There is surprising news about the Donald Trump’s personal attorney and fixer Michael Cohen. The news was expected as some indistinct point. Yet, when it hit, it hit with a thud.
The Manhattan’s Appellate Division, First Department, and the Attorney Grievance committee reported to The New York Post that Cohen had been disbarred. Their decision followed the fixer’s felony conviction for lying under oath.
Cohen pled guilty to eight federal charges in 2018. These included campaign finance violations, lying to Congress, and tax fraud among others. Then, the Southern District of New York (SDNY) gave the attorney a three-year sentence in federal prison. He will report to prison in early May.
The president’s former attorney spent 70 hours testifying before Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigators, and they recommended a light to no sentence. However, the SDNY disagreed. The Southern District requires a person to reveal every crime he or she ever committed or ones their friends or family committed. The level of detail goes down to a stolen candy bar when the person was five years old.
New York law reads that any person who has been convicted of a felony cannot practice law. However, Cohen can ask to be reinstated to the New York bar after seven years.
Cohen is voluntarily testifying to the Senate and Intelligence committee behind closed doors first. The next day he is testifying before the Democratic-led House Oversight and Reform committee. This committee has wide-ranging authority. The final day of his testimony Trump’s fixer will go to testify before the House Intelligence committee.
This will probably not affect his prison sentence, but the president’s former attorney has been using this opportunity to do what he said he felt was right.
The Intelligence committees will focus in on Russia’s attack on the 2016 presidential election and conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Moscow. These testimonies are secret, because they may involve an ongoing investigation, techniques of law enforcement, or people who have not committed a crime. The Oversight committee will likely deal with the Trump family business, a red line according to POTUS.
The former fixer was admitted to the New York bar in 1992. Cohen could not be reached for comment.
Featured image is a screenshot via YouTube.
