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“How Come I’m The Only One?” Cohen’s Claims Victim Status Before Heading To Prison

Michael Cohen has never been a figure who generated much sympathy in others. Cohen spent his career as a legal thug for Trump — threatening everyone from college students to journalists with ruin. He ran shady business deals for himself and taped his own clients without their knowledge. For many of us, his three-year prison sentence was incredibly light given his confessed criminal acts. There is however one person who has unlimited sympathy of Cohen: himself. In a pathetic interview, Cohen laments how he has been singled out and unfairly sent to prison. He previously contradicted his prior sworn confessions to crimes.

Cohen is going to prison on May 6th in a well-earned stint of incarceration. Cohen however is deeply upset with the unfairness of the sentence that he accepted after pleading guilty to crimes that he now calls a lie.

In an article in the New Yorker, Cohen comes across as increasingly pathetic in questioned how he has been put in this position — as if he is the random victim of a judicial drive by shooting: “You are going to find me guilty of campaign finance, with McDougal or Stormy, and give me three years—really? And how come I’m the only one? I didn’t work for the campaign. I worked for him. And how come I’m the one that’s going to prison? I’m not the one that slept with the porn star.”

Yes, really. Most of the crimes had nothing to do with Trump. They had to do with Cohen legendary greed and cavalier attitude toward the law. He committed fraud not for sleeping with a porn star but the old fashioned reason: greed.

What is particularly astonishing about Cohen’s claim to be some type of victim is that he only escaped another perjury charge due to the intervention of Democratic members. I previously wrote about the dilemma in which Oversight Committee Chair Elijah Cummings finds himself with the widely viewed perjury of Michael Cohen before his committee. Cummings repeatedly asserted that he would refer Cohen for prosecution for any false or misleading statement. Cohen proceeded to do just that. 

Despite multiple conflicting sources, Cohen has insisted, “I was extremely proud to be the personal attorney for the president of the United States of America. I did not want to go to the White House. I was offered jobs.” There is little ambiguity here. Either multiple witnesses lied or Cohen once again lied to Congress.

Then Cohen stated, “I have never asked for, nor would I accept, a pardon from President Trump.” That also directly contradicts multiple sources who say his lawyer pressed the White House for a pardon, and that Cohen unsuccessfully sought a presidential pardon after FBI raids on his office and residences last year.

Before Cohen testified, Cummings asked if he remembered the choice he was given to testify truthfully or be nailed to the cross. “Didn’t I tell you that?” Cummings asked. “Yes, you did, more than once,” Cohen replied. 

Cummings however was under pressure not to refer Cohen for prosecution. He after all made himself useful yet again to a powerful person. He had turned on Trump. Cummings therefore declared that he would merely accept Cohen’s later corrective statement and not carry out the pledge to refer him for prosecution.

Cohen then declared that his sworn statements to the court and Congress accepting responsibility for the crimes were false. Cohen again portrayed himself vaguely as a type tragic hero who pleaded guilty to crimes that he did not commit to protect his wife from criminal charges:  “I love this woman, and I am not going to let her get dragged into the mud of this crap.”

So to recap. Cohen now says he is innocent of criminal acts he previously confessed to and only agreed to go to jail to protect his wife. He is in other words both victim and hero but not a criminal. For those of us who have been critics of Cohen for years (here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here), he is and remains Michael Cohen, a tragedy of his own making.

If this unhinged reinvention effort is to continue before Cohen incarceration, May 6th can not come soon enough.

46 thoughts on ““How Come I’m The Only One?” Cohen’s Claims Victim Status Before Heading To Prison”

  1. Capt. Wallace B. Binghampton:
    Why me? Why me? Why is it always me

  2. The coup-coup communists were “Barred” today.

    That’s gotta be tough.

  3. It amuses me that most of the trolls use atrocious (not good) English and grammar. Their spelink ain’t so good either. I just go on, without comment, as I decline to engage in intellectual combat with an unarmed opponent. Just sayin’

      1. I ain’t seen none of Chuck’s guest columns in da 4-5 year Iz been here.
        I thinks hez colunns pre-datted my time as reedur of the JT kolumns and the coment threadds.
        But in the oll dazes, I noiticed in reveewing the archives that thar was more freakent guest kolumns.
        Chuck’s kolumns was axtually prety good.

    2. It amuses me that lawyers too cowardly to defend their inane positions in the comments section of a legal blog always wrap themselves in self-declared superiority of intellect which they ironically never seem to show except to engage in trivial debates over grammar or syntax. So it seems while we’re both “amused” only one of us is feckless.

