Michael Cohen being investigated for over $20 million in bank fraud adds pressure point for Trump
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Longtime Trump fixer/lawyer Michael Cohen is being investigated for both bank and tax fraud to the tune of $20 million-plus. Federal investigators are also scrutinizing the hush-money payments he made on behalf of Donald Trump to keep Trump’s alleged affairMichael Cohen being investigated for over $20 million in bank fraud adds pressure point for Trump
Longtime Trump fixer/lawyer Michael Cohen is being investigated for both bank and tax fraud to the tune of $20 million-plus. Federal investigators are also scrutinizing the hush-money payments he made on behalf of Donald Trump to keep Trump’s alleged affairs under wraps as possible campaign finance violations. Charges reportedly could be filed before the end of August, according to the New York Times, and that spells trouble for Trump. Not only did Cohen work for the Trump organization for more than a decade, he also has made recordings, some of which include his conversations with Trump, and federal investigators seized more than a dozen digital devices when they executed a search warrant on Cohen’s premises in April. At issue for Cohen is whether he inflated the value of his assets when he applied for bank loans, and also whether he paid the proper amount of taxes on income earned from the taxi medallions he owned in New York. At issue for Trump is all the leverage Cohen's criminal liabilities could provide federal prosecutors related to Trump's business or other inquiries. At this late stage of the inquiry, it is still possible that Mr. Cohen may plead guilty rather than face an indictment. He has hinted publicly and has stated explicitly in private that he is eager to tell prosecutors what he knows in exchange for leniency. A cooperation agreement would likely include a provision that Mr. Cohen also provide information to the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, who is investigating possible involvement by the Trump campaign in Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election. In fact, former federal prosecutor Chuck Rosenberg has a sneaking suspicion that Cohen may already be cooperating with federal investigators. Last week on MSNBC's Deadline, Rosenberg compared wall-to-wall coverage of Omarosa Manigault Newman’s recordings with Cohen’s virtual seclusion following his recent release of a recorded conversation with Trump regarding one of those hush-money agreements. «The silence you hear from [Cohen] is deafening,» Rosenberg said, «and the reason you're hearing silence I think is because he's cooperating.» By contrast, Rosenberg explained that even though Omarosa has said she's cooperating and/or is willing to cooperate with Mueller, the media blitz she's doing is never the way a federal prosecutor wants a credible witness to behave. Read more