Michael Cohen's Sentencing Request Seems to Implicate Trump Officials in His Lies to Congress
Michael Cohen’s Sentencing Request Seems to Implicate Trump Officials in His Lies to Congress
By Jeremy Stahl
Dec 05, 2018
8:23 PM
On Wednesday, Michael Cohen’s attorneys submitted a sentencing memo requesting that their client receive “time served” for tax fraud and for multiple felonies that Cohen says he committed at the behest of his former client Donald Trump.
Cohen faces between 51 and 63 months in jail based on advisory guidelines, but it’s unclear what he will actually serve.
As Cohen’s memo notes, though, his cooperation with law enforcement officials appears to have been extensive. Special Counsel Robert Mueller will soon have the opportunity to weigh in on Cohen’s behalf, as he did for Michael Flynn on Tuesday night in an incredibly lenient sentencing recommendation. Cohen will be seeking similar treatment as Flynn after having cooperated in seven interviews with Mueller’s office, two interviews with Southern District of New York investigators, and with the New York Attorney General’s office.
Like with Flynn’s heavily redacted sentencing information released late Tuesday, little is new here. But the latest of the back-to-back releases tells us a couple of big things: First, Mueller is still holding his cards closely to his chest. Second, it’s clear that Mueller is saving his fire for other Trump officials.
Even though this was Cohen’s release, we can probably credit its relative paucity of information to Mueller—Cohen would not have released further information about the extent of his cooperation without permission.
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https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/12/michael-cohens-sentencing-request-implicate-trump-officials-lies-to-congress.html