.

Cohen's sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 12, with bail set at $500,0000. The news comes the same hour Mr. Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, was also found guilty on eight counts — five counts of tax fraud, one count of failing to disclose a foreign bank account, and two counts of bank fraud.


and one count of making an excessive campaign contribution at the request of a candidate would seem to implicate Trump.

[oyarde]

So , tax evading from monies from his taxi businesses . How much tax does he owe ? Must be a lot to get 3 to 4 years prison.?

[dannno]

Who cares? Give him 1,000 years in prison.. Trump is just going to pardon him.

It's fucking stupid, he paid off some sleezy whore who was threatening to disparage him right before the election. Who gives a shit?

[Zippyjuan]

Who cares? Give him 1,000 years in prison.. Trump is just going to pardon him.

It's $#@!ing stupid, he paid off some sleezy whore who was threatening to disparage him right before the election. Who gives a $#@!?

If it was Clinton, you would.

[timosman]

If it was Clinton, you would.

How many people did Trump whack?:confused:

[NorthCarolinaLiberty]

[$$$$$$$]


Something wicked this way comes.

[timosman]

Something wicked this way comes.

It should be [¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢]

[Zippyjuan]

How many people did Trump whack?:confused:

The bodies haven't been found yet. https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/mar/02/ted-cruz/yes-donald-trump-has-been-linked-mob/


Trump was first tied to the mafia in the 1980s, when a $7.8 million subcontract for Trump Plaza was awarded to S&A Concrete, according to Fortune. The company, as Cruz correctly says, was partially owned by Anthony "Fat Tony" Salerno, the boss of the Genovese crime family.

Trump himself acknowledged as much in a December 2015 interview with the Wall Street Journal, admitting that S&A Concrete was "supposedly associated with the mob."


Trump World Tower, supported by the Quadrozzi Concrete Company, is also tangentially related to La Cosa Nostra. The head of the company, John Quadrozzi Sr., was tied to the Lucchese crime family and indicted for making illegal payoffs to the mob in 1992.


Trump’s alleged mob dealings were not confined to New York. According to reports from the Huffington Post and Philadelphia Inquirer, Trump made a deal in Atlantic City with Kenneth Shapiro, an associate of mob boss Nicky Scarfo, and mob-connected labor boss Daniel Sullivan.

Trump seemed aware of this, calling Shapiro "a third-rate, local real estate mafia" and Sullivan "the guy who killed Jimmy Hoffa."

[timosman]

The bodies haven't been found yet. https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/mar/02/ted-cruz/yes-donald-trump-has-been-linked-mob/

No names. :tears:

[dannno]

If it was Clinton, you would.

Wrong.

[Brian4Liberty]

If it was Clinton, you would.

If it was Clinton, you would be posting about the outrageous politically motivated investigation and prosecution.

And without a doubt, what this proves is that the Clintons and friends could easily be prosecuted, if the deep state was not defending them, covering for them, and concealing for them.

Blatant cover-up and violations of law have been overlooked when it comes to the Clintons. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and Xavier Becerra could easily be prosecuted too. The entire Clinton machine is up to it’s ears in illegal activity, and at the very least, there is no way in the world that all of their paperwork is in proper order. They could be put away for a 1000 years on technicalities alone.

[EBounding]

I can’t believe Trump is a terrible person of poor moral character.

[TheCount]

Who cares? Give him 1,000 years in prison.. Trump is just going to pardon him.

It's fucking stupid, he paid off some sleezy whore who was threatening to disparage him right before the election. Who gives a shit?
https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/san/pages/1036/attachments/original/1429572000/Hillary5.gif

[dannno]

https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/san/pages/1036/attachments/original/1429572000/Hillary5.gif

Nominated for dumbest post of the year..

Hillary was selling weapons to ISIS and covered up the murder of soldiers.

Trump had sex with a whore who wanted to be on his TV show.

[Zippyjuan]

Clinton had sex with a woman not his wife and tried to cover it up. Impeach him!
Trump had sex with a woman not his wife and tried to cover it up. Meh- who cares?

[NorthCarolinaLiberty]

Clinton had sex with a woman not his wife and tried to cover it up. Impeach him!


I didn't hear any RPFers saying that. Got a link?

[NorthCarolinaLiberty]

https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/san/pages/1036/attachments/original/1429572000/Hillary5.gif


Didn't you vote for her? Or is that a video of your current girlfriend? :radioactive:

[dannno]

Clinton had sex with a woman not his wife and tried to cover it up. Impeach him!
Trump had sex with a woman not his wife and tried to cover it up. Meh- who cares?

It's really a pain to argue with trolls.

If you were actually a functioning human being with half a brain you would know that nobody here thinks Clinton should have been impeached for what happened w/ Monica Lewinsky, yet you have made the same statement probably 40 times in the last 11 years. You get called out on it every time, and you never learn. You use the same old retarded arguments that don't make any sense.

I was arguing with a troll earlier today on the internet, and I said that Mueller was monetizing his security clearance with his media appearances and that is why his security clearance was pulled.