  4. I recently watch a pretty good documentary of Hitler’s final days, mostly spent in the bunker.
    He did briefly emerge to give a pep talk to the kids lining up for the final “defense” against the Soviet onslaught of Berlin.
    Told them to “hang in there”.

    1. I don’t understand what you’re writing about. Adolf Hitler’s “last days” occurred in South America. In Argentina, “The House on Garibaldi Street” was the domicile of Adolf Eichmann. Oh, and ironically, a former Nazi was the first man to propel men to the moon. Facts, at some point, may bear profound relevance.

      1. I still have a 1948 set of encyclopedias that my folks bought as a young married couple.
        The birth/ death dates for Hitler were as follows: 1889-1945?
        I wasn’t around then, but it reflected some level of doubt that may have been prevalent back them.
        About 35 years ago, I was talking with an American citizen who had immigrated from Yugoslavia as a young woman. Her English was perfect, without a trace of an accent. So I had never knew that she wasn’t born in the U.S. until she mentioned immigrating to the U.S. after WWII.
        Anyway, she had a strong suspicion that Hitler “got away”.
        I think he did die in the bunker in 1945, but the fact that the Soviets got to Berlin ahead of us, the apparent absence of ironclad forensic proof, the destruction of the bunker and adjacent sites, and Soviet secrecy feed the doubt.
        In any case, at the age of 130, I don’t think he presents much of a threat now.

        1. You had encyclopedias. Great. Encyclopedias also praised “Crazy Abe” Lincoln. Sycophants erected a “memorial” to “Crazy Abe” Lincoln who irrefutably shredded the U.S. Constitution as a traitor and criminal totalitarian despot. Secession is constitutional and denying states their constitutional right to secede, maintaining adversarial military forces inside the borders of a sovereign foreign nation, ignoring the absence of a declaration of war by Congress, prosecuting an illegal war by executive order, confiscating private property, issuing a proclamation without legal basis, suspending Habeas Corpus and inducing presidential successors to hastily and improperly ratify injurious, unconstitutional amendments at gunpoint and under the duress of post-war military occupation are all unconstitutional.

          BTW, the sobriquet, “Honest Abe,” was actually a pejorative coined by his mortal political foes who were exposing “Crazy Abe’s” artifice and duplicity.

  5. If you put two hens together in the chicken coop. You call them co hens. If they are of Catholic faith you call them kins. If of Jewish faith then call them cohens. If they are queer then call them qwens.

  6. For the sake of his own professional reputation and credibility, I do hope that the good professor eventually will express the same moral outrage and condemnation about Trump’s detestable conduct as he does about Cohen’s. Cohen was an unethical “legal thug” in JT’s words in the service of his principal Trump who is as morally and legally culpable for this thuggery as is Cohen.

    1. What detestable conduct?
      Why would a Democrat call any such conduct destable given their record.
      What decent citizen would believe a Democrat when it comes that type of conduct.
      And if your not a Democrat why should I believe anyone who wants to act like one.

      How did you give youself away?

      Simple. Not one fact nor any shred of morals exhibited. And that is the major clue that spells the difference between RINO and DINO.besides neither one knowing the difference between left and wrong.

      So what else is ho hum new
      . .

      1. I can stand brute force, but brute reason is quite unbearable. There is something unfair about its use. It is hitting below the intellect.
        – Oscar Wilde

  7. Turley says: “Yes, really. Most of the crimes had nothing to do with Trump. They had to do with Cohen legendary greed and cavalier attitude toward the law. He committed fraud not for sleeping with a porn star but the old fashioned reason: greed.”

    Cohen’s crimes have everything to do with Trump, who is the poster child for “legendary greed and cavalier attitude toward the law.” If Trump hadn’t slept with the porn star, there would have been no reason for the payoff, which was a violation of campaign finance laws. Screwing Stormy Daniels wasn’t Cohen’s idea or even Ms. Daniels’s idea. Being a malignant narcissist, Trump has always done as he pleases and then gets his “fixer” to help him get away with it, because that’s how he has always lived. Before he stole HRC’s presidency, he had Roy Cohn and then Michael Cohen as fixers. Since invading the White House, the public gets to foot the bill for h is fixers, syncophants like Sarah Sanders who will bold face lie to the American people, and people like Barr, who, as the current news cycle proves, has eliminated any doubt about his agenda. Whatever favorable reputation Barr once had is now gone.

