NEW YORK (Reuters) - Michael Cohen, U.S. President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer, was sentenced to a total of three years in prison on Wednesday for his role in making illegal hush-money payments to women to help Trump’s 2016 election campaign and lying to Congress about a proposed Trump Tower project in Russia.

U.S. District Judge William Pauley in Manhattan sentenced Cohen to three years for the payments, which violated campaign finance law, and to two months for the false statements to Congress. The two terms will run concurrently.

Cohen pleaded guilty to the campaign finance charge in August and to making false statements in November. </s> NEW YORK (AP) - The unveiling of federal criminal charges against President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer came with drama as attorney Michael Cohen went farther than prosecutors were willing to go in pointing fingers. Not only did Cohen plead guilty to all eight charges, but he directly implicated the president in the payment of hush money to two women who claim they had affairs with him.

How did the court appearance play out and what are the implications? Some questions and answers:

Cohen, Trump's longtime "fixer," claimed his ex-boss - described only as the "candidate," was to blame for hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels and a former Playboy model to influence the 2016 election.

He told U.S. District Judge William H. Pauley III that he arranged a $150,000 payment from a media company to the model "in coordination with, and at the direction of, a candidate for federal office." He said it was "for the principle purpose of influencing the election."

In the second instance, Cohen said he arranged a $130,000 payment to Daniels "in coordination with, and at the direction of, the same candidate."

The emotional Cohen, who shook his head repeatedly during the 40-minute proceeding and cried outside court, did not name the two women either. But the amounts and the dates all lined up with payments made to Daniels and Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal in the weeks and months leading up to the presidential election.

Other charges included tax evasion and making false statements to a bank.

A plea agreement with prosecutors calls for Cohen, 51, to get about four to five years in prison at his sentencing, which is scheduled for Dec. 12. He remains free in the meantime.

Before the guilty plea, speculation swirled about whether Cohen could deliver more dirt on his former boss as part of the deal. His legal team, as if to prove his value, took the unusual step of going public with a tape recording his client made of Trump discussing one of the hush-money payments.

But a plea agreement Cohen signed on Tuesday made no mention of cooperation.

By contrast, the agreement struck last year with Trump's former national security advisor, Michael Flynn, spelled out that he had to fully cooperate with the expectation he could be rewarded with a more lenient sentence.

Robert Mintz, a former federal prosecutor now in private practice, said there's still a chance that Cohen could be cooperating under a separate agreement that's under seal.

"For a variety of reasons, prosecutors may not want to announce to the world that a defendant has agreed to cooperate," he said. Still, he added, prosecutors also could "have concluded that any additional information that he could provide beyond his public statements doesn't rise to the level of substantial assistance."

WHAT WAS THE REACTION TO COHEN'S GUILTY PLEA?

As cable networks were showing split-screen coverage of the dueling conviction and plea bargain by two former loyalists, Trump boarded Air Force One in the afternoon on the way to a rally in West Virginia. He ignored shouted questions from reporters about both former aides, retreating to his private stateroom on the airliner.

As Cohen left the courthouse, a couple of people outside chanted, "Lock him up!"

"If those payments were a crime for Michael Cohen, then why wouldn't they be a crime for Donald Trump?" Cohen's lawyer, Lanny Davis, tweeted.

Daniel Petalas, former prosecutor in the Justice Department's public integrity section, said, "This brings President Trump closer into the criminal conduct."

Michael Avenatti says Cohen's plea should open the door to questioning Trump about "what he knew, when he knew it, and what he did about it."

Avenatti told The Associated Press that he was certain "cooperation was occurring" between Cohen and prosecutors, saying he had been made "very familiar" with what's going on.

Laurie Levenson, a former federal prosecutor and professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, noted the possibility of Cohen cooperating should be worrying to the president and his allies.

"What it shows is that the people close to the president have criminal exposure and it may mean they don't need Cohen to cooperate," she said.

Associated Press writers Stephen R. Groves and Michael R. Sisak in New York, Jonathan Lemire and Catherine Lucey in Washington and Michael Balsamo in Los Angeles contributed to this report. </s> NEW YORK (AP) — The unveiling of federal criminal charges against President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer came with drama as attorney Michael Cohen went farther than prosecutors were willing to go in pointing fingers. Not only did Cohen plead guilty to all eight charges, but he directly implicated the president in the payment of hush money to two women who claim they had affairs with him.

