Getty Michael Cohen, a personal attorney for President Trump, departs from a House Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill
President Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday to eight criminal counts, including tax fraud, false statements to a bank and campaign finance violations.
Cohen told the court that, acting at the request of then-candidate Donald Trump, he had arranged to buy the silence of two women who allegedly had affairs with Trump. Cohen also pleaded guilty to income tax evasion and a range of other financial crimes.
He and prosecutors reached a plea agreement in which he will spend substantially less time in jail than he would have, normally, and will likely not have to hand over all of his assets. But the embattled lawyer will still likely pay a substantial fine and spend at least four years in jail.
You can read the full text of Cohen’s plea agreement here.
Here’s what you need to know about the plea deal:
1. Cohen Says He Paid Off the Two Women — Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal — In Order to Influence the 2016 Presidential Election
Cohen has long been implicated in paying out money to Stormy Daniels, the former porn star, and to Karen McDougal, former Playboy playmate, in return for their silence about the two women’s alleged affairs with Donald Trump. But today was the first time that Cohen explicitly said that Trump had asked him to arrange the payments.
Cohen said in court on Tuesday that the payments were “for the principal purpose of influencing the election” in 2016. He did not elaborate — but the implication is that he, and Trump, both believed that Trump would have a better chance of winning if voters didn’t know about his affairs.
Cohen made the admission as he pleaded guilty to, among other crimes, campaign finance violations.
2. Cohen’s Plea Agreement Does Not Require Him to Cooperate With Prosecutors — But He Might Do It Anyway
Statement from Michael Cohen’s lawyer, Lanny Davis, following Cohen’s guilty plea in New York today:
The plea deal which Cohen signed with prosecutors doesn’t require him to talk to prosecutors about his dealings with Trump. In fact, prosecutors insist that they are concerned with crimes that Cohen — not Trump — committed.
But Cohen might still have an incentive to cooperate with the Mueller investigation, which is looking into allegations of collusion between Trump’s presidential campaign and the Russian government. Even under the terms of Cohen’s plea deal, he still faces several years of jail time — something which Mueller might be able to have reduced in exchange for cooperation.
Cohen worked closely with Trump for many years and he is thought to know many of the president’s secrets. Back in July, Cohen told ABC News that he would “put his family first” if he was offered a deal. That subtle statement was taken to mean that he’d be willing to talk about Trump’s secrets in return for leniency for his own crimes.
3. The Plea Deal Recommends a Sentence of Between 43 and 63 Months
Of all the characters who floated around the Trump presidential campaign in 2016, the one who seemed least likely to cause a problem for the boss was Michael Cohen. Until today. t.co/IQj95S8Cwy by @GeraldFSeib
The plea agreement which Cohen signed does not actually include a sentence. Sentencing will be determined at a separate court hearing. the plea deal contains a recommended sentence — but the document is very clear that the recommendation is just, well, a recommendation.
Under the terms of the plea deal, Cohen would face anywhere from 43 months — the minimum suggested by Cohen and his lawyers — to 63 months, the maximum set by prosecutors. You can read the full plea arrangement here. The sentencing range is on page four.
Even 63 months, the maximum suggested by the plea deal, is well under the amount of jail time that Cohen would probably have gotten without a deal. One of the counts — providing false information to a ban — carries a sentence of up to 30 years. Cohen might also try to negotiate a more lenient sentence by cooperating with Robert Mueller’s investigation.
4. Prosecutors Say Cohen Hid More Than Four Million Dollars in Income From the IRS
Michael Cohen told a judge that Donald Trump directed him during the 2016 campaign to buy the silence of two women who said they had an affair with the president t.co/T2tBSvXDb5
Cohen didn’t just plead guilty to crimes committed around the Trump campaign — he also pleaded guilty to crimes committed around his own finances. Prosecutors say that between 2012 and the present, Cohen failed to pay taxes of upwards of four million dollars in personal income.
Cohen also set up a company, Essential Consultants L.L.C., which he used to make a payment to Stormy Daniels in return for a hush deal about her alleged relationship with Donald Trump. Cohen used Essential Consultants L.L.Cl to pay off Karen McDougal for her silence about her own alleged affair with Trump.
5. Trump Has Refused to Comment on Cohen’s Deal
“We are now in the end stages of the Trump Presidency.” —@adamdavidson.
Donald Trump is not normally one to be quiet when his name is in the news. But on Tuesday the president, in West Virginia for a campaign event, did not respond to reporters’ questions about the case. White House spokesperson Sarah Sanders also declined to comment.
The president’s lawyer, Rudolph Giuliani, said the the president had done nothing wrong — and that Cohen was the one with the pattern of dishonesty. Giuliani said, “There is no allegation of any wrongdoing against the President in the government’s charges against Mr. Cohen,” Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani said in a statement. “It is clear that, as the prosecutor noted, Mr. Cohen’s actions reflect a pattern of lies and dishonesty over a significant period of time.”