NEW YORK--President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer Michael Cohen 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 he promised to keep cooperating with the U.S. government against his former boss.
The sentence, which capped a stunning about-face by a lawyer who once vowed to "take a bullet" for Trump, was handed down by a judge in New York on the same day as news that the publisher of the National Enquirer tabloid had struck a deal with prosecutors to avoid charges over its role in one of two hush payments involving Trump. The publisher admitted the payment was aimed at influencing the 2016 election, contradicting Trump's statements.
The twin developments highlighted the growing political and legal risks for Trump from a months-long investigation into the payments by federal prosecutors. Some legal experts said Trump could be charged after leaving office. Justice Department policy is not to indict a sitting president.
"These prosecutors have charged or reached agreement with everyone involved in this process save one notable exception," said Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University. "It seems likely that this effort is directed at building a larger case against Donald Trump."
Cohen had said in a guilty plea in August that he was directed by Trump to arrange a payment to Playboy model Karen McDougal, and personally pay adult-film star Stormy Daniels. Prosecutors in New York confirmed last week in a court filing that they believed the president ordered the payments to protect his campaign.
Trump has denied the affairs and argues the payments to the two women were not campaign contributions. "If it were, it's only civil, and even if it's only civil, there was no violation based on what we did," Trump said in an interview on Tuesday.
"From the president's point of view, it was to protect his family," Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, told Reuters.
