Wednesday, August 22, 2018
By Ken White, criminal defense attorney and former federal prosecutor, in The New York Times. In part:
His plea agreement is not a “cooperation” agreement. It does not require him to help the government’s investigations, and the government does not promise sentencing credit for any such help.
But judges can, and often do, give credit for cooperation, and the government can always decide to recommend a lighter sentence later. And federal prosecutors clearly hope that Mr. Cohen will cooperate — his testimony that Mr. Trump directed his crimes was gratuitous unless prosecutors intended to lock him into that story for possible future use.
. . .
If Mr. Cohen has this great dirt, why hasn’t Mr. Mueller already locked him in with a cooperation agreement? Mr. Mueller is a cautious man; Mr. Cohen, manifestly, is not. If the special counsel enlisted Mr. Cohen formally, that agreement would come with all of his credibility problems and tendency to act impetuously. Now Mr. Cohen’s plea has thoroughly rattled the administration. Mr. Trump and his gaffe-prone lawyer Rudy Giuliani react badly to pressure and will most likely respond with incriminating statements. And Mr. Mueller will no doubt be watching. This is what federal prosecutors do best: provoke foolish reactions.
http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/crimprof_blog/2018/08/can-michael-cohen-bring-down-trump.html
"Can Michael Cohen Bring Down Trump?" curated from CrimProf Blog
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