Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

If you are still in the GOP, you are an extremist.

I wonder if trump will be tried as an adult.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Come on, man.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

Republicans don’t trust women.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

You are here: Home / Politics / Trumpery / Trump Crime Cartel / “Substantial” Prison Term for Cohen

“Substantial” Prison Term for Cohen

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The SDNY Cohen sentencing memo just dropped and of course none of the media outlets have a link to it – they’re just saying that Mueller is recommending that Cohen get a “substantial” prison term – 43-63 months. It’s hard out there for a pimp.

Here it is – thanks to Mary G.

And here’s Mueller’s memo on Cohen.

Reader Interactions

127Comments

  2. 2.

    C Stars

    But this isn’t the Mueller document that everyone’s been waiting for today, right? That one is still forthcoming?

  7. 7.

    [Individual 1] mistermix

    @John Revolta: According to the memo, he is not a cooperating witness because he doesn’t have a cooperation agreement and chose not to become a cooperating witness. He just gave them some information. I guess Flynn is the gold standard, and Cohen is bronze. Manafort is coal.

  9. 9.

    Adam L Silverman

  11. 11.

    Adam L Silverman

  13. 13.

    Adam L Silverman

    @John Revolta: It means the Southern District of New York doesn’t feel he cooperated enough with them to mitigate the crimes he committed. This may not be the conclusion of the Special Counsel, but we won’t know until that memo is filed.

  15. 15.

    C Stars

    Cohen, Trump….they grifted such huge amounts of money, and still ended up with huge amounts of debt (or bankruptcies, in Dear Tweeter’s case). It boggles my mind. They were TERRIBLE at managing money, and yet for years and years people happily gave them millions and millions. In Cohen’s case, with “Essential Consulting,” for doing fucking nothing at all! It’s a house of cards, I tell ya. Massive corporations just shoveled cash at him just for SAYING he had influence. And he did NADA for them but they still gave him money for months after realizing it was a sham! Money they could have been paying to their actual employees who did actual work!! I mean, sputter sputter…blahhh….*becomes a socialist*

  16. 16.

    Betty Cracker

    The sentencing memo referenced Cohen’s threats to journalists who were investigating Trump, citing them as a factor that argues for a longer prison sentence — quoted him sounding like a cheap hood protecting a mafia boss.

  17. 17.

    Ohio Mom

    Four to five years is a “substantial” length of time? I must have a different dictionary than everyone else.

  18. 18.

    rikyrah

    @Adam L Silverman:

    This is new. Federal prosecutors have said for the first time in a court filing that Cohen committed campaign finance crimes “in coordination with and at the direction of” President Trump. pic.twitter.com/mOYvdMqHS7

    — Brad Heath (@bradheath) December 7, 2018

    This is significant. The Justice Department is alleging in court that the president directed his onetime lawyer to commit two felonies.

    — Brad Heath (@bradheath) December 7, 2018

    YES YES YES

  21. 21.

    scav

    @Ohio Mom: For a rich white conservative male? There’s some sort of conversion factor like dog years, only with bigger numbers and maybe a change in units.

  22. 22.

    Adam L Silverman

    @dmsilev: Correct, the Special Counsel will be submitting a memo to the Federal court in DC regarding Manafort’s lack of cooperation and continuing to lie to Federal investigators, ie commit new Federal crimes, while purporting to cooperate with the Special Counsel’s investigation.

  26. 26.

    Betty Cracker

    In other news, the Nazi scum who murdered Heather Heyer was found guilty of first degree murder.

  30. 30.

    Mike in DC

    @Adam L Silverman: Yep. That’s more the main event, primarily because they will go into some detail about how Manafort failed to cooperate and what, specifically, he lied about.

  33. 33.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @C Stars:

    Money they could have been paying to their actual employees who did actual work!! I mean, sputter sputter…blahhh….*becomes a socialist*

    Or are lest something useful like getting the entire corporate BOD hookers and blow. Really, waste that much money on a bumbler like that?

  39. 39.

