Michael Cohen to Plead Guilty to Charge in Mueller Investigation
Source: New York Times
Michael D. Cohen, President Trump's former lawyer, who pleaded guilty in August to breaking campaign finance laws, made a surprise appearance in a Manhattan courtroom on Thursday morning to plead guilty to a new criminal charge, the latest turn in the special counsel's investigation of Mr. Trump and his inner circle.
The development comes at a particularly perilous time for Mr. Trump, whose presidency has been threatened by Mr. Cohen's statements to investigators. In recent days, the president and his lawyers have increased their attacks on the Justice Department and the special counsel's office.
The expected new guilty plea in Federal District Court marks the first time the office of the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, has charged Mr. Cohen. In exchange for pleading guilty and continuing to cooperate with Mr. Mueller, he may hope to receive a lighter sentence than he otherwise would.
The moves comes just two weeks before Mr. Cohen, 52, is scheduled to be sentenced for his earlier guilty plea. That case, which also included bank and tax crimes, was brought by federal prosecutors in Manhattan.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/29/nyregion/michael-cohen-trump-russia-mueller.html
Thursday dump.
UPDATE FROM AP:
5 minutes ago
NEW YORK (AP) -- Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former lawyer, is pleading guilty to lying to Congress about work he did on a Trump real estate deal in Russia.
Cohen made a surprise appearance Thursday in a New York courtroom at around 9 p.m. and began entering the plea. He admitted to making false statements in 2017 to the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence about a plan to build a Trump Tower in Moscow.
In August, Cohen pleaded guilty to other federal charges involving his taxi businesses, bank fraud and his campaign work for Trump.
The court appearance is ongoing.
https://apnews.com/eb753c198a8f43c9adad6a9f3bdcc285?utm_campaignSocialFlow&utm_mediumAP&utm_sourceTwitter
EDIT to add context to all of this -
Link to tweet
TEXT
Benjamin Wittes
✔
@benjaminwittes
This is a good time to remind people of @a_cormier_ and @JasonLeopolds incredible work on Trump Tower Moscow. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/anthonycormier/trump-moscow-micheal-cohen-felix-sater-campaign
372
9:38 AM - Nov 29, 2018
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/anthonycormier/trump-moscow-micheal-cohen-felix-sater-campaign
Apparently this is where Felix Sater is involved.
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/anthonycormier/trump-moscow-micheal-cohen-felix-sater-campaign
sakabatou
(42,152 posts)BumRushDaShow
(128,905 posts)Baitball Blogger
(46,703 posts)BumRushDaShow
(128,905 posts)and nicely packaged!
Baitball Blogger
(46,703 posts)Jeffersons Ghost
(15,235 posts)watoos
(7,142 posts)lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)Bad news for Pres. Turd.
Sanity Claws
(21,847 posts)JonLP24
(29,322 posts)Nobody can tell the truth.
YessirAtsaFact
(2,064 posts)Nm
still_one
(92,183 posts)sexist, bigot, asshole
ewagner
(18,964 posts)...if Cohen looked a Trump as a "business crook" and felt that in the field of business everything is fair game. But when he realized that the same crook was turning an entire nation into a criminal enterprise, he felt a pang of conscience?
still_one
(92,183 posts)mobeau69
(11,143 posts)But thats ok.
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)But, yeah, that's OK.
laserhaas
(7,805 posts)Perhaps, with the convoluted dynamics of Manfort lies usurping the plea deal - Mueller is throwing a punch.
Link to tweet
.
BumRushDaShow
(128,905 posts)H2O Man
(73,536 posts)Julian Englis
(2,309 posts)Stuart G
(38,420 posts)The lawyer Trump trusted for years...now working with NY and Mueller to present what he knows.
.........................short info about what Michael Cohen knows about Trump.......................................
Michael Dean Cohen is an American attorney who worked as a lawyer for Donald Trump from 2006 until the termination of his employment in May 2018,
neohippie
(1,142 posts)Special counsel Robert Mueller has reached a tentative deal with Michael Cohen, the former personal attorney and long-time fixer for President Donald Trump, sources told ABC News.
Cohen is scheduled to appear in federal court in Manhattan on Thursday where he is expected to enter a guilty plea for misstatements to Congress in closed-door testimony last year about his contacts with Russians during the presidential campaign.
Once among the presidents most loyal and zealous defenders in business and politics, Cohen has now promised to put family and country first by cooperating with prosecutors, becoming perhaps the most pivotal public witness against his former boss.
Link to tweet
Link to tweet
demmiblue
(36,845 posts)lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)?v=1522389276
George II
(67,782 posts)This is bizarre of me, but I almost expected a Jack Ruby like character to jump out of the crowd with a gun.
BumRushDaShow
(128,905 posts)Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)This is the first time that Trump has been linked to Russia in open Court. This seems very big. Cohen pleads guilty to lying to Congress about discussions with Trump about going to Russia together, and that Cohen called the Kremlin and Trump knew.
If Cohen lied, then Trump lied. Double boom.
This is very good news and very big news.
(If Cohen lied, then Manafort lied. It's impossible for Cohen, lower on the totem pole than Manafort vis a vis Russia, to have had these conversations with Trump and dealings with Russia, and Manafort did not. )
BumRushDaShow
(128,905 posts)Link to tweet
TEXT
Benjamin Wittes
✔
@benjaminwittes
BOOMhttps://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/29/nyregion/michael-cohen-trump-russia-mueller.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
1,795
9:19 AM - Nov 29, 2018
Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)I swear, liberals are just so much more creative than conservatives.
BumRushDaShow
(128,905 posts)are legendarily silly!
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)gordianot
(15,237 posts)When you are a crook you cannot trust officers of the court. The shit storm is here.
Cosmocat
(14,564 posts)Flynn has to have some really damaging info, Gates.
There are other people that haven't gotten squeezed yet, that we know of at least.
IMO, if they lean on Hope Hicks at all, she will sing like a bird.
Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)bigtree
(85,994 posts)...has been endemic with this administration.
Lots of rats scurrying this morning.
BumRushDaShow
(128,905 posts)We'll have to rely on the new House committee chairs to get the info.
gordianot
(15,237 posts)The question is how far are they willing to go in the mad scramble.
BumRushDaShow
(128,905 posts)nor Rohrabacher are going to be around in January although I would worry more about Rohrabacher, because he was the father of all these little traitors.
Yosemito
(648 posts)BumRushDaShow
(128,905 posts)gordianot
(15,237 posts)watoos
(7,142 posts)I think it kept his hatred restrained.
BumRushDaShow
(128,905 posts)He always fancied himself a "young fogie" like George Will. Now Will is just an old fogie and this guy made it fashionable to be loon with or without the bow tie.
JonLP24
(29,322 posts)onetexan
(13,037 posts)https://go.cnn.com/?stream=cnn%3Fsr
Sater is the "Individual 2" mentioned in Cohen's arraignment. Sand castle is tumbling down.
ginnyinWI
(17,276 posts)And when the Dems start investigatin'--going to be a busy winter!
watoos
(7,142 posts)Damn, it sounds like a party goin on.