Who is Michael Cohen?

Who+is+Michael+Cohen%3F

Laya Reddy

This name has been in the news a lot lately. He is Donald Trump’s former attorney, and he was recently questioned in a hearing with the Oversight Committee of the House of Representatives, and will soon be going to jail for three years for lying to Congress and taking part in financial crimes.

His political affiliations changed over the years; he used to be a Democrat, then registered as a Republican in 2017 after reportedly being disappointed with Obama, and re-registered as a Democrat in 2018 in an effort to distance himself from the other Republicans. He did run for some political positions in New York, but lost.

His ties with Trump began in 2006, when he joined the Trump Organization. He reportedly met with Russian officials in 2016 to pay them to cover up their hacking of the DNC, and claimed that Trump was aware of the meeting. In 2018, tapes were released in which Trump and Cohen discussed hush payments made to Karen McDougal, who Trump allegedly had an affair with. Cohen paid the $130,000 out of his own pocket, expecting a reimbursement from the Trump Organization, but not receiving one. He also made payments to Stormy Daniels, another woman claiming she had an affair with Trump.

On November 29th, 2018, Cohen admitted to lying to Congress, as he previously told them that the Trump Tower Moscow deal ended in January of 2016, even though it actually ended in June of 2016. He received a punishment of two months in prison for this, in addition to the three years he is serving for tax fraud.

In his public hearing on February 28th, 2019, he described Trump as a “racist”, “con man”, and “a cheat”. He also attended a hearing the next day with the House Intelligence Committee.