NEW YORK: Donald Trump’s one-time personal lawyer Michael Cohen entered federal prison to serve a three-year sentence Monday for a crime he said was ordered by the US president, suggesting he still has more to tell about his former boss.
Cohen, 52, was sentenced to prison in December after admitting he paid hush money during the 2016 presidential election — in violation of electoral laws — to two women who said they had had affairs with Trump, committed tax fraud, and lied to Congress.
“There still remains much to be told. And I look forward to the day that I can share the truth,” he told reporters as he left his Manhattan residence for the federal prison in Otisville, New York.
“I hope when I rejoin my family and friends that the country will be in a place without xenophobia, injustice, and lies at the helm of our country,” he said.
Hours later the onetime vice president and key problem-fixer at the Trump Organization arrived at the rural prison north of New York City, becoming the second former top Trump aide serving hefty terms for multiple criminal offenses, after former campaign chairman Paul Manafort.
His lawyer Lanny Davis said Cohen was the victim of “selective prosecution and disproportionate sentencing and will continue to help prosecutors investigating the president.
“I will continue questioning why Michael is the only person within the Trump organization to be prosecuted for crimes committed at the direction of and for the benefit of Mr. Trump,” Davis said.
Cohen, who worked for the real estate tycoon for a decade, fell out with the president after telling prosecutors and Congress that he was ordered to make the hush payments by Trump himself.
He showed evidence that Trump and his son signed reimbursement checks for the payoffs, which were made to keep two women silent about their alleged affairs with Trump in the weeks before the November 2016 presidential election.
“I didn’t work for the campaign. I worked for him. And how come I’m the one that’s going to prison? I’m not the one that slept with the porn star,” Cohen said in an interview with The New Yorker, referring to one of the women.
After it became clear that Cohen was cooperating with investigators, Trump denigrated him as “weak” and a “rat” ready to make up any lies necessary to avoid prison.
The White House had no comment Monday about Cohen’s entering prison.
But in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, current Trump Organization executive vice president George Sorial dismissed Cohen as someone of few abilities who Trump kept on for years out of loyalty.
“Michael wasn’t much of a lawyer,” Sorial wrote. “He wasn’t trusted to run his own department” and “wasn’t good enough to be given real control.”
“He knows he’ll be remembered for turning on those most loyal to him.”
But Cohen’s case and testimony provided some of the most damaging information on Trump, leading to speculation that New York prosecutors might be reserving charges against the president until after he leaves office — the earliest of which would be January 2021.
Father of two children in their 20s, Cohen had hoped until the last moment that his sentence would be reduced based on his readiness to cooperate with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election meddling, and, separately, New York prosecutors.
Now disbarred and low on cash, Cohen has mentioned plans to write a book and have his experiences made into a film.
That would follow the footsteps of Richard Nixon’s former lawyer John Dean, who pleaded guilty for having bought the silence of the Watergate scandal burglars in the early 1970s, and then wrote a book about his experience.
The Otisville prison conditions should allow Cohen to spend at least some time on such projects.
He is due to be held in the detention center’s low-security “camp,” which holds detainees who are not considered to be dangerous, including many other white-collar criminals.
Practicing Jews like Cohen who are sentenced to federal prison often request to be placed at Otisville because it provides kosher meals and detainees are allowed to follow the Shabbat day of rest.
The 120-some prisoners of this wing of the center can use libraries, as well as basketball and tennis courts, while wearing their beige uniforms.
Ex-Trump lawyer Cohen, off to prison, says still ‘much to be told’
Ex-Trump lawyer Cohen, off to prison, says still ‘much to be told’
- Cohen, 52, was sentenced to prison in December after admitting he paid hush money during the 2016 presidential election
- Cohen had hoped until the last moment that his sentence would be reduced based on his readiness to cooperate with Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election meddling
Sweden plans to tighten rules for gaining citizenship
- The country has for years struggled to integrate migrants, with many not learning the language and living in disadvantaged areas with higher crime and jobless rates
STOCKHOLM: Sweden said Monday it planned to tighten rules to acquire citizenship, introducing “honest living” and financial requirements, a language and general knowledge test and raising the residency requirement from five to eight years.
If approved by parliament, the new rules would enter into force on June 6, Sweden’s national holiday, and would apply even to applications already being processed.
Migration Minister Johan Forssell, whose right-wing minority government holds a majority with the backing of the far-right Sweden Democrats, told reporters it was currently too easy to acquire Swedish citizenship.
“Citizenship needs to mean more than it does today,” he said.
“Pride is something you feel when you’ve worked hard at something. But working hard is not something that has characterised citizenship.
“It has been possible to become a citizen after five years without knowing a single word of Swedish, without knowing anything about our Swedish society, without having any own income.”
Referring to a case that recently made headlines, he said: “You can even become one while you’re sitting in custody accused of murder.
“This obviously sends completely wrong signals, both to those who do right by themselves and those who are already citizens.”
Following a large influx of migrants to Sweden during the 2015 migrant crisis, successive left- and right-wing governments have tightened asylum and migration rules.
The country has for years struggled to integrate migrants, with many not learning the language and living in disadvantaged areas with higher crime and jobless rates.
Under the new rules, those who have criminal records — in their home country or in Sweden — and who have served their sentence would have to wait up to 17 years before being allowed to apply for citizenship, up from the current 10 years.
In addition, those deemed to not adhere to “honest living” requirements would not be granted citizenship.
That could include racking up mountains of debt, being served restraining orders or even having a drug addiction.
Applicants would also have to have a monthly pre-tax income of 20,000 kronor ($2,225), excluding pensioners and students.
The citizenship tests would be similar to those used in neighboring Denmark and the United States, the government said, with the first tests due to be held in August.