How did the court appearance play out and what are the implications? Some questions and answers:

Cohen, Trump's longtime "fixer," claimed his ex-boss — described only as the "candidate," was to blame for hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels and a former Playboy model to influence the 2016 election.

He told U.S. District Judge William H. Pauley III that he arranged a $150,000 payment from a media company to the model "in coordination with, and at the direction of, a candidate for federal office." He said it was "for the principle purpose of influencing the election."

In the second instance, Cohen said he arranged a $130,000 payment to Daniels "in coordination with, and at the direction of, the same candidate."

The emotional Cohen, who shook his head repeatedly during the 40-minute proceeding and cried outside court, did not name the two women either. But the amounts and the dates all lined up with payments made to Daniels and Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal in the weeks and months leading up to the presidential election.

Other charges included tax evasion and making false statements to a bank.

A plea agreement with prosecutors calls for Cohen, 51, to get about four to five years in prison at his sentencing, which is scheduled for Dec. 12. He remains free in the meantime.

Before the guilty plea, speculation swirled about whether Cohen could deliver more dirt on his former boss as part of the deal. His legal team, as if to prove his value, took the unusual step of going public with a tape recording his client made of Trump discussing one of the hush-money payments.

But a plea agreement Cohen signed on Tuesday made no mention of cooperation.

By contrast, the agreement struck last year with Trump's former national security advisor, Michael Flynn, spelled out that he had to fully cooperate with the expectation he could be rewarded with a more lenient sentence.

Robert Mintz, a former federal prosecutor now in private practice, said there's still a chance that Cohen could be cooperating under a separate agreement that's under seal.

"For a variety of reasons, prosecutors may not want to announce to the world that a defendant has agreed to cooperate," he said. Still, he added, prosecutors also could "have concluded that any additional information that he could provide beyond his public statements doesn't rise to the level of substantial assistance."

WHAT WAS THE REACTION TO COHEN'S GUILTY PLEA?

As cable networks were showing split-screen coverage of the dueling conviction and plea bargain by two former loyalists, Trump boarded Air Force One in the afternoon on the way to a rally in West Virginia. He ignored shouted questions from reporters about both former aides, retreating to his private stateroom on the airliner.

As Cohen left the courthouse, a couple of people outside chanted, "Lock him up!"

"If those payments were a crime for Michael Cohen, then why wouldn't they be a crime for Donald Trump?" Cohen's lawyer, Lanny Davis, tweeted.

Daniel Petalas, former prosecutor in the Justice Department's public integrity section, said, "This brings President Trump closer into the criminal conduct."

Michael Avenatti says Cohen's plea should open the door to questioning Trump about "what he knew, when he knew it, and what he did about it."

Avenatti told The Associated Press that he was certain "cooperation was occurring" between Cohen and prosecutors, saying he had been made "very familiar" with what's going on.

Laurie Levenson, a former federal prosecutor and professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, noted the possibility of Cohen cooperating should be worrying to the president and his allies.

"What it shows is that the people close to the president have criminal exposure and it may mean they don't need Cohen to cooperate," she said.

Associated Press writers Stephen R. Groves and Michael R. Sisak in New York, Jonathan Lemire and Catherine Lucey in Washington and Michael Balsamo in Los Angeles contributed to this report. </s> NEW YORK (AP) — Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer and fixer, pleaded guilty Tuesday to campaign-finance violations and other charges, saying Trump directed him to arrange the payment of hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels and a former Playboy model to influence the election.

Cohen’s account appears to implicate Trump himself in a crime, though whether — or when — a president can be prosecuted remains a matter of legal dispute.

The guilty plea was part of a double dose of bad news for Trump: It came at almost the same moment his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort was convicted in Alexandria, Virginia, of eight financial crimes in the first trial to come out of special counsel Robert Mueller’s sprawling Russia investigation.

In a deal reached with federal prosecutors, Cohen, 51, pleaded guilty to eight counts, including tax evasion. He could get about four to five years in prison at sentencing Dec. 12.

In entering the plea, Cohen did not name the two women or even Trump, recounting instead that he worked with an “unnamed candidate.”

But the amounts and the dates all lined up with the $130,000 paid to Daniels and the $150,000 that went to Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal to buy their silence in the weeks and months leading up to the 2016 White House election. Both women claimed to have had affairs with Trump, which he denies.