This guy then said that a lot of Republicans do that too, like for example Colin Powell. I told him that Colin Powell is a deep state war criminal and I don't give a shit about him. That's like the 10th time I've had the same argument with this guy, he always says that some other deep state Republican does something equal to what some deep state Democrat does, and I have to remind him that I hate most Republicans in DC too because most of them work for the deep state.

Then instead of coming up with an argument he made fun of me for saying 'deep state'.

You are a worthless human being zippy, and you are working for evil people. You make stupid arguments constantly, you get called on it, then you make them again two months later. Why can't you come up with better material?

[Zippyjuan]

I was arguing with a troll earlier today on the internet, and I said that Mueller was monetizing his security clearance with his media appearances and that is why his security clearance was pulled.

Mueller had his security clearance pulled? I haven't seen him making many TV appearances either (if you want to discuss getting facts straight).

I didn't quote anybody in particular.

[TheCount]

Nominated for dumbest post of the year..

Hillary was selling weapons to ISIS and covered up the murder of soldiers.

Trump had sex with a whore who wanted to be on his TV show.
Womp womp

[Swordsmyth]

Trump will pardon him and everybody will pile on Trump yelling collusion! That would be the end of his presidency. :cool:


A pardon would cost Trump some political capital.


Who cares? Give him 1,000 years in prison.. Trump is just going to pardon him.

It's $#@!ing stupid, he paid off some sleezy whore who was threatening to disparage him right before the election. Who gives a $#@!?
Why would Trump pardon the man who unethically recorded his attorney/client phone calls?

[spudea]

Clinton had sex with a woman not his wife and tried to cover it up. Impeach him!
Trump had sex with a woman not his wife and tried to cover it up. Meh- who cares?

in office vs 10 years prior to office

Clinton also under oath lied about it

welcome to earth, different things are treated differently.

[Swordsmyth]

If it was Clinton, you would.
I care in either case but not enough to impeach over it, there were many better reasons to impeach Clinton.

[Zippyjuan]

I care in either case but not enough to impeach over it, there were many better reasons to impeach Clinton.

Lying about sex was the only thing he was found guilty of. Trump will need to tread carefully if Republicans lose control of Congress. He sometimes has troubles keeping his stories straight.

[Swordsmyth]

Mueller had his security clearance pulled? I haven't seen him making many TV appearances either (if you want to discuss getting facts straight).
He obviously meant Brennan, but since you are losing the argument it makes sense you are trying to change the subject to petty mistakes by your opponent.


I didn't quote anybody in particular.
And therein lies part of the problem, you used a non-quotation to imply that those you are debating said such a thing while planning this lame defense.

[Swordsmyth]

Lying about sex was the only thing he was found guilty of.
Yes, the deepstate did its work well, the other charges were all forgotten and the investigations dropped.


Trump will need to tread carefully if Republicans lose control of Congress. He sometimes has troubles keeping his stories straight.
If he were an Archangel sent from heaven the Demoncrats would impeach him if given the chance, that however will not happen.

[NorthCarolinaLiberty]

It's really a pain to argue with trolls.

****

zippy,...you are working for evil people. You make stupid arguments constantly, you get called on it, then you make them again two months later. Why can't you come up with better material?


He doesn't come up with anything new because he doesn't have to come up with anything new. I doubt his employer (https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/) even checks his work much.

On top of that--people here waste their time going in-depth with these assclowns. This is exactly what they want. They love to hide behind the cloak of discussion. They hate it when they are called out. Again, they are not here for discussion. At all.

Most legit RPFers aren't even aware of most of the RPF shenaniganists. The shenaniganists count on hoodwinking visitors and the unsuspecting. That's how they can come back and post the same crap time-after-time.

[NorthCarolinaLiberty]

Think of RPF paid trolls here as a government body that you try to fight in real life.

A government employee can sit there all day and fight you because he gets paid to do so. The gov employee does the same thing as you, except he gets a weekly paycheck.

[Anti Globalist]

It's ok. Trump will pardon him anyway. Probably in a year or so. Or maybe towards the end of his presidency.

[Swordsmyth]

It's ok. Trump will pardon him anyway. Probably in a year or so. Or maybe towards the end of his presidency.

Why would Trump pardon the man who unethically recorded his attorney/client phone calls?
...

[dannno]

Mueller had his security clearance pulled? I haven't seen him making many TV appearances either (if you want to discuss getting facts straight).

I didn't quote anybody in particular.

Meant Brennan, sorry, I get deep state folks mixed up sometimes.

[Zippyjuan]

Meant Brennan, sorry, I get deep state folks mixed up sometimes.

Easy to do when everybody is Deep State. Even the Donald.

[Jamesiv1]

There is a disturbance in the MAGA today.

[spudea]

Media stories that are negative for a candidate and not reported on are now considered campaign contributions. How many negative stories did the Clinton campaign kill through media collusion????

[francisco]

...Most legit RPFers aren't even aware of ...

Most legit RPFers are long gone