It’s sentencing day for former Trump personal attorney Michael Cohen in Manhattan.
Federal prosecutors are recommending a “substantial term of imprisonment” for Cohen, who has pleaded guilty to both lying to Congress over a possible Trump Tower Moscow project, and to campaign finance violations for paying women who alleged affairs with Donald Trump. Cohen’s lawyers are asking that he serve no prison time.
Prosecutors say they believe Cohen committed illegal acts at the direction of and in aid to Mr. Trump, named “Individual 1” in court filings. Mr. Trump has disowned Cohen, calling him “not very smart.”
“Michael Cohen is lying and he’s trying to get a reduced sentence for things that have nothing to do with me,” the president told reporters on the White House South Lawn last week.
Both special counsel Robert Mueller’s team and prosecutors in the Southern District of New York have leveled cases against Cohen, whose relationship with the president has soured as Cohen has turned on the president. When Cohen’s apartment and office were raided in April, the president called him a “good man,” and the raid, a “disgraceful situation.”
Mr. Trump has given no indication that he would pardon Cohen, even as he hasn’t ruled out the possibility of pardoning his former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort. Manafort has pleaded guilty to fraud counts related to his business transactions, but Mr. Trump has praised him.
Cohen’s sentencing hearing is set to begin at 11 a.m., and the outcome can be viewed in the live player above.
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