    Yes, Cohen is a crybaby, but he has a point: he did what he did as Trump’s “fixer” to cover up crimes Trump decided to commit. Trump is not innocent here, so why should Michael be the only crook going to jail? Although Barr tried to steal the narrative and spin the Mueller report in favor of Trump, most Americans know what’s going on here. We wouldn’t tolerate Nixon’s fixers breaking into Democratic headquarters to help him cheat to win, and we really won’t stand for Russians doing it to favor Trump. Barr, Graham, Rush, Hannity and Faux News can spin all they want, but the truth will eventually prevail.

      1. You need to stop watching Faux News, really. The Steele report was started by a rival Republican opposed to Trump. They turned over their findings, which were incomplete, to HRC’s campaign. The FBI was contacted by an Australian because he thought they should know about what the Russians had on Trump. No one “spied” on Fatso. Real news media have broadcast interviews with the FBI, and they explained that Trump, as well as HRC’s campaign, received only routine monitoring.

        BTW: when is Trump going to release proof that Obama bugged his condo and proof of what his minions found in Hawaii about Obama not being born there? He told Meredith Vieira that “you won’t believe what they’ve found”. He’s right. We wouldn’t believe it, but we’re still waiting.

        1. “BTW: when is Trump going to release proof that Obama bugged his condo ….”
          ****************
          AG Barr (under oath):
          “I think spying on a political campaign is a big deal,” Mr. Barr said during testimony before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee, adding that he wanted to look into both “the genesis and the conduct” of the F.B.I. inquiry. He cast his interest as a matter of protecting civil liberties from potential abuse by the government.

          “I think spying did occur,” Mr. Barr said. “The question is whether it was adequately predicated. And I’m not suggesting that it wasn’t adequately predicated. But I need to explore that.”

          1. Yeah, Barr certainly is fair, detached and non-partisan. He absolutely is there to advocate for the interests of justice on behalf of the American people–right? Why he hasn’t tried to spin the facts in Trump’s favor at all, now has he? Yeah, right. If spying on a political campaign is a big deal, what about Manafort feeding polling information to the Russians regarding key districts in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania? What is being done about their hacking? Why haven’t Trump, his son and son in law been forced to sit for depositions so that the extent of their contacts with Russians, deals Trump tried to work with Russians and what the Russians wanted in exchange for their help been explored in detail? Mueller made clear that he did not have this evidence because of lack of cooperation. Trump is NOT innocent and was NOT exonerated.

            The most repulsive thing I saw so far for today’s hearing was Lindsey Graham repeating the Faux News narrative about Trump being a victim of spying, collusion by HRC, that she needs to be investigated because the Mueller investigation began on false grounds, etc.. This is straight from the Kellyanne playbook. Classic pivot. Of course, that’s not the truth, but he needed to get in some sound bites for Hannity’s viewers tonight when they tune in for their daily affirmation.

            At this point, Barr has NO credibility whatsoever. He should resign.

            2. Barr isn’t as likely to be chased out or marginalize himself like AG Sessions.
              Probably doesn’t matter how many Democrats jump on the “he must resign” bandwagon.
              In the unlikely event that he did resign, maybe Guiliani may finally become Attorney General.
              I think a determine Senate could get him confirmed, and watching the Democratic members of Congress going ape**** would be worth any downside of tapping Rudy for a vacant AG spot.

        2. natch why do you keep refering to faux news? I said I dont watch the tv except for a couple series. which is true. i see some clips on the internet sometimes but usually never watch fox. i listen to bbc and npr. I read NYT. I read Foreign Affairs. I read a lot of financial press. I never read WAPO unless you people bring it up here. I sure dont like wapo. I read a lot of stuff. fox news is not a source. i dont dislike it I just dont find it helpful. i have said this many times before.

          i don’t really like or dislike it but it is not sufficient for my personal information gathering purposes. i guess you just keep saying that to me and other people because…. because….. you hate fox and maybe think they are poisoning our minds like satan, even though we don’t watch fox? What is it? can you explain your obsession with faux news and falsely accusing people of watching it who have told you many times over many months that we do not?

          also why do you keep calling trump fat? who cares. him and the majority of americans his age are overweight, prolly. keep on antagonizing fat people if it makes you happy, however, i could care less.

  8. Meanwhile, Barr makes democ-rats look like hysterically incoherent high school girls.

  9. Oh Prof. I don’t know where you get your inspiration, but why in the name of all that is sentient do you insist on wasting bytes on this moron. When do the good guys get the pres? This abominable insult to the legal profession will be forgotten in 3 weeks. Sure wish you could forget him sooner. Write something which advances our lives, not reminders that we live in a shithole country.