Cohen, his voice shaky as he answered questions from a federal judge, said one payment was “in coordination and at the direction of a candidate for federal office,” and the other was made “under direction of the same candidate.”

Daniel Petalas, a former prosecutor in the Justice Department’s public integrity section, said, “This brings President Trump closer into the criminal conduct.”

“The president has certain protections while a sitting president, but if it were true, and he was aware and tried to influence an election, that could be a federal felony offense,” Petalas said. “This strikes close to home.”

However, in the charging documents, a news release and comments outside the courthouse, prosecutors did not go as far as Cohen did in open court in pointing the finger at the president. Prosecutors said Cohen acted “in coordination with a candidate or campaign for federal office for purposes of influencing the election.”

As cable networks were showing split-screen coverage of the conviction and plea bargain by two of his former loyalists, Trump himself boarded Air Force One on his way to a rally in West Virginia and ignored shouted questions about the men.

Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, noted in a statement that “there is no allegation of any wrongdoing against the president in the government’s charges against Mr. Cohen.”

After the court hearing, which ended with Cohen released on $500,000 bail, the lawyer wiped away tears as he gazed out a courthouse window. He left the building and headed straight for a black SUV with tinted windows. A couple of people outside chanted, “Lock him up!” as they recorded the scene with their phones.

Under federal law, expenditures to protect a candidate’s political fortunes can be construed as campaign contributions, subject to federal laws that bar donations from corporations and set limits on how much can be given.

“If those payments were a crime for Michael Cohen, then why wouldn’t they be a crime for Donald Trump?” Cohen’s lawyer, Lanny Davis, tweeted.

Cohen’s plea follows months of scrutiny from federal investigations and a falling-out with the president, for whom Cohen once said he would “take a bullet.”

The FBI raided Cohen’s hotel room, home and office in April and seized more than 4 million items. The search sought bank records, communications with Trump’s campaign and information on the payments to the two women.

According to prosecutors, the payment to McDougal was made through the parent company of the National Enquirer. Cohen made the payment to Daniels through his own company and then was reimbursed by Trump, he said.

Trump denied to reporters in April that he knew anything about Cohen’s payments to Daniels, but the explanations from him and Giuliani have shifted multiple times since.

The president has fumed publicly about the raid, branding it “a witch hunt,” an assault on attorney-client privilege and a politically motivated attack by enemies in the FBI. But privately he has worried about what information Cohen may have after working for the Trump Organization for a decade.

“Obviously it’s not good for Trump,” Sol Wisenberg, who conducted grand jury questioning of President Bill Clinton during the Whitewater investigation, said of the plea bargain.

“I’m assuming he’s not going to be indicted because he’s a sitting president, Wisenberg added. “But it leads him closer to ultimate impeachment proceedings, particularly if the Democrats take back the House.”

The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel has held that a president cannot be indicted while in office. Trump’s lawyers have said that Mueller plans to adhere to that guidance, though Mueller’s office has never confirmed that. There would presumably be no bar against charging a president after he leaves the White House.

Daniels said Tuesday that she and her lawyer, Michael Avenatti, feel vindicated and look forward to apologies “from the people who claimed we were wrong.”

Nothing made public so far indicates Cohen has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors, but Avenatti said he is certain that is happening.

Mueller’s team, which is looking into Russian interference in the presidential election, came across some of the evidence against Cohen in the course of its investigation and referred the matter to federal prosecutors in New York.

Deputy U.S. Attorney Robert Khuzami said that in addition to the campaign finance violations, Cohen failed to report more than $4 million in income between 2012 and 2016, including $1.3 million from his taxi medallion holdings.

Cohen also lied to a financial institution by failing to disclose more than $14 million in debt and obtaining a $500,000 home equity line of credit he wasn’t entitled to, Khuzami said. Cohen used that credit line to fund the Daniels payment, prosecutors said.

After making the hush money payments, Cohen submitted phony invoices to Trump’s company, ostensibly for services rendered in 2017, the prosecutor said.

“Those involves were a sham,” Khuzami said. “He provided no legal services for the year 2017. It was simply a means to obtain reimbursement for the unlawful contributions.”

Before the election, Cohen had been a trusted member of the Trump organization, working out of an office in Trump Tower next to one used by his boss. He raised millions for Trump’s campaign.

The president’s initial support for Cohen after the raid soon degenerated into a public feud, with Cohen hinting he might cut a deal with prosecutors.

