Exploring issues that affect leaders in the U. S. And around the globe. Penalties are even higher, the evidence is even more volume nous, or will he cut his losses, cut a deal and tell what he knows if anything about potential collusion between donald trump and the Russian Election interference effort . Let me bring in the panel now. I want to get to my legal experts, more of my legal experts. By the way, a little more breaking news, the Cohen Hearing is officially over. Sentencing is scheduled for December 12th for his guilty plea at 11 00 a. M. Hes out on 500,000 bail which was cosigned by his wife and a second person. Were going to go there. But Donald Fryman is is on Air Force One on his way to West Virginia to prepare for a rally for the West Virginia senate race. How is he feeling . We think hes emotionally and politically in as much of a corner psychologically as hes been since hes become president of the United States. Hes worked very hard to get at
least some n. Some polls his popularity polls up, get him a sense of confidence. Hes going to West Virginia tonight which is a state that gave him i think it might be the two coal states. It was wyoming and West Virginia. Hes kind of going to his mountain retreat. Yes. Where the citadel, the Psychological Citadel exists, where hes going to go before this rally and hes im guessing going to denounce mueller. Hes going to denounce the thugs. Hes going to denounce brennan. Hes going to denounce the deep state. Hes going to do all of those Greatest Hits of his core that will try to buck him up. But even donald trump, as hes speaking in front of that Cheering Crowd in charleston, has got to be thinking that the walls are closing in. One other quick point. Everybody says Robert Mueller is not a political prosecutor. But hes a Psychological Prosecut prosecutor. And what hes going to donald trump psychologically as he works his way from the outside in and from the bottom up is
nothing short of torturous to this man. And he had some tough times in the white house but probably nothing like this as a staffer where this has got to be rattling to the staff. Its admitted felon and convicted felon on the same day. Its very rattling to the staff. In particular anybody who in the campaign may zhsomehow have interacted with Michael Cohen or had a Working Relationship with Paul Manafort. Paul was largely tried on his own former business dealings. His next trial of course is going to be more aligned with whats been talked about in this russian investigation. I think if youre a staffer whos been active in this campaign during this period where cohen was active and manafort was active youre wondering what particularly cohen, what does this mean for me. Weve got live pictures here, were seeing this appears to be new york city. Were i think preparing to see Michael Cohen leave the building. Yooij, i know were going to get an official statement from the
trump legal team. But i think the big question, is he going to defend manafort . Does he end up trying to dangle a pardon and does that matter . I think hell defend manafort if he believes manaforts still going to protect him. We have new supporting that cohen said that his actions were at the direction of the candidate. He did not name the candidate. But its the candidate. And so we know that trump was supposedly afraid that cohen was going to turn on him. And if that is what ended up happening we can see him turning on cohen and we can expect many among his base, not all trump supporters, to go in the direction of the courthouse to courthouse here. This is Donald Trumps presidency right now. A new york courthouse and an alexandria, virginia courthouse. On the Cohen Manafort sort of side by side. You can see this president based on what we know about him to look at manafort, who didnt put up a defense, who sat there stonefaced, took it. Up froms going to like that. And trumps going to say he
looked strong, this whole case is a fraud, he shouldnt be up for these charges, whereas cohen looks like a rat today and he looks weak and hes in the courthouse emotional. I think that will play into how donald trump reacts. Paul manafort playing not for a hung jury, for a pardon. And hes kichbconsistently play that role. Let me go to two of my legal experts here. Gene rossi, former u. S. Attorney in virginia. You got this conviction as the prosecutor. Do you how open would you be if manafort says could we cut a deal . I would take it in a heartbeat. And ive had this happen yes, i would. And ill tell you why. Mr. Manafort is not a good man. Hes now a greedy and convicted man. And having said all that, as a
