This Old Michael Cohen Tweet About Hillary Clinton Is So Ironic After His Sentencing
Wednesday, Dec. 12, marked a dramatic conclusion to months-long drama surrounding Michael Cohen, the president's former longtime lawyer and fixer. He had pleaded guilty to nine federal charges, including campaign finance violations and false statements he gave to investigators in the Russia probe. While Cohen was holding onto hope that he'd be given a soft penalty, he was ultimately sentenced to three years in prison for his crimes on Wednesday afternoon. As is the case in any drama-filled moment, Twitter is weighing in on the matter, and tweets about Michael Cohen's sentence are throwing some of Cohen's very own words back in his face. Yikes.
In an emailed statement following the sentencing, Cohen spokesperson Lanny Davis tells Elite Daily that Cohen "continues to tell the truth" to courts and prosecutors. He says,
Michael has owned up to his mistakes and fully cooperated with Special Counsel Mueller in his investigation over possible Trump campaign collusion with Russian meddling in the 2016 election. While Mr. Mueller gave Michael significant credit for cooperation on the “core” issues, it is unfortunate that SDNY prosecutors did not do the same.
Perhaps even more unfortunate is the fact that Cohen's very own words have come back to haunt him. Twitter users have started recirculating a 2015 tweet the attorney sent to then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, in which he taunted her with a threat of prison. The tweet read: "@HillaryClinton when you go to prison for defrauding America and perjury, your room and board will be free!"
The tables have turned, and Twitter users are pointing it out.
#Karma
"You got to be careful what you wish onto others," one Twitter user warned.
*Adds these tweets to the list of Cohen's misfortunes*
On Wednesday afternoon, Cohen was sentenced to 36 months in prison, with the possibility of knocking time off his sentence if he cooperates with prosecutors. He'll also have to pay nearly $1.4 million in restitution and a $50,000 fine, as well as forfeit $500,000 in assets, per Politico. On the bright side (I guess?), Cohen has almost three months before he'll have to report to prison on March 6 to begin serving his sentence, so that's at least... something.
The news of his sentence is one of the latest developments in the drama since Cohen pleaded guilty to lying to Congress in the Russia investigation (into potential collusion between Russia and members of the 2016 Trump campaign) on Nov. 29. According to his plea, he admitted to making false statements about plans for a Trump Tower deal in Moscow, telling the Senate Intelligence Committee that they ended before the campaign when the plans actually continued well into 2016, when Trump was the presumptive presidential candidate. He also told Congress there hadn't been any contact with the Russia government regarding the plans, but later admitted his statements were false. The revelations indicate that Trump had financial interests in Russia while running for office, and that people close to him were speaking to high-level Russian officials during his campaign. Elite Daily reached out to Cohen's representatives and the White House for further comment at the time, but did not hear back.
After his plea, things heated up even more. On Dec. 7, prosecutors in the Southern District of New York submitted a filing saying for the first time that Cohen acted “in coordination with and at the direction of” the president, referred to as "Individual 1," when he made payments to two women who claim they had affairs with Trump — Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal — during the 2016 election cycle. President Trump has consistently denied all claims of affairs with the women, but has admitted to knowing about the payments. Since then, all eyes have been on both Cohen and Trump, with the "I" word (impeachment) and other potential repercussions for the president coming up on various occasions.
While it looks like the chapter on Cohen has closed, we'll have to wait and see what, if anything, happens to the president from here.