When Cohen’s team produced a recording he had made of Trump discussing one of the hush-money payments, Trump tweeted: “What kind of lawyer would tape a client? So sad!”

Associated Press writers Tom Hays, Stephen R. Groves and Michael R. Sisak in New York; Jonathan Lemire and Catherine Lucey in Washington; and Michael Balsamo in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
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LIKE US ON FACEBOOK. FOLLOW US ON TWITTER AND INSTAGRAM </s> Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer and fixer, pleaded guilty Tuesday to campaign-finance violations and other charges, saying Trump directed him to arrange the payment of hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels and a former Playboy model to fend off damage to his White House bid.Cohen's extraordinary account marks the first time that any Trump associate has gone into open court and implicated Trump himself in a crime, though whether - or when - a president can be prosecuted remains a matter of legal dispute.The guilty plea was part of a double dose of bad news for Trump: It came at almost the same moment his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort was convicted in Alexandria, Virginia, of eight financial crimes in the first trial to come out of special counsel Robert Mueller's sprawling Russia investigation.In a deal reached with federal prosecutors, Cohen, 51, pleaded guilty to eight counts , including tax evasion. He could get about four to five years in prison at sentencing Dec. 12.In entering the plea, Cohen did not name the two women or even Trump, recounting instead that he worked with an "unnamed candidate" to influence the election.But the amounts and the dates all lined up with the $130,000 paid to Daniels and the $150,000 that went to Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal to buy their silence in the weeks and months leading up to the 2016 presidential election. Both women claimed to have had affairs with Trump, which he denies.Cohen, his voice shaky as he answered questions from a federal judge, said one payment was "in coordination and at the direction of a candidate for federal office," and the other was made "under direction of the same candidate."However, in the charging documents, a news release and comments outside the courthouse, prosecutors did not go as far as Cohen did in open court in pointing the finger at the president. Prosecutors said Cohen acted "in coordination with a candidate or campaign for federal office for purposes of influencing the election."As cable networks were showing split-screen coverage of the conviction and plea bargain by two of his former loyalists, Trump himself boarded Air Force One on his way to a rally in West Virginia and ignored shouted questions about the men.Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, noted in a statement that "there is no allegation of any wrongdoing against the president in the government's charges against Mr. Cohen."Daniel Petalas, a former prosecutor in the Justice Department's public integrity section, said, "This brings President Trump closer into the criminal conduct.""The president has certain protections while a sitting president, but if it were true, and he was aware and tried to influence an election, that could be a federal felony offense," Petalas said. "This strikes close to home."After the court hearing, which ended with Cohen released on $500,000 bail, the lawyer wiped away tears as he gazed out a courthouse window. He left the building and headed straight for a black SUV with tinted windows. A couple of people outside chanted, "Lock him up!" as they recorded the scene with their phones.Under federal law, expenditures to protect a candidate's political fortunes can be construed to be campaign contributions, subject to federal laws that bar donations from corporations and set limits on how much can be given."If those payments were a crime for Michael Cohen, then why wouldn't they be a crime for Donald Trump?" Cohen's lawyer, Lanny Davis, tweeted.Cohen's plea follows months of scrutiny from federal investigations and a falling-out with the president, for whom Cohen once said he would "take a bullet."The FBI raided Cohen's hotel room, home and office in April and seized more than 4 million items. The search sought bank records, communications with Trump's campaign and information on the payments to the two women.According to prosecutors, the payment to McDougal was made through the parent company of the National Enquirer. Cohen made the payment to Daniels through his own company and then was reimbursed by Trump, he said.Trump denied to reporters in April that he knew anything about Cohen's payments to Daniels, but the explanations from him and Giuliani have shifted multiple times since.The president has fumed publicly about the raid, branding it "a witch hunt," an assault on attorney-client privilege and a politically motivated attack by enemies in the FBI. But privately he has worried about what information Cohen may have after working for the Trump Organization for a decade."Obviously it's not good for Trump," Sol Wisenberg, who conducted grand jury questioning of President Bill Clinton during the Whitewater investigation, said of the plea bargain."I'm assuming he's not going to be indicted because he's a sitting president, Wisenberg added. "But it leads him closer to ultimate impeachment proceedings, particularly if the Democrats take back the House."The Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel has held that a president cannot be indicted while in office. Trump's lawyers have said that Mueller plans to adhere to that guidance, though Mueller's office has never confirmed that. There would presumably be no bar against charging a president after he leaves the White House.Daniels said Tuesday that she and her lawyer, Michael Avenatti, feel vindicated and look forward to apologies "from the people who claimed we were wrong."Nothing made public so far indicates Cohen has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors, but Avenatti said he is certain that is happening.Mueller's team, which is looking into Russian interference in the presidential election, came across some of the evidence against Cohen in the course of its investigation and referred the matter to federal prosecutors in New York.Late Tuesday, Cohen's lawyer told MSNBC's Rachel Maddow that Cohen has knowledge on certain subjects that should be of interest to Mueller and is "more than happy to tell the special counsel all that he knows."Deputy U.S. Attorney Robert Khuzami said that in addition to the campaign finance violations, Cohen failed to report more than $4 million in income between 2012 and 2016, including $1.3 million from his taxi medallion holdings.Cohen also lied to a financial institution by failing to disclose more than $14 million in debt and obtaining a $500,000 home equity line of credit he wasn't entitled to, Khuzami said. Cohen used that credit line to fund the Daniels payment, prosecutors said.After making the hush money payments, Cohen submitted phony invoices to Trump's company, ostensibly for services rendered in 2017, the prosecutor said."Those involves were a sham," Khuzami said. "He provided no legal services for the year 2017. It was simply a means to obtain reimbursement for the unlawful contributions."Before the election, Cohen had been a trusted member of the Trump organization, working out of an office in Trump Tower next to one used by his boss. He raised millions for Trump's campaign.The president's initial support for Cohen after the raid soon degenerated into a public feud, with Cohen hinting he might cut a deal with prosecutors.When Cohen's team produced a recording he had made of Trump discussing one of the hush-money payments, Trump tweeted: "What kind of lawyer would tape a client? So sad!"---------- </s> Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer and fixer, pleaded guilty Tuesday to campaign-finance violations and other charges, saying Trump directed him to arrange the payment of hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels and a former Playboy model to fend off damage to his White House bid.

