Former Trump Attorney Pleads Guilty To 8 Counts, Former Trump Campaign Chair Found Guilty Of 8 Counts

Former Trump attorney Michael Cohen (L), former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort (R)

 Well, the folks in the White House have got to be serious shook at this point.

In a single afternoon, Donald Trump's former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty to 8 counts

From The New York Times:

Michael D. Cohen, President Trump’s former fixer, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to breaking campaign finance laws and other charges. He made the extraordinary admission that he arranged payments to two women “at the direction of the candidate,” referring to Mr. Trump, to secure their silence about affairs they said they had with Mr. Trump.

Mr. Cohen told a judge in United States District Court in Manhattan that the payments were “for the principal purpose of influencing the election” for president in 2016.

Mr. Cohen also pleaded guilty to multiple counts of tax evasion and bank fraud, bringing to a close a monthslong investigation by Manhattan federal prosecutors who examined his personal business dealings and his role in helping to arrange financial deals with women connected to Mr. Trump.

Of course, the most stunning news here is that Cohen said, under oath, that he committed a crime at the direction of Donald Trump.

Prosecutors promised Cohen a prison sentence of between 43 to 63 months, although the judge isn't bound by that agreement.

Cohen also did not agree to a cooperation deal regarding the Special Counsel's ongoing investigation, but he could in the future. Robert Mueller could, in exchange, recommend a lesser sentence for Cohen.

At almost the same time, 250 miles south of New York City, Trump's former campaign chair, Paul Manafort, was found guilty of 8 counts of the 18 he was charged with. The judge declared a mistrial on the other ten counts leaving the door open for a retrial on those charges.

Also from The New York Times:

The verdict was a victory for the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, whose prosecutors built a case that Mr. Manafort hid millions of dollars in foreign accounts to evade taxes and lied to banks repeatedly to obtain $20 million in loans.

Mr. Manafort was convicted of five counts of tax fraud, two counts of bank fraud and one count of failure to disclose a foreign bank account. The jury was unable to reach a verdict on the remaining 10 counts, and the judge declared a mistrial on those charges.

Kevin Downing, a lawyer for Mr. Manafort, said his client was “evaluating all of his options at this point.”

Manafort faces a maximum of 80 years in prison for the 8 guilty counts. One legal scholar on MSNBC just said the sentencing guidelines would call for between 8-10 years in prison, possibly more since the judge can consider the other 10 charges in terms of sentencing if the evidence was considerable.

Plus, we don't know if the prosecutors plan to retry the ten remaining counts.

However, I'll state right now - you can count on Donald Trump to pardon Manafort.

Watch.