Trump’s ex-personal lawyer gets prison

Despite pleas from his lawyers for leniency, Michael Cohen, US President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer, was sentenced to three years in prison on Wednesday for crimes including orchestrating hush payments to women in violation of campaign laws before the 2016 election and financial wrongdoing.

In a Manhattan courtroom, Cohen told US District Judge William Pauley that "blind loyalty" led him to cover up for Trump's "dirty deeds''.

"It was my own weakness and a blind loyalty to this man that led me to choose a path of darkness over light," Cohen said.

The sentence imposed by Pauley was a modest reduction from the four to five years recommended under federal guidelines.

Pauley sentenced Cohen to 36 months for the payments and to two months for his lies to Congress about a proposed Trump Tower project in Russia.

The two terms will run simultaneously. As part of the sentence, the judge ordered Cohen to forfeit $500,000 and pay restitution of nearly $1.4 million. The judge set March 6 for Cohen's voluntary surrender.

In remarks before handing down Cohen's sentence, the judge said Cohen committed two campaign finance crimes "on the eve" of the 2016 election with the "intent to influence the outcome of that election".

"While Mr. Cohen pledges to help in further investigations, that is not something the court can consider now," the judge added.

One of Cohen's lawyers, Guy Petrillo, told the court: "He came forward to offer evidence against the most powerful person in the country."

David S. Weinstein, a former federal prosecutor based in Miami, Florida, told China Daily that the judge's sentence "was not stiff. It was completely appropriate considering his [Cohen's] conduct. He was a lawyer and he violated the law."

"The legal community is split on this sentence. Some will think the sentence is too lenient in terms of his conduct. Others will think it's too harsh considering he was working on behalf of someone else," Weinstein said in an interview.

He said Cohen's sentencing "sends two different messages. One is if you commit this type of crime you will be punished. The second is that if you cooperate with the government fully, you'll be rewarded. Cohen did not completely cooperate. His lack of cooperation actually hindered him."

Michael Stern, a former federal prosecutor in Detroit and Los Angeles, told China Daily that Cohen was facing a sentence of about four to five years.

"In exchange for his limited cooperation, the judge reduced his sentence to three years. While that's a lot more than the 'no prison sentence', he was requesting, from a prosecutor's perspective, it's about right,'' he said.

"What's important to remember is that Cohen could have gotten a lower sentence if he'd agreed to a full cooperation deal. He turned that down. So, if he's unhappy with his sentence, he's only got himself to blame.''

Cohen pleaded guilty in August to charges including tax evasion, bank fraud and campaign finance violations in a case brought by federal prosecutors in New York.

Cohen said then that he was directed by Trump to make hush money payments to two women — former Playboy model Karen McDougal and adult-film star Stormy Daniels — who said they had past sexual affairs with the president. Trump has denied the affairs and any involvement in the payments.

Prosecutors have said Cohen, just before the 2016 election, paid Daniels $130,000 and helped arrange the $150,000 payment to McDougal so the women would keep quiet. Federal law requires that the contribution of "anything of value" to a campaign must be disclosed, and an individual donation cannot exceed $2,700.

Cohen was sentenced on a separate charge of lying to Congress brought by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating Russia's role in the 2016 election and possible coordination between Trump's campaign and Moscow. Cohen pleaded guilty to the lying charge last month.

Prosecutors announced that the publisher of the National Enquirer tabloid newspaper struck a deal with them to avoid charges over its role in paying hush money to McDougal, who said she had a relationship with the president in 2006 and 2007.

As part of the deal, publisher American Media Inc (AMI) admitted that it made the $150,000 payment to McDougal "in concert" with Trump's presidential campaign and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.

Cohen in the past called himself the president's "fixer." After Cohen pleaded guilty to the Mueller charges on Nov 29, Trump called his former lawyer a liar, "a weak person and not a very smart person."

Reuters contributed to this story.