Aug 21, 2018

Michael Cohen reaches plea deal with federal prosecutors

Photo: Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images

President Trump's former personal attorney Michael Cohen has reached a plea deal with federal prosecutors in New York, per ABC News.

The big picture: Cohen's plea deal doesn't include a plan to cooperate with federal prosecutors, according to The New York Times, though he seemed to signal during an interview with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos last month that he'd consider such a strategy.

The context:

The deal reportedly encompasses campaign finance violations, bank fraud, and tax evasion, per ABC News' Karen Travers and The Washington Post's Devlin Barrett and Carol D. Leonig.
Cohen was under investigation for possible violations of campaign finance law regarding payments he facilitated to multiple women who claimed to have had extramarital affairs with Trump.
He was also under investigation for more than $20 million of bank and tax fraud after allegedly misrepresenting the value of his assets in trying to obtain loans for his family taxi business.

The timing: There could be a jury decision in the trial for Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort as early as this afternoon.

Up next: There's a hearing at 4 p.m. today in Manhattan, per The Post.

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Apple CEO Tim Cook

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