Michael Cohen and Paul Manafort Are Guilty of Lots of Crimes
Tuesday was a big day for crime-doing enthusiasts.
In the late afternoon, Paul Manafort, a shadowy global political operative with a soft spot for ill-advised clothing choices, was found guilty on eight counts of tax fraud, bank fraud, and hiding foreign bank accounts. As the jury was unable to return a unanimous verdict on an additional 10 counts brought against him by special counsel Robert Mueller's office, U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis declared a mistrial on those charges. Manafort will be sentenced at a later date.
A few minutes later, in a New York City courthouse, a taxicab medallion owner and occasional attorney named Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to eight counts of tax evasion, bank fraud, and campaign finance violations. As part of the deal his attorneys struck with prosecutors, Cohen acknowledged breaking the law at the direction of an unnamed "candidate for federal office," who instructed him to facilitate a payment to a third party of $130,000 that was intended to shield harmful information from the public before an election. He also admitted that the candidate later reimbursed him for these and related expenses, although he did not name either beneficiary of this arrangement. Cohen is expected to face between three and five years in jail.
If you'll recall, Manafort served as campaign manager to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump for several months during the summer of 2016. Cohen, in a wild coincidence, also has close ties to Trump: Several weeks before that year's election took place, in his capacity as the candidate's personal lawyer, he transferred $130,000 to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in order to buy her silence about an extramarital affair she conducted with Trump in 2006. Previously, Cohen has stated that he did so without Trump's knowledge and without any expectation of repayment, thus making it impossible for the president to be part of a criminal conspiracy to violate campaign finance law.
The witch hunters are getting awfully good at finding witches.