Cohen’s extraordinary account marks the first time that any Trump associate has gone into open court and implicated Trump himself in a crime, though whether or when a president can be prosecuted remains a matter of legal dispute.

The guilty plea was part of a double dose of bad news for Trump: It came at almost the same moment his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort was convicted in Alexandria, Virginia, of eight financial crimes in the first trial to come out of special counsel Robert Mueller’s sprawling Russia investigation.

In a deal reached with federal prosecutors, Cohen, 51, pleaded guilty to eight counts, including tax evasion. He could get about four to five years in prison at sentencing December 12.

In entering the plea, Cohen did not name the two women or even Trump, recounting instead that he worked with an “unnamed candidate” to influence the election.

But the amounts and the dates all lined up with the $130,000 paid to Daniels and the $150,000 that went to Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal to buy their silence in the weeks and months leading up to the 2016 presidential election. Both women claimed to have had affairs with Trump, which he denies.

Cohen, his voice shaky as he answered questions from a federal judge, said one payment was “in coordination and at the direction of a candidate for federal office,” and the other was made “under direction of the same candidate.”

However, in the charging documents, a news release and comments outside the courthouse, prosecutors did not go as far as Cohen did in open court in pointing the finger at the president. Prosecutors said Cohen acted “in coordination with a candidate or campaign for federal office for purposes of influencing the election.”

As cable networks were showing split-screen coverage of the conviction and plea bargain by two of his former loyalists, Trump himself boarded Air Force One on his way to a rally in West Virginia and ignored shouted questions about the men.

Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, noted in a statement that “there is no allegation of any wrongdoing against the president in the government’s charges against Mr. Cohen.”

Daniel Petalas, a former prosecutor in the Justice Department’s public integrity section, said, “This brings President Trump closer into the criminal conduct.”

“The president has certain protections while a sitting president, but if it were true, and he was aware and tried to influence an election, that could be a federal felony offense,” Petalas said. “This strikes close to home.”

After the court hearing, which ended with Cohen released on $500,000 bail, the lawyer wiped away tears as he gazed out a courthouse window. He left the building and headed straight for a black SUV with tinted windows. A couple of people outside chanted, “Lock him up!” as they recorded the scene with their phones.

Under federal law, expenditures to protect a candidate’s political fortunes can be construed to be campaign contributions, subject to federal laws that bar donations from corporations and set limits on how much can be given.

