The government filed two sentencing memos late yesterday afternoon in the cases brought against Michael Cohen. The Special Counsel referred the investigation of the largest basket of Cohen’s misconduct to the Office of the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York (the prosecutors, as I will refer to them). The 38-page sentencing memo filed by the prosecutors is below. It is a biting document. Despite his plea agreement with the prosecutors and with the Special Counsel in a second case involving false statements to Congress, he is not deemed a cooperating witness. Cohen’s assistance to the Special Counsel is nevertheless acknowledged as a mitigating factor in sentencing.
Cohen is a disgusting sleazeball of the first order. As we saw previously when Cohen pleaded guilty, Trump figures prominently in the prosecutors’ recitation in the form of Individual-1. To say the least, he and his services reflect poorly on Trump.
In the New York case Cohen pleaded guilty, inter alia, to two campaign finance charges involving schemes to procure nondisclosure agreements from Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal. These charges implicate President Trump (who had the constitutional right to fund his own campaign) and the Trump campaign. The schemes underlying the campaign finance charges to which Cohen pleaded guilty are discussed at pages 11-14, 22-25 and 36-37. Oh, what a tangled web we weave.
Insofar as one can ascertain from the memo, however, the Trump Organization rather than Trump himself paid the related expenses. At page 16, the prosecutors lament that Cohen only met with them “about the participation of others in the campaign finance crimes to which Cohen has already pleaded guilty” — not about his other past criminal misconduct, “if any” (they graciously add).
I am omitting discussion of Cohen’s other offenses here. We will be hearing much more about the campaign finance aspect of this case, which the prosecutors place at the feet of Individual-1. The sentencing memo serves as a sort of preview of coming attractions. I will take up the Special Counsel sentencing memo in a second post.
Michael Cohen sentencing me… by on Scribd
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