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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
4:00 this afternoon in federal court in southern manhattan in which, if there is a plea agreement, michael cohen is going to have to plead guilty to something. now, what we do not know whether it is a straight plea deal and by saving the government a trial, he perhaps gets a reduced sentence. that is something the judge would have to agree to. what we don t know is whether there is an element of cooperation and, reverend, that is the interesting part. you and i are both interviewers and ministers and you talked to a lot of people. what do you think was happening there? was michael cohen trying to come clean? was he trying to send a message to donald trump? what was the benefit of reaching out to a guy like you? you have never been on the same side of michael cohen? i left the regency saying whether he is sending a message to trump or he s sending a message to the prosecutors that
We ll have our answer. i suspect it s not going to be from the reporting i ve seen. it looks like a straight plea deal. but that doesn t rule out cooperation. you were saying earlier today, one can emanate from a plea deal. you made to this, then we re going to spend the days, weeks, months proffering you, then turn it into a cooperation agreement and you may have to plead to more stuff. what michael cohen gets out of just having a plea deal, if that s what it is today, is that his sentencing will not be imposed today. no, he ll plead guilty today. if it is a straight plea deal, he ll get less jail time than if he went to trial, but he ole still get serious jail time. so that s kind of halfway. i think he s got to either fight it, which he s if he s pleading, he s not doing that. thank you. i really appreciate it.
Which we believe is happening in one hour from now. he has to say what he is pleading guilty to. this may be part of the strategy of the government in this case. hitting him with a campaign finance violation alone may not have induced cooperation because the penalties are relatively light. but investigate bank fraud and investigate tax fraud and tax perjury and if you re involving millions and millions of dollars, you re looking at serious sentientiencing guideli and that is going to agree to plead. that is the kind of pressure it puts on a defendant like cohen, if he ends up entering a plea. on the other hand, in the world of cooperation, life gets a lot better. if he cooperates and pleads guilty and gets a reduction, if he provides substantial
He mads guilty to, if he mads. if he mads to bank fraud or fraud, these are things that were part of his life as a fixer. but that nexus, that connection to campaign finance law violations would be particularly interesting, because it would draw a connection between michael cohen and whatever campaign he was involved in, obviously the trump campaign. so it s going to be critical. cooperation may not be immediate. sentencing may be months, if not a year down the road. remember, sentencing, if he cooperates, will only occur if and when the prosecution is satisfied or ready to go forward with the sentencing. and then, whether or not they give that 5-k-1 motion, that substantial assistance motion, is in the discretion of prosecutors. so defense attorneys like me often find ourselves taking on the role of sales person to the prosecutors in the course of a