Michael Cohen just cut a new deal with New York state prosecutors against the Trump Organization
Yesterday we all learned that the Manhattan District Attorney has recently been spending time with Michael Cohen in his prison facility, as part of the criminal case that’s being built against unspecified people in the Trump Organization – ostensibly including Donald Trump himself. Palmer Report flagged this as being important, because it meant that New York State really is planning to make moves on the Trump cartel, and because no president can pardon state-level charges. Now there’s already more to it.
It turns out those visits were fruitful, as today’s news reveals that Michael Cohen has cut a new cooperation deal with New York prosecutors. Details are thin, but this confirms that Cohen is in fact cooperating, and that prosecutors are finding his cooperation useful. But there may be more going on here.
Michael Cohen already settled up with the state of New York when he originally pleaded guilty on federal charges. There are no further criminal charges coming his way of any kind. The only reason for him to enter into a new cooperation deal now is if the deal calls for New York to put in a recommendation for Cohen’s sentence to be reduced, which a judge can still do, even now that Cohen has already begun serving his sentence.
This takes us back to the last words that Michael Cohen spoke to the television cameras before he reported to prison. He said that based on the additional cooperation he was going to be able to provide, much of which he couldn’t talk about yet due to the nature of ongoing investigations, he expected to get out of prison in a lot less than three years. It sounds like he was right – and that’s really bad news for Donald Trump and anyone else in the Trump Organization who may have criminally conspired with Cohen, or committed crimes in Cohen’s presence.
