Court documents reveal how Trump's former personal lawyer helped the investigation into Russian election meddling. The president went on a Twitter tirade before the special counsel filings were set to be made.
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President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer Michael Cohen deserves "a substantial term of imprisonment" for a number of financial crimes, federal prosecutors in New York said Friday.
In separate filings, prosecutors and special counsel Robert Mueller's office laid out their recommendations for Cohen’s sentencing next week and for the first time detailed the degree of his cooperation with the Russia probe.
In August, Cohen pleaded guilty to eight federal crimes including tax evasion and violating campaign finance laws, including paying hush money on behalf of Trump to women with whom the president had affairs. Last week, Cohen pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about an aborted Trump Organization real estate project in Russia.
Court papers filed by Mueller said Cohen went to "significant lengths" to assist the Mueller probe, although he initially lied in August.
Cohen "provided information about his own contacts with Russian interests during the campaign and discussions with others in the course of making those contacts," the court documents said.
Mueller said the president's former right-hand man had dealings with the Kremlin late into 2016 to facilitate the construction of a Trump skyscraper in Moscow. Cohen also provided information about Russian contacts with the Trump campaign.
Prosecutors said that although Cohen has cooperated with the Mueller probe he nonetheless deserves to spend time in prison.
Separately, Mueller submitted a court filing in the case of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. According to the filing, Manafort lied to investigators on multiple occasions about ties to Russian-Ukranian political consultant Konstantin Kilimnik, who is accused of obstruction of justice. He also lied about a payment to a firm working for Manafort and contacts with Trump administration officials.
Paul Manafort: Political insider
Paul Manafort was once at the helm of Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. The political insider's dramatic fall from grace has culminated in a nearly four-year prison sentence.
Image: Reuters/R. Wilking
Longtime Republican adviser
Seen here on the campaign trail with then-candidate Donald Trump in 2016, Paul Manafort has been a fixture in Washington for decades. He worked for the campaigns of Presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush, as well as for unsuccessful 1996 candidate Bob Dole. Later, he began lobbying for foreign leaders in countries such as Saudi Arabia and for Russia-friendly politicians in Ukraine.
Image: picture-alliance/ZUMAPRESS/M. Reinstein
History of working with dictators
His firm Manafort, Black and Kelly lobbied the US government on behalf of a number of unsavory characters including dictators like former Angolan rebel leader Jonas Savimbi, Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines, Ukraine's Viktor Yanukovych and others. Lobbying for foreign countries requires registration with the Justice Department, which Manafort failed to do.
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Corruption allegations
Ukraine's government has accused Manafort of receiving illegal, off-the-record payments from its predecessor. Manafort was also accused of supporting the violent removal of protesters from Kyiv's Maidan Nezalezhnosti square during Ukraine's 2014 uprising. Dozens of demonstrators were shot by police.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/S. Supinsky
Manafort's right-hand man
As Manafort's trial began, one of the key witnesses against him was Rick Gates (left), who cut a deal with special counsel Robert Mueller. Gates pleaded guilty in February 2018 and is cooperating with prosecutors. Gates has knowledge of Manafort's offshore bank accounts, his work for Ukraine and his relationship with Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/E. Vucci
Alleged witness tampering
In this photo from Manafort's consulting offices, Konstantin Kilimnik (left), who allegedly has ties to Russian intelligence, poses for a photo with Manafort and others. It is one of the few images known to exist of Kilimnik, who has been accused by the Mueller investigation of witness tampering.
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Indicted by federal grand jury
After being indicted, Manafort was allowed to remain free on bail after posting a $10 million dollar bond. A judge sent him to prison when prosecutors accused him of attempting to tamper with the testimony of two witnesses. In prison, Manafort was given VIP treatment, which included a phone and a laptop.
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Sentenced to prison
On March 7, 2019, Manafort was sentenced to nearly four years in prison for tax fraud, bank fraud and failing to disclose foreign bank accounts. He was also ordered to pay more than $24 million in restitution. Manafort did not to testify during the trial, but after the verdict he said the ordeal had left him "professionally and financially in shambles."
