Plea but no co-operation
Michael Cohen has made a plea agreement.
Michael D. Cohen, President Trump’s former lawyer, on Tuesday reached a plea agreement with prosecutors investigating payments he made to women on behalf of Mr. Trump, a deal that does not include cooperation with federal authorities, two people familiar with the matter said.
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Even though Mr. Cohen is not cooperating with prosecutors, his decision to plead guilty is a political blow to Mr. Trump. Mr. Cohen had been the president’s longtime fixer, handling his most sensitive business and personal matters. He once said he would take a bullet for Mr. Trump.
Now, not so much.
Not sure what the prosecution gets out of that ‘deal’ if he’s not cooperating. Maybe keeping some of the evidence secret helps prosecuting others?
Trump, of course, will claim that the Witchfinder General got Cohen to plead guilty to this made-up, fake charge in exchange for ignoring real crimes that Cohen committed that had nothing to do with Trump, because it’s all lies and what about Hillary’s e-mails and so on.
cazz,
The prosecution gets convictions, without the hassle and risk of a trial. Look at the Manafort case, where a seemingly solid case still only got convictions on 8 out of 18 counts.
Plea bargains happen in all sorts of cases, even when there is no cooperation to be had from the defendant (e.g. because there is no “higher up” on who to roll). Trials are the exception in the U.S., not the rule.
He’ll likely take a shiv for him. Former Trump associates seem to wind up dead with alarming frequency. And we all know what happens to anyone that Putin deems a threat.
Also, cooperation is still possible, even after sentencing — apparently up to a year post-sentencing, the prosecution can bring a motion to reduce a sentence based on cooperation.