    Adam L Silverman

    @R-Jud: No we don’t. There’s no actual link at that post and no one else is reporting the Mueller filing.

  50. 50.

    cynthia ackerman

    @Adam L Silverman:

    The filing indicates Cohen “affirmatively chose” not to enter a cooperative agreement, therefore cannot qualify as a CW, while acknowledging that Cohen deserves consideration for providing information relating to “other investigations.”

  54. 54.

    CaseyL

    Between the Cohen memo and Fields’ first degree murder conviction, this is a good day; a good start, at least.

    Trump and the GOP are still actively betraying our country, and doing their best to destroy it, but today provided a couple rays of sunshine.

  60. 60.

    bjacques

    Being in moderation stir, I feel I can give Michael and Paul the benefit of *my* experience. And all I did was misspell my email address.

  65. 65.

    Lapassionara

    As an added bonus, the filing indicates that the shenanigans began during the Republican primary. Does anyone think that Trump’s primary opponents will care?

  67. 67.

    A Ghost To Most

    @Betty Cracker:

    .

    Jurors were shown a now-deleted Instagram post that Fields shared three months before the crash. “You Have the Right to Protest, But I’m Late for Work,” read the post, accompanied by an image of a car running into a group of people.

    As he looked down the crowded street Fields saw a chance, Antony told the jury, to “make his Instagram post a reality.”

    Jurors also saw a text exchange shortly before the rally in which Fields told his mother he was planning to attend, and she told him to be careful. “We’re not the one who need to be careful,” Fields replied in a misspelled text message on Aug. 11, 2017. He included an attachment: a meme showing Adolf Hitler.

    WaPo

  69. 69.

    Haroldo

    @Adam L Silverman:

    I did not realize that Michael Cohen was working with Hillary Clinton!

    Good catch! Amazing. And what’s more, he apparently was working for Hillz. Wheels within wheels.

    “In 2015, Individual-1, for whom Cohen worked, began an ultimately successful campaign to for President of the United States.”WHO COULD THAT BE REFERRING TO? QUITE THE MYSTERY! https://t.co/kIXB88cZoD— Charles Gelt-ba (@charles_gaba) December 7, 2018

  70. 70.

    japa21

    As I understand it, concerning the Manafort filing, the judge now has in written form a listing of all the specifics that Mueller feels that Manafort has lied about. The judge can make a determination whether or not Manafort did or did not lie, which means Mueller has also provided specifics relating to those items. These are under seal at this time, but the judge may, at his discretion (in case, for example, Mueller does get fired, remove the seal and make those findings public.

  71. 71.

    waratah

    So has Mueller filed for Cohen. And what is he recommending for prison time. I am confused.
    Adam can you get it all in one post

  72. 72.

    Adam L Silverman

    @dr. bloor: Not unless the President issues a pardon for Manafort. My guess is that the reason this is under seal and redacted is because it includes sections that deal with Manafort not only lying to the Special Counsel’s investigators when he was claiming to cooperate, but also the role of his attorney, Kevin Downing, and the President’s attorneys in perpetrating this fraud upon the court and promoting additional violations of Federal law.

  74. 74.

    WaterGirl

    @cynthia ackerman: Word is that Cohen didn’t want to have his life hang in limbo by waiting for sentencing like he would have had to if he had been a cooperating witness.

    Personally, I wonder whether he just needed to make it all public so he would stop getting pressure from Trump, etc.

  77. 77.

    Mike in DC

    Trump directly implicated in the commission of 2 federal felonies, and indirectly implicated in felony obstruction(Cohen refers to sharing his prepared testimony with the WH). I think there will be double digit felony counts against 45 when all is said and done. Manafort sentencing memo just in.

  82. 82.

    Adam L Silverman

    @R-Jud: Yep, Hillary was working behind the scenes, using the Clinton Foundation, to secure the agreements for Trump Tower Moscow, as well as a bonus pair – one in St. Petersburg and one in Sochi. The reason she has to be locked up is she failed.

