Former Trump lawyer Cohen sentenced to prison term

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Michael Cohen, U.S. President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer, was sentenced to three years in prison on Wednesday for his role in making illegal hush-money payments to women to help Trump's 2016 election campaign and lying to Congress about a proposed Trump Tower project in Russia.

In a Manhattan court, U.S. District Judge William Pauley sentenced Cohen to three years for the payments, which violated campaign finance law, and to two months for the false statements to Congress. The two terms will run concurrently.

Michael Cohen (L), President Donald Trump's former personal attorney and fixer, arrives at federal court for his sentencing hearing in New York City, December 12, 2018. /VCG Photo

As part of the sentence, the judge also ordered Cohen to forfeit 500,000 US dollars and pay restitution of nearly 1.4 million US dollars

"I take full responsibility for each act that I pled guilty to, the personal ones to me and those involving the president of the United States of America," Cohen said during a hearing at a federal court in New York. At times he paused to control his emotions and shed tears.

"Somewhere along the way Mr. Cohen appears to have lost his moral compass," Judge Pauley said. "As a lawyer, Mr. Cohen should have known better."

Cohen, 52, pleaded guilty in August to evading 1.4 million U.S. dollars in taxes related to his own businesses, as well as paying hush-money in the eve of the 2016 Election Day to two women who alleged affairs with Trump, then a presidential candidate.

Trump has denied the affairs and any involvement in the payments.

The ongoing Mueller investigation represents a threat to Trump's presidency. Mueller, who also is examining whether the president has unlawfully sought to obstruct the probe, has secured guilty pleas from several former Trump aides including his former campaign chairman and national security adviser, as well as a series of Russia individuals and entities.

A combine photo of U.S. former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, former U.S. National Security Advisor General Michael Flynn and former lawyer of President Donald Trump Michael Cohen. /VCG Photo

'Most powerful person'

"He came forward to offer evidence against the most powerful person in the country," one of Cohen's lawyers, Guy Petrillo, told the court on Wednesday, arguing for leniency.

Cohen cooperated knowing "the president might shut down" Mueller's investigation, Petrillo said.

Cohen told the judge during the sentencing hearing, "It was my own weakness and a blind loyalty to the man that led me to choose a path of darkness over light."

"I felt it was my duty to cover up his own dirty deeds," Cohen said, referring to Trump.

Cohen is a former member of Trump's inner circle who in the past called himself the president's "fixer." After Cohen pleaded guilty to the Mueller charges on November 29, Trump called his former lawyer a liar, "a weak person and not a very smart person," and stressed Cohen is trying to get reduced sentences for making up stories.

U.S. President Donald Trump's twitter screenshot, December 3, 2018. /CGTN Photo

Trump last month submitted written answers to questions posed in Mueller's investigation.

Before his sentencing was announced, Cohen was expected to get a four-year prison term. A slight break was granted because of his assistance to law enforcement as well as cooperation with the Mueller team.

In his guilty plea to Mueller's charge, Cohen admitted he lied to Congress about the timeline for discussions about plans for real estate businessman Trump's proposed skyscraper in Moscow. The project never went ahead.

Cohen said in written testimony to two congressional committees that the talks ended in January 2016, before the first electoral contests to select the Republican presidential nominee, when they actually continued until June 2016 after Trump clinched the Republican nomination.

The Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump listens as his personal attorney Michael Cohen delivers remarks on his behalf during a campaign stop at the New Spirit Revival Center church in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, U.S., September 21, 2016. /VCG Photo

In an interview with Reuters on Tuesday, Trump denied the payments to the women were 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.

Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani has argued the hush payments cannot be considered campaign finance violations because they were made to protect Trump's reputation and would have been made even if he had not been a presidential candidate.

(With inputs from agencies)