NY prosecutors seek prison term for Cohen

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Federal prosecutors in Manhattan on Friday asked a judge to sentence Michael Cohen, U.S. President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer, to a "substantial term of imprisonment" for paying an adult film star hush money on Trump's behalf and evading taxes.

US prosecutors revealed the same day that a Russian person offered to cooperate with Trump's campaign as early as 2015, declaring Cohen had provided "relevant" and "substantial" help to their investigation.

The 52-year-old, who once vowed to take a bullet for the president, has been cooperating with U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe into possible collusion between Russia and Trump's 2016 election campaign, and has pleaded guilty to charges against him in August.

Michael Cohen walks in New York, November 29, 2018. /VCG Photo

Cohen continued to provide "relevant and truthful information" to assist the probe, holding seven sessions with investigators, "many of them lengthy, and continues to make himself available to investigators," the filing of the special counsel said.

He had provided information about contacts with Russian interests during the campaign, attempts by Russians to reach the campaign and about contacts with "persons connected to the White House" in 2017-2018, it added.

Mueller's office has charged or secured convictions against more than two dozen Russian nationals and entities, as well as a number of Trump's associates. The Manhattan prosecutors' charges against Cohen stemmed from a referral from Mueller's team.

Russia has staunchly and repeatedly denied meddling in the 2016 U.S. election.

The president's ex-lawyer also pleaded guilty last week to a separate charge by Mueller's office that he lied to Congress about discussions over the construction of a proposed Trump Organization skyscraper in Moscow.

In a separate filing on Friday, Mueller's office said Cohen should serve any sentence imposed for that crime concurrently with the sentence imposed for the New York charges, saying he had gone to "significant lengths to assist the Special Counsel's investigation."

FBI Director Robert Mueller speaks during a farewell ceremony in his honor at the Department of Justice, August 1, 2013. /VCG Photo

The New York prosecutors said in their filing that Cohen should receive some credit for his cooperation with Mueller, but noted that he had not entered into a cooperation agreement with their office.

They said his sentence should reflect a "modest" reduction from the roughly four to five years they said federal guidelines would suggest.

Cohen is scheduled to be sentenced next Wednesday by U.S. District Judge William Pauley in Manhattan on all of the charges to which he pleaded guilty. His lawyers have asked that he receive no jail time, saying he has cooperated extensively with Mueller and New York prosecutors and has taken responsibility for his actions.

Trump, who has called Mueller's investigation a "witch hunt" and repeatedly denied wrongdoing, said earlier this week that Cohen had lied about Trump's business dealings in Russia to get reduced jail time.

Mueller's filing on Paul Manafort

Mueller's office also submitted a filing to a U.S. District Court judge in Washington who had asked for more details on Mueller's allegations last month that Paul Manafort had breached a plea agreement by lying.

Paul Manafort appears at a press conference at the Republican Convention in Cleveland, U.S., July 19, 2016. /VCG Photo

"In his interviews with the Special Counsel's Office and the FBI, Manafort told multiple discernible lies – these were not instances of mere memory lapses," Mueller's office said in the filing.

According to the filing, Manafort lied about his interactions with Russian-Ukranian political consultant Konstantin Kilimnik, Kilimnik's efforts to tamper with witnesses, the circumstances surrounding a 125,000-U.S.-dollar payment to a firm working for Manafort, and Manafort's contacts with officials in the Trump administration.

Manafort also provided investigators with shifting accounts about information relevant to another Department of Justice investigation.

The filing also said that Manafort, who maintains he has been truthful to Mueller, appeared before a grand jury twice.

(Cover: File photo of Michael Cohen, U.S. President Donald Trump's former personal attorney. /VCG Photo)

(With input from agencies)