Michael Cohen Pleads Guilty To 8 Felonies

The 45th President's long-time personal attorney and adviser pleaded guilty yesterday to 8 felony charges, including tax evasion, fraudulent bank loans and two federal campaign finance violations. He was also, until the past two weeks, the Financial Co-chairman of the Republican National Committee.  He confessed the crimes under oath, in federal court, and stated that he willfully violated the two campaign finance laws at the direction of his employer, Donald J Trump, then a candidate for the United States Presidency.
   Today, the 45th President falsely claimed that the last two crimes mentioned are not crimes.  He took to Twitter to distance himself from his former friend, lawyer, and adviser: "If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I would strongly suggest that you don't retain the services of Michael Cohen!"  He also used following Tweets to argue that Cohen's campaign finance violations are "not a crime."
   The charges against Cohen in the tax evasion scheme were linked to his taxi medallion business, where Cohen failed to report more than $4 million in income, which resulted in the Internal Revenue Service not receiving more than $1.4 million in taxes.
   Michael Cohen also pleaded guilty to making false statements to banks in order to secure loans to purchase real estate - not listing $14 million of debt that he owed.
   But the big news was his implication of the President of the United States in a remarkable courtroom moment.  Cohen admitted that "in coordination and at the direction of a candidate for federal office," he kept information that would have harmed the candidate from becoming public during the 2016 election cycle.  -  These were "hush money" payments made to two women who had had extra-marital affairs with the candidate; one of $150,000 to McDougal, and one of $130,000 to Daniels.
   Appearing in court on Tuesday, Cohen said of the charge linked to McDougal that it was done "for the principal purpose of influencing the election."  Regarding the charge linked to Daniels, Cohen said the money "was later repaid to me by the candidate."
   Assistant US Attorney Andrea Griswold said prosecutors would have been prepared to present evidence during a trial that these were so-called "hush-money" payments.  "The proff on these counts at trial would establish that these payments were made in order to ensure that each recipient of the payments did not publicize their stories of alleged affairs with the candidate," she said.
   Michael Cohen faces up to 65 years in prison for his 8 offenses.