Image: picture-alliance/AP/D. Verkouteren
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The latest drips
The Manafort and Cohen filings will come on the heels of a similar sentencing filing for former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn last Friday. The Flynn filing suggested he should serve no prison time, for providing "substantial" cooperation.
The court filings are part of the endless drip of information coming to light as to the findings of Mueller and his team, who have been notoriously tight-lipped about the status of their investigation. The only clues to the course of the investigation have come from previous filings and convictions. It is expected that the special counsel is nearing the end of its 19-month investigation but nothing is certain at this point.
Trump on the rampage
One thing, however, seems glaringly obvious: President Donald Trump is increasingly agitated. On Friday, the president went on a raging Twitter rant, attacking Mueller and his team in a series of tweets.
Beyond the president's usual claims that Mueller's investigation is a witch hunt and accusing him of having conflicts of interest without substantiating those claims, Trump announced that his lawyer Rudy Giuliani was preparing a response to the pending Mueller report: "We will be doing a major counter report to the Mueller report."
Comey on the Hill
Separately, former FBI Director James Comey, who was also attacked in Trump's early-morning Twitter flurry, appeared on Capitol Hill to deliver closed-door testimony before two panels at the US House of Representatives. It was Trump's firing of Comey in May 2017 that triggered the Mueller investigation. The firing has subsequently been a focal point, raising the issue of whether Trump has actively obstructed justice.
James Comey on Conflict Zone
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Mueller's new boss?
On Friday Trump also announced that he had selected William Barr as his nominee for the position of US attorney general, a position Barr held under former President George H.W. Bush. Barr would replace ousted Attorney General Jeff Sessions, whom Trump hounded for failing to protect him from the Mueller probe.
Barr has voiced support for Trump's firing of Comey and his constant calls to reopen investigations into political rival Hillary Clinton. Furthermore, Barr, who would be in charge of the Mueller probe should he be confirmed by the Senate, has questioned the political fairness of the team's members, suggesting they were biased against Trump.
The fall of Michael Cohen
Lawyer Michael Cohen once was a man who would "take a bullet" for US President Donald Trump. After pleading guilty in a New York court, he may now implicate the American president in campaign finance violations.
Image: Reuters/J. Rosenberg
Take a bullet for Trump
For years, Michael Cohen described himself as being staunchly loyal to President Trump, going as far as saying that he would "take a bullet" for him. But according to <i>The New York Times</i>, Trump treated Cohen "poorly, with gratuitous insults, dismissive statements and, at least twice, threats of being fired."
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Hush money
In February, Cohen (middle) admitted to paying $130,000 (about €112,000) to porn star Stormy Daniels (right) to keep quiet about an affair she had with Trump (right). Prosecutors had been trying to ascertain whether Cohen violated any campaign-finance laws by making the payment ahead of 2016 election.
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FBI raid
In April, FBI agents raided Cohen's office, apartment and hotel room on a referral from Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia in swaying the 2016 presidential election. They took away millions of electronic files from his various devices and reams of documents, including pieces of paper from a shredder.
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You're fired!
In June, Trump said Cohen was no longer his attorney, adding that he hadn't spoken to him in a long time. Trump's new attorney Rudy Giuliani had said earlier that Cohen was not representing the US president after the FBI raids on his home and office.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/N. Kamm
Public break up
In July, Cohen's lawyer, Lanny Davis, released a secret audio recording in which Trump was seemingly heard admitting to knowledge of a hush-money payment made to former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who claimed to have had an affair with him. It was Cohen, who had made the recording that Trump said was "perhaps illegal."
Image: Reuters/B. McDermid
Plea deal
On Tuesday, Trump's former fixer entered into a plea agreement with federal prosecutors to plead guilty to tax and bank fraud charges and campaign finance violations.
