Prosecutors Paint Michael Cohen as a Liar – But Rely on Him for Anti-Trump Charges

NEW YORK — The nearly 40-page sentencing memo from New York prosecutors claiming that President Trump directed his former attorney, Michael Cohen, to make hush payments to two women that allegedly violated election law presents no actual evidence beyond Cohen’s own characterizations. The memo itself, however, paints Cohen as a deceiver who willingly repeatedly lied, and who possesses a fleeting sense of wrongdoing, little remorse and a tendency to place blame on others. The memo laments how the Court “had to press Cohen to acknowledge that he understood he was lying to a bank.” It charges that Cohen’s “consciousness of wrongdoing is fleeting, that his remorse is minimal, and that his instinct to blame others is strong.  While he has legally accepted responsibility, the Court should consider at sentencing these transparent efforts at minimizing Cohen’s false statements and criminal conduct.” While rendering Cohen untrustworthy, the sentencing memo relies on Cohen’s own characterizations to charge that he “acted in coordination and at the direction of” an unnamed “Individual-1”, clearly referring to Trump, to pay off two women who claimed that they had previous sexual encounters with Trump. At issue is a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels, which prosecutors argue