    1. ” … not reminders that we live in a shithole country.”
      *******************

      Where do contributions go for “Free Chuck Aspinwall JD From America Exit Fund.” I can also do one-way airline tickets.

    2. Write something which advances our lives, not reminders that we live in a shithole country

      Bravo

      I have written this sentiment many times on this forum.

      Leading by example would be truly radical. Instead we see racing to the bottom as the new standard to beat in America

      Come on Professor Turley….change the tone of your blog by showing us what is right in America and her effecting Justice

    1. Looks like Estovir is posing as ‘me’ while I was on vacation. What a scumbag!

      1. I don’t know why Darren Smith allows this s**t. He’s a big of a creep as Estovir.

        1. Ah those who ask for help then one sentence later insult those who can help them: Good luck with that attitude.

          1. a long time ago i had the displeasure of being an internet chat forum moderator. i had neither the time nor tools to straighten out all the incivility and sockpuppetry and fake stuff and a hundred other beefs. i also observe that it was an unpaid volunteer job for which i received little or not thanks. yes, I got out of that dumb volunteer job as soon as quickly as I could without letting the whole thing go to pot in my absence.

            mostly it’s a sandbox and you just have to let the kids play

            1. all i can say is thank God for section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and fie upon the fools who would attack it in any way. Such as the stupid laws SESTA and FOSTA trying to chip away at it.

          2. Darren, when Estovir first appeared on this thread, he let everyone know up front that his main intention on this blog was to engage in war with liberals. And almost right away Estovir went about plastering this thread with endless Culture War-related posts; most of which have little to do with the professor’s featured topics.

            In addition to hi-jacking discussions, Estovir quickly established himself as the source of numerous sock puppets. Nevertheless Estovir’s ink blot symbol looks enough like others to create genuine confusion at times (precisely his intention). Estovir is obviously a mischief maker and that was clear weeks ago.

            Rarely has Estovir engaged in sincere debates. I don’t think he’s capable. Estovir’s only desire is to keep this blog focused on the Culture Wars. Consequently, readers with true interests in politics are now hard-pressed to see where sincere debates begin and end. And I’m surprised Professor Turely doesn’t object. His blog has been cheapened by Estovir’s presence.

            As a moderator, Darren, you have taken action many times to censor posts by the commenter known as DSS/Tabby/Absurd. And though Tabby is no ally of mine, his posts are mostly on topic. It’s odd that you would censor Tabby while giving Estovir total license as a dirty trickster. This leaves one with the impression that Estovir enjoys an unofficial standing only ‘you’ might know about.

            1. Hang in there Mr. H. Smith is corrupt. You might as well lodge a complaint with Trump, himself. Just keep on trucking Mr. H.

              L4D on the Job.

            2. I often agree with Absurb but he rather dislikes me I think.

              And his posts are super inflammatory. Amidst all his provocations however he regularly posts good information. You just have to pick his diamonds out of his dung. LOL

              I don’t know if you are right or wrong about estovir, but people like to go off topic a lot. I am probably the worst offender for going off topic. I probably should be banned.

            3. This leaves one with the impression that Estovir enjoys an unofficial standing only ‘you’ might know about.

              Darren, would you please start paying me in rubles? Some of us Ruskie trolls want to visit Venezuela and the USD isn’t going to help us in Caracas

              спасибо, кекс

              😉

        2. The coup-coup communists were “Barred” today.

          That’s gotta be tough.

  12. There Turley goes again. The reason that we know that Cohen’s former lawyer discussed a pardon with Trump’s lawyers is that the exception to the rule of waiver for attorney-client privilege that Cohen’s Joint Defense Agreement with Trump provided was nullified when Cohen entered into a cooperation agreement with SDNY. Likewise, when Trump told Republican members of the House Oversight Committee that Cohen’s lawyer had discussed a pardon with Trump’s lawyers, Trump’s exception to the rule of waiver for attorney-client privilege provided under his JDA with Cohen was nullified.

    In order to investigate Cohen’s alleged perjury before Congress in his statement that he had never sought a pardon from Trump, the Justice Department would have to investigate Trump’s JDA with Cohen without Trump being able to assert attorney-client privilege to avoid answering pesky questions from DoJ investigators. Personally, I would love to see just that.

    If DoJ could show that Trump abused the pardon power to suborn perjury from Cohen, DoJ could nullify the attorney-client privilege for each and every last member of Trump’s JDA omerta–an estimated 34 people or more, including, especially, Paul Manafort, whose breach of his cooperation agreement with Mueller is likely to have been the main reason that Mueller could not make the case for Conspiracy to Defraud the United States against the Trump campaign.

