In another shot across the White House’s bow
Mueller lauds former Trump lawyer Cohen for providing “useful and relevant” information
By
Barry Grey
8 December 2018
A series of legal documents filed Friday by Special Counsel Robert Mueller and federal prosecutors in Manhattan point to an intensification of the investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible collusion and obstruction of justice by the Trump White House.
They concern two former Trump associates who have been convicted or have pled guilty to charges laid in connection with the 17-month investigation being led by former FBI director Mueller: Trump’s former personal lawyer and “fixer” Michael Cohen and the former chairman of the 2016 Trump election campaign Paul Manafort.
Mueller’s office and federal prosecutors from the Southern District of New York filed separate sentencing recommendations before Judge William H. Pauley III in Manhattan, who is scheduled to hand down a sentence on December 12 on two guilty pleas tendered by Cohen.
The first was last August, when Cohen pled guilty to charges of financial fraud, tax evasion and campaign finance violations brought by the Manhattan prosecutors. The campaign offenses concerned hush money Cohen paid on behalf of Trump near the end of the 2016 election campaign to silence two women who claimed they had had sexual relations with the then-Republican presidential candidate.
The second came on November 29 when Cohen pled guilty to one count of lying to Congress as part of a plea agreement with Mueller. Cohen admitted to lying during the campaign about his negotiations with Russian officials about a project to build a Trump Tower hotel in Moscow. His testimony implicated Trump and other Trump family members in lying to…