“If those payments were a crime for Michael Cohen, then why wouldn’t they be a crime for Donald Trump?” Cohen’s lawyer, Lanny Davis, tweeted.

Cohen’s plea follows months of scrutiny from federal investigations and a falling-out with the president, for whom Cohen once said he would “take a bullet.”

The FBI raided Cohen’s hotel room, home and office in April and seized more than 4 million items. The search sought bank records, communications with Trump’s campaign and information on the payments to the two women.

According to prosecutors, the payment to McDougal was made through the parent company of the National Enquirer. Cohen made the payment to Daniels through his own company and then was reimbursed by Trump, he said.

Trump denied to reporters in April that he knew anything about Cohen’s payments to Daniels, but the explanations from him and Giuliani have shifted multiple times since.

The president has fumed publicly about the raid, branding it “a witch hunt,” an assault on attorney-client privilege and a politically motivated attack by enemies in the FBI. But privately he has worried about what information Cohen may have after working for the Trump Organization for a decade.

“Obviously it’s not good for Trump,” Sol Wisenberg, who conducted grand jury questioning of President Bill Clinton during the Whitewater investigation, said of the plea bargain.

“I’m assuming he’s not going to be indicted because he’s a sitting president, Wisenberg added. “But it leads him closer to ultimate impeachment proceedings, particularly if the Democrats take back the House.”

The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel has held that a president cannot be indicted while in office. Trump’s lawyers have said that Mueller plans to adhere to that guidance, though Mueller’s office has never confirmed that. There would presumably be no bar against charging a president after he leaves the White House.

Daniels said Tuesday that she and her lawyer, Michael Avenatti, feel vindicated and look forward to apologies “from the people who claimed we were wrong.”

Nothing made public so far indicates Cohen has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors, but Avenatti said he is certain that is happening.

Mueller’s team, which is looking into Russian interference in the presidential election, came across some of the evidence against Cohen in the course of its investigation and referred the matter to federal prosecutors in New York.

Deputy U.S. Attorney Robert Khuzami said that in addition to the campaign finance violations, Cohen failed to report more than $4 million in income between 2012 and 2016, including $1.3 million from his taxi medallion holdings.

Cohen also lied to a financial institution by failing to disclose more than $14 million in debt and obtaining a $500,000 home equity line of credit he wasn’t entitled to, Khuzami said. Cohen used that credit line to fund the Daniels payment, prosecutors said.

After making the hush money payments, Cohen submitted phony invoices to Trump’s company, ostensibly for services rendered in 2017, the prosecutor said.

“Those involves were a sham,” Khuzami said. “He provided no legal services for the year 2017. It was simply a means to obtain reimbursement for the unlawful contributions.”

Before the election, Cohen had been a trusted member of the Trump organization, working out of an office in Trump Tower next to one used by his boss. He raised millions for Trump’s campaign.

The president’s initial support for Cohen after the raid soon degenerated into a public feud, with Cohen hinting he might cut a deal with prosecutors.

When Cohen’s team produced a recording he had made of Trump discussing one of the hush-money payments, Trump tweeted: “What kind of lawyer would tape a client? So sad!”

For all the latest World News, download Indian Express App </s> Michael Cohen, former lawyer to President Donald Trump, departs following his appearance in Federal Court on Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2018, in New York. Cohen, has pleaded guilty to charges including campaign finance fraud stemming from hush money payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels and ex-Playboy model Karen McDougal. less

Michael Cohen, former lawyer to President Donald Trump, departs following his appearance in Federal Court on Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2018, in New York. Cohen, has pleaded guilty to charges including campaign finance ... more

Michael Cohen, former lawyer to President Donald Trump, departs following his appearance in Federal Court on Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2018, in New York. Cohen, has pleaded guilty to charges including campaign finance fraud stemming from hush money payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels and ex-Playboy model Karen McDougal. less

Michael Cohen, former lawyer to President Donald Trump, departs following his appearance in Federal Court on Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2018, in New York. Cohen, has pleaded guilty to charges including campaign finance ... more

Michael Cohen, former personal lawyer to President Donald Trump, leaves federal court after reaching a plea agreement in New York, Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2018.

NEW YORK (AP) — What other dirt might Michael Cohen have on Donald Trump?

Cohen's lawyer says the president's former "fixer" has information "on certain subjects that should be of interest" to the special prosecutor beyond his allegations made while pleading guilty Tuesday that Trump directed him to make hush-money payments to fend off damage to his White House bid.

