Friday's sentencing recommendations for Michael Cohen, President Trump's former attorney, are chock-full of conclusions from federal prosecutors in New York and Special Counsel Robert Mueller that have shocking implications for the former fixer and for Trump himself.
Prosecutors for the Southern District of New York say Cohen committed "serious crimes worthy of meaningful punishment" when he orchestrated "secret and illegal payments to silence two women," and his lies to Congress and financial crimes were part of "a pattern of deception that permeated his professional life."
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Mueller's team, meanwhile, recommended slightly more leniency, given Cohen's cooperation in the federal investigation. Despite his help, however, Mueller's office explained just how extensive Cohen's deception had been.
The defendant's lies to Congress were deliberate and premeditated. His false statements did not spring spontaneously from a line of examination or heated colloquy during a congressional hearing. They started in a written submission that he chose to provide to both houses of Congress ahead of his appearances. These circumstances show a deliberate effort to use his lies as a way to set the tone and shape the course of the hearings in an effort to stymie the inquiries.
Cohen's lies about the Trump Tower project in Moscow, Mueller wrote, obscured key information, but his cooperation eventually led to several revelations. One eye-popping paragraph says Cohen was in touch with a Russian national who offered the Trump campaign "political synergy" and "synergy on a government level." This person repeatedly sought to set up a meeting between "Individual 1," widely understood to be Trump, and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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