Trump’s ex-lawyer Michael Cohen gets three years in prison
Donald Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen has been sentenced to three years in prison for crimes including hush-money payments that US prosecutors say Mr Trump ordered.
US District Judge William H Pauley III said that Michael Cohen deserved a harsh punishment for crimes including tax evasion, lying to Congress and arranging illicit payments to silence women who posed a risk to Mr Trump's presidential campaign.
The judge rejected arguments by Cohen's lawyers that he should be spared jail time because he cooperated in multiple federal investigations involving Mr Trump.
Cohen said his "blind loyalty" to Mr Trump made him feel a duty to "cover up" the president's "dirty deeds".
Cohen's crimes included evading $1.4m in taxes and misleading Congress about his talks with Russians about a Trump skyscraper project in Moscow.
Mr Trump had called for a tough sentence for Cohen, whom he labelled a liar.
The judge said Cohen's cooperation with prosecutors "does not wipe the slate clean" of his crimes.
Mr Pauley said that Cohen "appears to have lost his moral compass" and that the lawyer "should have known better" than to dodge taxes, lie to Congress and violate campaign finance laws.
