Michael Cohen is back in the news. The Justice Department has released his sentencing memo. Cohen is pleading guilty to a variety of felonies including campaign finance law violations. It certainly seems clear from a casual reading of the memo that Cohen had engaged in fraud for profit to a substantial degree. Deception certainly seems to have been a chief component of his work life.
Should he be going to jail? Based on the fraud and tax evasion charges, it would appear so. However, he also appears to be pleading guilty to a crime that did not occur. Now it is not unusual for individuals to plead guilty to avoid potentially longer sentences even when they did not commit the crime alleged. And this seems to be the case here.
The key to understanding this is that for there to be a violation of campaign finance law, the payments that Cohen made for PDJT must be a campaign-related expense. As Hans von Spakovsky of the Heritage Foundation noted:
Most legal scholars on both sides of the aisle agree with von Spakovsky’s insights. The payment was a nuisance settlement, the kind that celebrities get involved from time to time. They usually arise from some meritless claim that will cost far more to defend than making a quick payoff with a non-disclosure agreement (NDA). This prevents a ton of bad publicity even when the case is meritless.
Of course, Mueller and his cohorts have all the #NeverTrumpers all in a twitter. They are salivating of the possibility of impeachment resulting from this plea deal by Michael Cohen. This just shows how desperate the Special Counsel and his merry band of Democrats are.