Down goes Michael Cohen
“President” Donald Trump has referred to his former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, as “weak.” In court today, Cohen conceded he was weak, but not in the way Trump suggested. (Trump uses the term weak to refer to anyone who gives up information to law enforcement that concerns him, along the lines of the criminal mobsters that he seems to aspire to mimic in his words and actions.)
At his sentencing speech in the Southern District of New York today, Cohen stated:
“I have been living in a personal and mental incarceration ever since the day that I accepted the offer to work for a real estate mogul whose business acumen that I deeply admired.
“Recently the president tweeted a statement calling me weak and it was correct but for a much different reason than he was implying. It was because time and time again I felt it was my duty to cover up his dirty deeds.
“Today is one of the most meaningful days of my life. The irony is that today I get my freedom back. Blind loyalty to this man led me to choose a path of darkness over light.”
These statements are a direct indictment of the “president,” who today and every day so far in December must have deep worry over what Cohen and others have given prosecutors. Covering up his dirty deeds is a statement that will be followed up in the weeks and months ahead with more evidence and more information coming out. Cohen was sentenced to thirty-six months incarceration and indicated to the court he did not provide full cooperation because of “seeing the unbearable pain that my associations and my actions brought to my entire family.” Some, including Senator Orrin Hatch and other GOP members and Trumpsters, continue to dismiss Trump’s criminal conduct, but piece by piece, the truth is coming out, and Trump’s days of not being in actual legal trouble are numbered.
Daniel is a lawyer writing and teaching about SCOTUS, and is the author of the book “The Chief Justices” about the SCOTUS as seen through the center seat.