President Donald Trump’s longtime personal attorney, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty Tuesday to eight charges, including multiple counts of tax evasion and a campaign finance charge stemming from so-called “hush money” payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal.
Cohen, 51, entered a plea deal Tuesday with prosecutors in the Southern District of New York.
Update 6:25 p.m. EDT Aug. 21: "There is no allegation of any wrongdoing against the President in the government's charges against Mr. Cohen," Trump's attorney, Rudy Giuliani, said in a statement after Cohen entered his plea Tuesday.
"It is clear that, as the prosecutor noted, Mr. Cohen's actions reflect a pattern of lies and dishonesty over a significant period of time," Giuliani said.
Cohen said in court Tuesday that he coordinated with Trump to pay hush money to Daniels and McDougal, who both claim they had affairs with Trump years before he was elected. Cohen did not name Daniels, McDougal or Trump in court.
Update 6:10 p.m. EDT Aug. 21: Daniels' attorney, Michael Avenatti, told MSNBC that he and his client have been "vindicated" after Cohen pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges including tax evasion and a campaign-finance violation.
"A lot of this stems from her courage,” Avenatti said. “We're going to get to the bottom now in connection to the civil case as to what the president knew, and what he knew about it, and when he knew and what he did about it."
Daniels claims that she had sex with Donald Trump in 2006, more than a decade before he became president. She is suing Trump and Cohen, seeking to invalidate a nondisclosure agreement she signed days before the 2016 presidential election.
Cohen said in federal court in New York that he paid Daniels, who was not named, $130,000 in exchange for the nondisclosure agreement to influence the election. The payment was made at the direction of Trump, who also was not named, Cohen said.
Update 5:40 p.m. EDT Aug. 21: Deputy U.S. Attorney Robert Khuzami said after Cohen entered his guilty plea Tuesday that he submitted false invoices to the Trump's company to obtain reimbursement for unlawful campaign contributions made in the form of payments to Daniels and McDougal.
In his plea, Cohen did not name the two women or even Trump, recounting instead that he worked with an "unnamed candidate." But the amounts and the dates all lined up with the payments made to Daniels and McDougal.
Cohen said in federal court in New York on Tuesday that he made the payments in coordination with Trump to influence the election. Both women claimed Trump had affairs with them, which he denies.
The other charges Cohen pleaded guilty to involve bank fraud and income tax evasion.
As part of his plea agreement, Cohen agreed not to challenge any sentence from 46 to 63 months.
Khuzami said Tuesday that Cohen’s “lies and dishonesty” were particularly egregious because of his profession.
“(He) decided he was above the law and for that he’s going to pay a very serious price,” Khuzami said.
Update 5:10 p.m. EDT Aug. 21: At a hearing Tuesday afternoon in federal court in New York, Cohen said he made payments to Daniels and McDougal on behalf of Trump, who was not named, "to influence the election," according to The Associated Press.
Daniels said she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006. She signed a non-disclosure agreement shortly before voters went to the polls for the 2016 presidential election in exchange for $130,000 from Cohen.
McDougal claimed she had a nearly year-long affair with the president in 2006 and 2007. The rights to McDougal's story were bought in August 2016 by American Media Inc., the company that publishes the National Enquirer, The Wall Street Journal reported, but her story was never published.
Update 4:55 p.m. EDT Aug. 21: Cohen admitted in court Tuesday to working at Trump's discretion to silence Karen McDougal, a former Playboy Playmate who claimed she had a nearly year-long affair with the president in 2006 and 2007, according to The New York Daily News.
He also told the court that he paid adult film star Stormy Daniels $130,000 in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election “with and at the direction of the same candidate (Trump),” the newspaper reported. The money went to Daniels in exchange for her signing a non-disclosure agreement that barred her from talking about a sexual encounter she said she had with Trump in 2006, a decade before he was elected to office.
A judge set Cohen’s bond at $500,000, according to Reuters. He is expected to appear in court for sentencing on Dec. 12.
Update 4:40 p.m. EDT Aug. 21: The charges Cohen pleaded guilty to Tuesday include five counts of tax evasion, according to The New York Daily News.
Update 3:45 p.m. EDT Aug. 21: An unidentified source told The Washington Post that Cohen's plea deal came Tuesday after prosecutors "claimed he risked more than dozen years in prison."
Unidentified sources told Fox News that Cohen's plea included three to five years of jail time.
Update 3:25 p.m. EDT Aug. 21: It was not immediately clear whether Cohen agreed to cooperate in special counsel Robert Mueller's ongoing investigation surrounding Trump as part of the agreement, The Washington Post reported.
Cohen surrendered Tuesday afternoon to FBI officials, according to the newspaper.
Original report: Two unidentified people familiar with the investigation told The Associated Press that Cohen's attorneys were in negotiations with prosecutors earlier Tuesday.
Cohen has been under investigation for possible fraud related to his businesses, the AP reported. Officials with the FBI raided his hotel room, home and office in April, seizing his computer, his phone and hundreds of thousands of records, The Washington Post reported.
Authorities sought details on Cohen's efforts to stave off negative publicity about Trump, CBS News and The New York Times reported. Among other things, authorities sought information on the release of an infamous tape in which the president could be heard on a hot mic making derogatory comments about women and payments Cohen made to a pair of women who claim they had sexual relationships with Trump, The New York Times reported.
Adult film star Stormy Daniels said she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006. Karen McDougal, a former Playboy Playmate, claimed she had a nearly year-long affair with the president in 2006 and 2007.
Officials also sought details on the role that the publisher of The National Enquirer played in keeping the women's stories from going public, according to The Times.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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