On Thursday, federal prosecutors filed a motion in the Southern District of New York opposing a sentencing reduction for President Donald Trump's former personal attorney Michael Cohen, who is currently serving a three-year prison sentence for bank fraud, tax evasion, and campaign finance violations related to the hush payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Cohen, the government's attorneys argue, is ineligible for a reduced sentence because his cooperation with prosecutors — which would be the basis of any such reduction — did not substantially assist investigations, and that indeed Cohen made "material false statements" in discussion with officials.
For example, Cohen claimed that he did not want to move to Washington, D.C. and had "no actual interest" in a position in the Trump administration — both of which are contradicted by his own Twitter account. He also suggested that the tax evasion was the result of decisions made by his accountant, and his guilty plea was in response to a threat from federal prosecutors to charge his wife, which contradicts his sworn allocution.
Credibility issues are not new for Cohen. In addition to these charges, he has also pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about Trump's proposal to build a tower in Moscow.