Federal Prosecutors Call for 'Substantial Term of Imprisonment' for Michael Cohen
Federal prosecutors want Michael Cohen to serve “substantial” prison time for the financial crimes to which he has pleaded guilty, while special counsel Robert Mueller has put in a good word for President Donald Trump’s former attorney.
Both recommendations were contained in sentencing memos submitted Friday in advance of Wednesday’s sentencing for Cohen, NPR reported. The prosecutors called for Cohen to serve between three and four years behind bars. The maximum Cohen could serve would be 63 months.
Cohen has asked to avoid jail time, citing his cooperation with Mueller’s investigation of Trump, according to The Washington Post.
Mueller’s office said Cohen has “taken significant steps to mitigate his criminal conduct.”
“He chose to accept responsibility for his false statements and admit to his conduct in open court. He also has gone to significant lengths to assist the Special Counsel’s investigation,” the office wrote.
Mueller’s filing praised Cohen’s cooperation.
“The information he has provided has been credible and consistent with other evidence obtained” in Mueller’s investigation, the team wrote.
As a result, Mueller’s office suggested Cohen’s sentence for lying to Congress run concurrently with his sentence for his other crimes.
However, federal prosecutors took a harsher tone.
“After cheating the IRS for years, lying to the banks and to Congress, and seeking to criminally influence the Presidential election, Cohen’s decision to plead guilty — rather than seek a pardon for his manifold crimes — does not make him a hero,” they said in the filing, according to USA Today.
“He seeks extraordinary leniency — a sentence of no jail time — based principally on his rose-colored view of the seriousness of the crimes; his claims to a sympathetic personal history; and his provision of certain information to law enforcement,” prosecutors wrote.
“But the crimes committed by Cohen were more serious than his submission allows and were marked by a pattern of deception that permeated his professional life,” they added.
Prosecutors noted that he has no formal agreement of cooperation with the U.S. attorney’s office.
Trump indicated what he thinks about Cohen’s sentencing in a pair of tweets Monday.
“Michael Cohen asks judge for no Prison Time.” You mean he can do all of the TERRIBLE, unrelated to Trump, things having to do with fraud, big loans, Taxis, etc., and not serve a long prison term? He makes up stories to get a GREAT & ALREADY reduced deal for himself, and get…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 3, 2018
….his wife and father-in-law (who has the money?) off Scott Free. He lied for this outcome and should, in my opinion, serve a full and complete sentence.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 3, 2018
Federal prosecutors said that in committing the four federal crimes for which he has pleaded guilty, Cohen was “motivated by personal greed” and “repeatedly used his power and influence for deceptive ends.”
Therefore, they argued, Cohen deserves a “substantial term of imprisonment.”
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