    L4D with her spanking gloves on.

    1. @Ano – There Turley goes again: “Cohen spent his career as a legal thug for Trump”. The guy spent years as a legal thug for himself. You mean lawyers can’t say NO when a client ask that they do something wrong? JT you continually blame Trump for the actions of others. Geez guy it’s obvious you are a never Trumper but at least place blame where it belongs. People do things because they have their own agenda’s and we all have to take responsibility. In the end it hurts but there it is.

    2. We Know? You and toad in your pocket maybe but then it takes more than one literate soujrce . Guess who just took second place.

  13. Cohen isnt alone as an unhinged, deranged, morally bankrupt lawyer, other than Hillary Clinton

    It would be insightful and educational if a legal scholar who teaches law at a university did a chronology of Avennati’s legal education, and detailed his own quadriplegia, metaphysically speaking.

    What law professor has this type of information?

    ——

    Michael Avenatti tricked paraplegic client into signing reference: report

    Michael Avenatti duped a mentally ill, paraplegic client into signing a glowing testimonial, then posted it on Twitter following his indictment for allegedly scamming the man out of a $4 million settlement, according to a report Tuesday.

    A lawyer for ex-Avenatti client Geoffrey Johnson said Avenatti rushed over to Johnson’s house in a panic last month, immediately following a hearing at which he was grilled about the settlement by a former law partner.

    “Mr. Avenatti drove straight to Mr. Johnson’s house, falsely told him that the settlement funds had finally come in, and shortly afterwards asked him to sign a ‘client testimonial’ extolling Mr. Avenatti’s effectiveness and ethics,” lawyer Joshua Robbins told the Daily Mail.

    “It was only later that Mr. Johnson learned Mr. Avenatti had been lying to him and hiding the money for years.”

    Last week, in response to his indictment on 36 counts of wire fraud, bank fraud and other charges, Avenatti tweeted an image of a signed statement in which Johnson called him an “exceptional, honest and ethical attorney” who “has always fiercely advocated on my behalf, looked after my needs, communicated with me about all aspects of my case, and made sure I was taken care of.”

    Avenatti — who shot to fame last year while representing porn star Stormy Daniels — also tweeted that he had “MANY more like this.”

    In a prepared statement, Avenatti accused Robbins of “trying to get his name out there by fabricating a bogus story.”

    “He clearly does not know the details of the case or those of the client, who he has evidently represented for less than a month,” he said.

    “He also doesn’t understand what documents exist that completely undercut his story. I look forward to the truth and facts surrounding my representation of Mr. Johnson being presented at trial.”

    Avenatti said he “completely and ethically informed Mr. Johnson at all times as to the status of that settlement and the flow of all monies,” adding: “Numerous documents reflect this.”
    Avenatti also said he “advanced enormous sums of money on his behalf for his medical care, etc.”

    According to his indictment, Avenatti made at least 69 payments to Johnson, totaling at least $124,000, between July 2015 and March 2019, and also “caused payments to be made to various assisted living facilities to pay for rent on [Johnson’s] behalf.”

    Johnson, 53, is one of five clients who federal prosecutors in Los Angeles say Avenatti ripped off in a long-running scheme to finance a lavish lifestyle that included a $12 million home in Laguna Beach and a $5 million private jet.

    In January 2015, Avenatti scored a $4 million settlement for Johnson from LA County, but the feds say he never told Johnson that he got the money and instead spent most of it on “personal expenses” and to operate a car-racing team and coffee-shop business.

    The settlement stemmed from a suit that said Johnson suffered permanent injuries when he tried to commit suicide in jail “by jumping from an elevated floor” and landing on his head.

    That incident came after he was locked up by LAPD cops who found him naked and praying in the middle of a street in April 2011, according to court papers.

    In addition to allegedly defrauding Johnson and the other clients, Avenatti is accused of scamming bank loans, evading taxes and lying during bankruptcy proceedings to prop up what the feds called “his financial house of cards.”

    The charges in his indictment are separate from those filed against him in Manhattan, where he was arrested last month on allegations he tried to extort more than $20 million from Nike.

    Avenatti, who’s free on $300,000 bond, maintains his innocence and has suggested he was unfairly targeted after making “many powerful enemies” while representing “Davids vs. Goliaths.”

    https://nypost.com/2019/04/16/michael-avenatti-tricked-paraplegic-client-into-signing-reference-report/

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