prosecutor you want cooperation. And ive had times where somebody went to trial and they were found guilty or they pleaded guilty during trial. I always wanted cooperation. Number one. And number two, if he cooperates hes going to waive all appeals. I want to do a shout out to one of my old bosses, chuck rosenberg. We dont like appellate work. Trial attorneys dont like appellate work. And chuck will agree with me. If you get a person to cooperate, they will waive all appeals, and that is a big deal. Just ask the trial team for governor bob mcdonnell, the prosecutors there. If mcdonald had cooperated after his conviction, they wouldnt have that Supreme Court case. So yes, i would take cooperation in a heartbeat on this type of case. Now, if you have a violent gang member or a serial murderer, i prosecuted a guy who killed 35 people, i dont want his cooperation. I want him in prison. So yes, i would accept his cooperation. But its not all right, gene. Let me go to your boss. Your former boss here. Chuck rosenberg. How much you know youre going to put Manafort On Trial again in the district. You know hes going on trial again in a few weeks. So if hes coming for a deal how much hardball do you play . Well, you have a lot of leverage now. And gene is right. This is the type of case in which you would take cooperation even after a guilty verdict. And theres another factor here too, chuck, which i think is important. Mr. Manafort didnt testify at trial. Meaning i think he didnt testify falsely. Meaning i think that hes still potentially valuable as a witness. He didnt concoct a false story. He didnt commit perjury on the stand. He remains silent. Of course thats his right to do so. But from a prosecutors standpoint, if he has information we want it. Particularly if hes going to tell it to us truthfully and
fully. Let me ask you this all right. Now were going in. This is the attorney for mr. Manafort. Of not getting acquitals all the way through or a complete hung jury on all counts. However, he would like to thank judge ellis for granting him a fair trial, thank the jury for their very long and hardfought deliberations. He is evaluating all of his options at this point. Thank you, everyone. That was super quick. Chuck rosenberg, let me pick back up. You just eared, hes reviewing all options. The fact they dont immediately say they plan to appeal to me says a lot. I feel like in previous any other trial, somebody that feels emphatic that they were wrongly convicted they immediately Start Talking appeal. There was no talk of that. Its hard to know if theyre just trying to catch their breath, chuck, or keeping the door open. I would hope theyre keeping the door open because the notion that you can run the table in
the district of columbia, get acquitted on all of the charges there, then get all of the charges on which youre convicted in virginia overturned on appeal is approaching absolute zero. So if hes keeping his options open i think its a wise thing to do but it may be just a throwaway line. What do you do with the pardon issue as a prosecutor . That thats sort of hanging up there. Not many clients that you successfully convict, you know, have a pardon they might be able to pull out of their back pocket pretty quick. I would say theres almost nothing you can do. You have no control over it. Its the unfettered right of the president to pardon whoever he wants to pardon whenever he wants to pardon them. And so while you know its in the background its hard to control things you cant control, chuck. I would put it aside. We are i think about to move we are awaiting a Press Conference in new york city on
the cohen thing. Gu guys, are we ready to move over to that . Lets move over to that courthouse now. Press conference split screen day. With me is bill sweeney, Assistant Director in charge of the new York Field Office of the fbi, and james rodna, who is the supervisory agent in charge of the new york office of the irs. Also with me are the prosecutors from the United StatesAttorneys Office in the Southern District of new york who prosecuted the cohen matter. Im going to have a Brief Statement and will not be taking any questions. Today as you heard, Michael Cohen pled guilty to eight felony charges. Five of those dealt with tax evasion for the years 2012 through 2016 in which he failed to report approximately 4. 1 million in reported income. Approximately 2. 5 of that money was from Interest Payments from a personal loan that he failed
to report. Approximately 1. 3 million of that money was from the operation of his taxi Medallion Bips approximately 100,000 of that money was from brokerage commissions. And over 200,000 was from consulting fees. Thats over 4. 3 million over a fiveyear period, which translates into a loss to the United States treasury of approximately 1. 3 million. In addition, in count 6 mr. Cohen pled guilty to making false statements to a Financial Institution in connection with an application for a Home Equity Line of credit. In that application he failed to disclose more than 14 million in debt that he will, and as a result of that concealment he obtained that 500,000 line of credit which he would not have been entitled to had he been candid and honest. In addition, mr. Cohen pled guilty to two Campaign Finance charges, one for causing an unlawful corporate contribution and a second one for personally making an excessive personal contribution, both for the purpose of influencing the 2016 election. In addition, what he did was he worked to pay money to silence two women who had information he believed would be detrimental to the 2016 campaign and to the candidate and the campaign. In addition, mr. Cohen sought reimbursement for that money by submitting invoices to the Candidates Company which were untrue and false. They indicated that the reimbursement was for Services Rendered for the year 2017 when in fact those invoices were a sham. He provided no legal services
