DONALD Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen has pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about work he did on a Trump real estate project in Russia.
It prompted the President branded to brand him a “weak person” who is “lying” to get a reduced sentence and comes after he admitted paying hush money to Stormy Daniels.
With Cohen facing sentencing tomorrow on charges brought by federal prosecutors in New York, here’s what you need to know about the president’s former go-to guy.
Who is Michael Cohen?
The 52-year-old was born on Long Island and his father was a surgeon who survived a Nazi concentration camp in Poland and his mother a nurse.
He graduated from American University in Washington and Cooley Law School in western Michigan before returning to New York.
As well as working in a law firm, he also ran a successful taxi business and made a failed bid to get elected to New York City Council.
Cohen married Ukraine-born Laura Shusterman in 1994 and the couple have a daughter.
When did he work for Donald Trump?
Cohen worked for the President for more than a decade.
But even before they met was a firm admirer of Trump, reportedly reading the property tycoon’s The Art of the Deal book several times.
He first entered into Trump’s orbit when his family purchased a number of properties in the Trump World Tower, near the United Nations in New York.
Cohen had become the treasurer of the building’s board and later acquired more properties.
He was introduced to Trump by his son, Donald Jr, in 2006 and after advising him on a few legal matters, was surprised to be offered a job in 2007.
Cohen soon acquired a reputation as a fiercely loyal and aggressive defender of his boss, once saying he would “take a bullet” for Trump and was also described as a “pit bull”.
He became executive vice-president of the Trump Organisation and pushed for his boss to run for the presidency even launching a website Should Trump Run? to gauge public opinion.
“It means that if somebody does something Mr. Trump doesn’t like, I do everything in my power to resolve it to Mr. Trump’s benefit,” Cohen explained to ABC News.
“If you do something wrong, I’m going to come at you, grab you by the neck and I’m not going to let you go until I’m finished.”
As the scandal over payments to Stormy Daniels began to gather pace, Cohen was replaced by former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani as Trump’s personal attorney in May 2018.
Why did he plea guilty?
Cohen has admitted charges relating to two separate inquiries both of which are potentially hugely damaging for the President.
The first set of charges relate payments made to former porn star Stormy Daniels
The second set relate to the investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller into whether Trump colluded Russia to sway the 2016 election.
Daniels, 39, real name Stephanie Clifford, alleges that she slept with Trump following a celebrity golf tournament in Nevada in 2006.
She has regularly claimed the payment made to her was hush money – to stop her being interviewed about her alleged affair with the now US President.
On April 9 the FBI raided Cohen’s offices in Manhattan seizing records relating to the payment.
In August Cohen admitted paying Daniels £92,000 days before the US election in 2016.
Cohen pleaded guilty to violating finance laws during the 2016 presidential election by handling payments to Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who also claims she slept with Trump.
Prior to that Cohen’s lawyer released audio of a conversation he had with Trump about the Stormy payment.
In September, Cohen’s lawyer said his client had been providing “critical information” to Mueller’s probe.
Then on November 29, Cohen admitted he lied about a Trump property deal in Russia during the 2016 election.
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During a court hearing in Manhattan he admitted he submitting a false written statement about a Trump Organisation plan to build a skyscraper in the Russian capital.
Cohen was interviewed in October last year behind closed doors by the House and Senate Intelligence committees
They are conducting their own investigation into whether Mr Trump’s campaign worked with Russia to sway the US election two years ago.
According to the criminal complaint, Cohen told lawmakers that talks over the Moscow project had lasted from September 2015 until January 2016, while Mr Trump was running for the White House.
Cohen told the committees he had had limited contact with Trump about the project, when in fact it had been “more extensive”.
In the plea agreement, prosecutors say while Trump insisted repeatedly in the campaign he had no business dealings in Russia, Cohen was pursing the Trump Tower Moscow project weeks after his boss won the Republican nomination.
What sentence have prosecutors recommended?
Cohen will be sentenced on December 12 for the charges relating to the Storm Daniels hush money and lying to Congress.
His lawyers have pleaded for for no jail time, saying he has cooperated extensively with both investigations and has taken responsibility for his actions.
But federal prosecutors asked a judge to sentence Cohen to a “substantial” prison term for the Stormy Daniels payments and evading taxes.
With offences including lying to the tax authorities and Congress as well “seeking to criminally influence the presidential election”, Cohen’s decision to plead guilty “does not make him a hero”, they said.
Mueller’s office said it would not take a position on Cohen’s sentencing
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News Pictures Who is Michael Cohen, how long did he work for Donald Trump and what crimes is he accused of?
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