    I’m going to go push an ice pick in my ear now…

  83. 83.

    lamh36

    @matthewamiller
    One of the biggest open questions is not about Mueller, but SDNY. They’ve concluded the president committed a crime, and they have hard evidence to prove it. What do they do with that? They can’t just drop it.

    @matthewamiller
    If indicting isn’t an option, per OLC, seems DOJ has to send a referral to Congress. Theoretically you could wait and indict in 2021 (before the statute runs) if he loses re-election, but that’s both an abdication of responsibility & risks losing any mechanism for accountability.

  84. 84.

    lofgren

    His request for leniency is based on a “rose-colored view” of his “extensive, deliberate, and serious criminal conduct.”

    These seems pretty consistent for Cohen. Just about everything I have read about him leads me to believe that he has some serious delusions of grandeur. I remember reading that he thought Trump would help him become mayor of New York. His notions of his own competence vs. reality may be even more out of whack than the president’s.

  87. 87.

    trollhattan

    @Betty Cracker:
    That’s great. I hope her mom gets some small degree of peace knowing the Nazi killer won’t be seeing freedom for decades. That’s one brave lady.

  88. 88.

    Ken

    @Mary G: I’m offering even money that Individual 1 tweets some idiocy along the lines of

    “No collusion! I was not even mentioned in the Documents about that Cohen guy – Who by the way I never even MET, though he might have brought me Coffee once.”

    I also wonder what poor schmoe will draw the short straw and have to try to explain it to him.

  90. 90.

    Adam L Silverman

    @waratah: As of hitting post on this comment, Mueller has not yet filed his Cohen memo with the Federal court in the Southern District of New York.

  103. 103.

    Gravenstone

    @lamh36: Pretty much. Someone told him his name was nowhere to be found. Good enough for him, means he’s off the hook!

  104. 104.

    eemom

    @Adam L Silverman:

    As of hitting post on this comment, Mueller has not yet filed his Cohen memo with the Federal court in the Southern District of New York.

    Why is it public, then?

  106. 106.

    lamh36

    @attackerman
    3m3 minutes ago
    More
    Mueller has Manafort comms records & a colleague (Gates?) showing Manafort in contact with the administration as recently as May.

  107. 107.

    Adam L Silverman

    @eemom: I’m not following your question.

    The US Attorney for the Southern District of New York has made its filing regarding Cohen with the Federal court in the Southern District in New York. The Special Counsel’s Office has made its filing, redacted and under seal, regarding Manafort with the Federal court in the DC District. The Special Counsel’s Office has not yet made its filing with the Federal court in the Southern District of New York regarding Cohen as of my hitting post on this comment.

  108. 108.

    lamh36

    @bradheath
    2m2 minutes ago
    More
    Mueller’s office says Manafort remained in contact with a “senior” Trump administration official though February 2018, well after he was indicted, and lied about it. They confirmed his contacts with administration officials by search his electronic documents.

  109. 109.

    Adam L Silverman

    @lamh36: Emmet Flood, Rudy Giuliani, Don McGahn, Jay Sekulow, Kevin Downing, and several other people are in full pucker mode right now. The President should be, but I’m not sure he’ll understand why.

  113. 113.

    J R in WV

    @zhena gogolia:

    We have fresh salmon, Scottish, and a choice of sparkling wines, prosecco and French white sparkling or cava, to go with the salmon. I’m not sure how I’m going to fix the salmon — that will affect which wine I pick to go with.

    But gotta have sparkling champers for a day like this day~!!~

  114. 114.

    trollhattan

    @Adam L Silverman:
    Just give him his second scoop then tuck him in, along with his precious phone. “Nothing to see here, Donny, nothing to see.”

    Send the guy with the football out for donuts. There are great donuts in Denver, I hear. Take the car.

  122. 122.

    Platonailedit

    @Ohio Mom: Yup. #MeToo. We are clearly up is down, black is white territory. High treason, tax dodging, perjury and all other assorted crimes deserve more than five fucking years.

  124. 124.

    TenguPhule

    @zhena gogolia:

    Just opened a delicious Italian white somebody brought here to a dinner party last summer. Going down smooth.

    No party like a Donner Party.

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