US: Trump’s ex-lawyer deserves prison despite co-operation

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, deserves substantial prison time despite his co-operation, prosecutors said Friday.

The recommendation was in a filing ahead of Cohen’s sentencing in New York next week.

Cohen pleaded guilty to federal charges and co-operated in multiple state and federal probes over several months, including having seven meetings with special counsel Robert Mueller’s team.

Prosecutors said the court’s Probation Department estimated that federal sentencing guidelines call for Cohen to serve at least four years in prison. Prosecutors said the range “reflects Cohen’s extensive, deliberate and serious criminal conduct.”

Prosecutors said Cohen should not receive the credit a traditional co-operating witness would receive “given, among other reasons, Cohen’s affirmative decision not to become one.”

Chad Day And Eric Tucker, The Associated Press