US President, Donald Trump’s ex-lawyer to plead guilty for campaign finance violations

Michael Cohen, Donald Trump ’s former personal lawyer, has agreed to plead guilty to charges stemming from a federal investigation of his business dealings and possible campaign finance violations , US media reported Tuesday.

There was no initial confirmation of the plea deal reported by several media including NBC News and The New York Times, or of the specific charges involved , but Cohen was set to appear in Manhattan criminal court at 4 pm (2000 GMT ).

CNN reported that the deal includes prison time for the president ’s long -time fixer , who played a behind - the -scenes role in making hush payments to women who claimed to have had affairs with Trump .
The development came on the same day as a former Trump campaign chairman, Paul Manafort , faced a fourth day of deliberations in his tax evasion and bank fraud trial.

A Cohen guilty plea would avoid a high profile trial, but also could require him to cooperate with investigators probing whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia in its efforts to sway the 2016 US presidential elections .
Neither prosecutors in Manhattan nor Cohen’s attorney would comment on the matter .

via punchng

Guilty pleas are common in the United States when it appears prosecutors have sufficient evidence for a conviction if the case goes to trial. The FBI raided Cohen’s home and office on a referral from Special Counsel Robert Mueller , who is looking into whether Trump sought to obstruct the Russia meddling probe.

Cohen — who once declared he was so loyal he would “take a bullet for the president ” — was involved in efforts to hush allegations from a former Playboy model about an affair with Trump .
He also paid $ 130 ,000 to porn star Stormy Daniels to silence her own claims of an alleged one - night stand with Trump in 2006 , just before the election .

Talk of a plea deal comes days after The New York Times reported that Cohen is also under investigation for potential tax and bank fraud, possibly exceeding $ 20 million via loans obtained by the taxi medallion business he owns with his family