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to roll the dice and gamble. i think the question of a pardon is huge. and intimidating to the whole process here and the president is wise to step back and not do that because the act of that and interesting to see. the mueller team can look at that as destructive conduct. in these circumstances what is best for him and, honestly, the best thing to do is not to plead but to cooperate, as well. reverend al sharpton who is one of the few people that michael cohen has reached out to to discuss where his head is at but right now where his head is at but what about exactly is going to happen. he has come to an agreement with the prosecutors in the southern district of new york. that is not the mueller investigation. we need to figure out what role the mueller investigation is going to have in this agreement. in the end, this all has to be presented to a federal judge,
which we believe is happening in one hour fr
right now the judge is reading the charges after mr. cohen told the court, i am truly sorry and i promises to do better. he apologize nod country. and the defense team is asking for full consideration of mercy and telling the judge that the client came forward to offer evidence against the most p powerful man in the country not knowing the result. the prosecutors are responding forcefully and saying that powerful and privileged individuals cannot violate laws without impunity, and back with me, this tremendous panel, danny cevallos, ken delainian, and elliott and jill winebank. and jill, what do you make of what we have heard so far in this robust apology that we have heard from michael cohen saying that he was acting out of blind loyalty to donald trump. of course, the phrase blind loyalty to donald trump reminds
me of the book by john dean blind ambition and there is some similarity between the two of them where they were basically blinded by the power of the president. but yo
Is asking for mercy. do you expect that the judge is going to grant that, and what are the options today, danny? michael cohen s team has asked for a straight probation s sentence and no incarceration. meanwhile, the special counsel s office has filed a memorandum saying that he assisted us and helped out, and he did not rise to the level of what we call substantial assistance and the district of new york on the other hand filed what you could call a more scathing memorandum and saying that michael cohen did not provide a substantial assistance and did not cooperate as that term is use and so he is not going to be getting a substantial assistance motion. and so it is not the guideline range of 51 to 63 month, and instead, even the government is on board with a sentence in the 42-month area. michael cohen s attorneys have asked for no incarceration at all. as a defense attorney, i
And it didn t work. he got a bit off but he did not get a substantial assistance motion and he s going to jail. lanny davis saying he s no longer the lawyer. he will be a kplcommunications adviser. putting out the likelihood that cohen will speak after the mueller investigation is complete. the possibility he would be willing to testify before congressional committees. in terms of russia investigation, the trump presidency, the role of michael cohen going forward, how do you see it? i think we will have to see what he says moving forward. aside from the fact that the developments today are really extraordinary. we have to take a moment to step back and say the personal attorney of the united states is going to prison for three years for doing in part for helping to direct a payment that was in violation of campaign finance
The government did what the government likes to do a lot more with a lesser quality witness which is get a conviction, get him to plea, and then dangle that 5 k 1 substantial assistance motion in front of him until they give him what they want but if you are a vip, if you have just critical information, that s when the government will actually go through the hoops it has to to give that person immunity. you have to be very, very important. i would love to ask glen the ratio of people that he convicted, cooperated as a witness and then maybe they got a substantial assistance motion versus the number of people he gave full on immunity to. glen, it s got to be, it s got to be way more convictions, pleas and then possible cooperation down the road than it ever was full immunity, right? absolutely, danny. we would rather hold people accountable for their crimes, put pressure on them quite frankly and then, you know, put them in a position where it s in their best interest to tell the trut