for the year 2017 and it was simply a means to obtain reimbursement for the Unlawful Campaign contribution. A couple of points id like to make, first these are very serious charges and reflect a pattern of lies and dishonesty over an extended period of time. They are significant in their own right. They are particularly significant when done by a lawyer, a lawyer who through training and tradition understands what it means to be a lawyer, to engage in honest and fair dealing and adherence to the law. Mr. Cohen disregarded that training, disregarded that tradition, and decided that he was above the law and for that hes going to pay a very, very serious price. With respect to the Campaign Finance violations, the Campaign Finance laws are designed to prevent the use of illegal money in elections and to maintain the integrity of those elections. Mr. Cohen made guilty pleas for those campaign violations, and those are core violations. And what he did was these pleas remind us that it is illegal for corporations to make contributions to candidates and it is illegal to make contributions in excess of the amount that congress set for individuals. That is a strong message today, and we will not be we will not fear prosecuting additional corporation Campaign Finance cases. Lastly and perhaps most importantly, this case is unique in many ways. Just witness the gathering of all of you here today. And in other ways its unique as well. But in really important ways this case is not unlike many cases that my office, the United StatesAttorneys Office, brings, that the entire department of justice brings and
that the Law Enforcement agencies do as well including the fbi and the irs. Is this case has more in common with all those cases because they all share the same message. And that message is that the rule of law applies and that for Law Enforcement, all all of whom are gathered here, it is our commitment that we will pursue and vindicate those who choose to break the law and vindicate the majority of people who live lawabiding lives, who follow honest and fair dealing and live lives of lawful behavior. The message is that we are here, prosecutors are here, Law Enforcement is here, the department of justice is here, the Law Enforcement agencies here. We are a nation of laws and the essence of this case is about is justice and that is an equal Playing Field for all persons in
the eyes of the laws and that is a lesson that mr. Cohen learned today and it is a very harsh one for him. Thank you very much. Who is the candidate youre talking about . One other thing. Im sorry. Id also like to introduce sorry. My fault. I really want to thank mr. Sweeney and james robned of the irs and the agents who work for them. We do many cases with them. And their determination and their fair dealing and their vigor with which they pr suh their cases is really inspirational. To the prosecutors in my office, i cannot express the gratitude for the hard work they did in this case. Assistant United States attorneys Andrea Griswold and nick roose and tom mckay as well as the deputy chief of the Public Corruption Unit and russell capone, the chief of the Public Corruption Unit. For all of these people, i could
go on and on about their many virtues and Fanlts Talentalents are satisfied with simply being known as public servants, prosecutors and Law Enforcement agents who are doing their job. Thank you very much. That was robert kazami. He is the deputy u. S. Attorney for the Southern District of new york there. You heard him lay it all out. But theres a big sort of meatball hanging out there on the plea deal. We all know what Michael Cohen what the government has essentially offered not to do now and what Michael Cohen has offered in exchange for this plea deal, but lets try to break it down. Ive got the same panel here. Ive also got danny cevallos, one of our legal experts whos been in new york following the cohen plea all day. So danny, let me start with you. Youre a longtime defense lawyer. What did Michael Cohen do today and what is he getting out of it . Because i still am not clear on
that. Well, whats very significant is probably what we didnt hear the u. S. Attorneys office say today, and that is this. We should be very careful not to conclude right now that there is zero cooperation because it often is the case that a defendant will enter a plea and there will be not one mention of a Cooperation Agreement and there will be not one mention In Open Court even at the sentencing of a Cooperation Agreement. Instead that reference will be at sidebar, out of the ears of the public. And the reason for that is the Cooperation Agreements are often kept secret. For a couple of very important reasons. One, publicity of a Cooperation Agreement could scare off other big fish. And its for the safety of the cooperator because they want to avoid snitches getting stitches. So in this case there may be cooperation but there may be no way for us to know that. These Plea Negotiations go on in
secret. We will never know the words that were exchanged in reaching this final agreement. We may get the plea In Open Court but the cooperation may pour now remain a mystery. Danny, stick with me here. Ive Got Mimi Rocca on the phone, a former u. S. Attorney in the Southern District of ne