Byron York: Michael Cohen begs House Democrats to keep him out of jail
by Byron York
| April 05, 2019 09:29 AM
In 30 days President Trump's former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen is scheduled to report to prison to serve a three-year sentence for, among other things, defrauding banks and evading taxes on $4,134,051 in income between 2012 and 2016. In a new letter to Congress asking lawmakers to help keep him out of jail, Cohen's media-friendly lawyer, Lanny Davis, said his client "is going to prison for conduct almost all of which was for the benefit of Mr. Trump personally and indeed directed by him."
Davis did not explain how Cohen's bank fraud and failure to tell the Internal Revenue Service about $4,134,051 in income from his lucrative taxi medallion business was done for the benefit of Donald Trump personally, nor did Davis explain how Trump directed Cohen to commit those crimes. The crime which prosecutors say Trump did direct Cohen to commit, a campaign finance violation stemming from the Stormy Daniels payoff, is often punished by a fine.
Beyond that, even if one accepts Cohen's shaky claim that Trump directed him to commit yet another crime, lying to Congress, others convicted of lying in the Trump-Russia investigation have been given very light sentences. Former short-term Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos was sentenced to 14 days.
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https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/byron-york-michael-cohen-begs-house-democrats-to-keep-him-out-of-jail