Cohen has been said to be willing to tell special counsel Robert Mueller that Trump knew in advance of a 2016 meeting at Trump Tower in which the Republican candidate's eldest son sought damaging information from a Russian lawyer about Hillary Clinton.

But his lawyer, Lanny Davis, on Wednesday hedged a suggestion he made on television Tuesday night that Cohen could tell Mueller about whether Trump was aware of and encouraged Russian hacking during the 2016 campaign before it became publicly known.

"It is my observation that what he knows will be of interest," Davis said during a battery of television interviews. "Whether Mr. Trump knew ahead of time will remain to be seen."

Cohen, who showed fierce loyalty as Trump's personal lawyer, said in court that Trump directed him to arrange payments of $130,000 to porn star Stormy Daniels and $150,000 to former Playboy model Karen McDougal to buy their silence about alleged affairs before the election. Trump denies the affairs.

Trump tweeted on Wednesday that the campaign finance violations Cohen pleaded guilty to "are not a crime." He told "Fox & Friends" that, because the payments came from him and not the campaign, it's "not even a campaign violation." Both claims are wrong.

Nothing made public so far from Cohen's criminal case indicates he has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors, but Davis said that was simply a "distinction without a difference." Cohen is intent on telling the truth to whoever asks him and is "more than happy" to tell Mueller all that he knows, Davis said, calling that pledge, "the functional equivalent of cooperation."

Cohen forged his new path amid months of scrutiny from federal investigations and a public falling-out with the president, for whom Cohen once said he would "take a bullet." But what compelled him to take a plea deal and potentially flip on Trump?

Cohen told confidants he was disappointed and angry that Trump and his team — namely his lawyer Rudy Giuliani — had repeatedly bashed his reputation and character.

Cohen suggested that the attacks helped pave the way for his guilty plea and possible cooperation, according to a person who has spoken to the lawyer in the last 24 hours but was not authorized to discuss private conversations and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Davis made the claim during his media tour Wednesday that Trump's deference to Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki on July 16 was a "significant turning point" and that it galvanized Cohen's thinking that Trump was unsuitable to hold office.

But, that summit was about two weeks after Cohen made clear to ABC's George Stephanopoulos in an off-camera interview that he was putting his "family and country first" and wouldn't be a "punching bag as part of anyone's defense strategy."

Working out of a Trump Tower office next to his boss, Cohen likely has vast knowledge of the innerworkings of Trump's empire, his business dealings and his campaign. Federal agents in April seized more than 4 million items from his home, hotel room and office, including recordings of Trump and others.

Investigators from New York state's tax department entered the mix on Wednesday, subpoenaing Cohen to share what he knows about the Trump Foundation, the president's embattled charitable foundation.

Cohen, who turns 52 on Saturday, wiped away tears as he gazed out a courthouse window after pleading guilty on Tuesday. He is free now and allowed some limited travel. He could get about four to five years in prison at sentencing Dec. 12.

Believing that his arrest was imminent, Cohen turned himself in to the FBI because he wanted to spare his children the image of him being perp-walked in handcuffs, according to the person who spoke with Cohen.

Even as his legal fate approached, Cohen tried to project normalcy in recent days: he went on a family trip to Florida and he oversaw moving back into his upper East Side apartment after spending months in a nearby hotel after a water main break.

When the judge asked him if he had taken any drugs or alcohol in the past 24 hours, Cohen confessed: "Last night at dinner, I had a glass of Glenlivet 12 on the rocks."

It was the only moment of levity at an otherwise glum proceeding.

"Is it your custom to do that, sir?" the judge responded.

"No, your honor," Cohen said.

Tuesday night, hours after entering his guilty pleas, Cohen took his wife out to dinner.

Associated Press reporter David Klepper contributed from Albany, New York.

Follow Lemire at twitter.com/JonLemire and Sisak at twitter.com/mikesisak </s> US President Donald Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen delivered a blistering attack on his former boss as he was sentenced to three years in prison on Wednesday for multiple crimes.

"It was my duty to cover up his dirty deeds," Cohen said as he pleaded for leniency before US District Judge William H. Pauley III.

Cohen, 52, said he was taking responsibility for his crimes "including those implicating the President of the United States of America."

Cohen's lawyers had asked for no jail time after he pleaded guilty to tax evasion, making false statements to a financial institution, illegal campaign contributions, and making false statements to Congress.

