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| Michael Cohen, former personal attorney for US President Donald Trump, has reportedly agreed to plead guilty to charges stemming from his business dealings and possible campaign finance violations (AFP Photo/Drew Angerer) |
New York (AFP) - Michael Cohen, Donald Trump's former personal lawyer, has agreed to plead guilty to charges stemming from a federal investigation of his business dealings and possible campaign finance violations, US media reported Tuesday.
There was
no initial confirmation of the plea deal reported by several media including
NBC News and The New York Times, or of the specific charges involved, but Cohen
was set to appear in Manhattan criminal court at 4 pm (2000 GMT).
CNN
reported that the deal includes prison time for the president's long-time
fixer, who played a behind-the-scenes role in making hush payments to women who
claimed to have had affairs with Trump.
The
development came on the same day as a former Trump campaign chairman, Paul
Manafort, faced a fourth day of deliberations in his tax evasion and bank fraud
trial.
A Cohen
guilty plea would avoid a high profile trial, but also could require him to
cooperate with investigators probing whether the Trump campaign colluded with
Russia in its efforts to sway the 2016 US presidential elections.
Neither
prosecutors in Manhattan nor Cohen's attorney would comment on the matter.
Guilty
pleas are common in the United States when it appears prosecutors have
sufficient evidence for a conviction if the case goes to trial.
The FBI
raided Cohen's home and office on a referral from Special Counsel Robert
Mueller, who is looking into whether Trump sought to obstruct the Russia
meddling probe.
Cohen --
who once declared he was so loyal he would "take a bullet for the
president" -- was involved in efforts to hush allegations from a former
Playboy model about an affair with Trump.
He also
paid $130,000 to porn star Stormy Daniels to silence her own claims of an
alleged one-night stand with Trump in 2006, just before the election.
Talk of a
plea deal comes days after The New York Times reported that Cohen is also under
investigation for potential tax and bank fraud, possibly exceeding $20 million
via loans obtained by the taxi medallion business he owns with his family.
The conviction of the US president's one-time campaign chairman and the guilty plea by his former personal lawyer have brought Russia prosecutor Robert Mueller sorely needed relief as political pressure mounts for him to wind up the 15-month investigation https://t.co/LJwC2uMH3P— AFP news agency (@AFP) August 22, 2018
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