But Judge Pauley sentenced Cohen to three years in jail.

Among the charges against Cohen was making "hush money" payments to two women who had threatened to go public during the 2016 presidential election campaign with claims they had affairs with Trump.

Trump this week sought to minimize the importance of the payments saying they were a "simple private transaction" and that they were "wrongly" being called campaign contributions. </s> Michael Cohen leaves a federal courthouse in New York City, on May 30, 2018.

Michael D. Cohen, President Trump’s former fixer, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to campaign finance and other charges.

He made the extraordinary admission that he paid a pornographic actress “at the direction of the candidate,” referring to Mr. Trump, to secure her silence about an affair she said she had with Mr. Trump.

Deputy U.S. Attorney Robert Khuzami told reporters on Tuesday after Cohen's guilty plea that he submitted invoices to the candidate's company to obtain reimbursement for the unlawful campaign contributions.

“Today, as you heard, Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to eight felony charges. Five of those dealt with tax evasion for the years 2012 through 2016, through which he failed to report approximately $4.1 million in reported income. Approxmiately 2.5 of that money was from interest payments from a personal loan that he failed to report. Approximately $1.3 million of that money was from the operation of his taxi medalion business. Approximately $100,000 of that money was from brokerage commissions and over $200,000 was from consulting fees. That’s over $4.3 mllion over a five-year period, which tranlates into a loss for the United States Treasury of approximately $1.3 million. “

Khuzami said Cohen decided, as a lawyer, that he was above the law and would pay a "very, very serious price" for his actions.

"These are very serious charges and reflect a pattern of lies and dishonesty over an extended period of time," Khuzami said.

Cohen pleaded guilty to charges including campaign finance fraud stemming from hush money payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels and ex-Playboy model Karen McDougal.

The 51-year-old Cohen said in federal court in New York on Tuesday that he made the payments in coordination with Trump, who wasn't named, to influence the election. Both women claimed Trump had affairs with them, which he denies.

The other charges Cohen pleaded guilty to involve bank fraud and income tax evasion.

As part of his plea agreement, Cohen agreed not to challenge any sentence from 46 to 63 months.

Cohen's plea follows months of scrutiny from federal investigations and a falling out with the president, whom he previously said he'd "take a bullet" for.

FBI raids in April sought bank records, communications with Trump's campaign and information on payments to Daniels and McDougal.

Both women claimed Trump had affairs with them, which he denies.

The deal comes after reports that federal investigators were looking into whether Cohen committed bank and tax fraud worth more than $20 million, according to a media report. The New York Times, citing anonymous sources, said authorities were focusing on loans obtained for taxi businesses owned by Cohen and his family.

Investigators were also considering whether Cohen had violated campaign finance and other laws when he made financial arrangements to pay women to stay silent about alleged affairs with then-candidate Trump back in 2016.

Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, was paid $130,000 by Cohen. She has since filed a civil lawsuit to be released from a "hush" agreement over her affair.

Daniels' attorney, Michael Avenatti, said Tuesday's developments "will permit us to have the stay lifted in the civil case & should also permit us to proceed with an expedited deposition of Trump under oath about what he knew, when he knew it, and what he did about it."

Avenatti also seemed to taunt Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani.

"Buckle Up Buttercup," he wrote. "You and your client completely misplayed this.."

Cohen was also involved in an agreement to pay McDougal to remain quiet about her own affair with Trump. Last month, an audio recording of a conversation reportedly betweenTrump andCohen, about a payment to a former Playboy model was released.

Prosecutors had reportedly considered filing charges against Cohen by the end of August.

Cohen, who long served as Trump's fixer, has been under investigation for months. In April, federal investigators for the Southern District of New York seized roughly 4 million files from Cohen's home, business office and hotel room.

The investigation has strained the once close relationship between Trump and Cohen.

More: Report: Ex-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen investigated for bank and tax fraud of more than $20 million

More: Feds win access to records seized from ex-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen

More: Michael Cohen tapes: Here's what we know about the secret recordings
Michael Cohen, the ex-lawyer of U.S. President Donald Trump, pleads guilty to eight felony financial charges. He admits that a $150,000 hush money payment in August 2016, "at the direction" of an unnamed candidate, was for the "principal purpose of influencing" the 2016 presidential election. He is released on $500,000 bail until his sentencing on December 12. He faces up to 65 years, though prosecutors recommend 46 to 63 months.