WATCH LIVE: Trump's former lawyer surrenders to law enforcement
Cohen faces weighty charges of campaign finance violations, bank and tax fraud.
By MICHAEL WILNERUpdated: AUGUST 21, 2018 23:48US President Donald Trump's personal lawyer Michael Cohen arrives at his hotel in New York City, US, May 9, 2018. (photo credit: REUTERS/BRENDAN MCDERMID)
WASHINGTON -- Michael Cohen, US President Donald Trump's longtime personal lawyer, has turned himself in to FBI custody and is pleading guilty to a slew of felony financial crimes.Cohen faces weighty charges of campaign finance violations, bank and tax fraud after federal law enforcement raided his home, hotel room and offices in April, seizing alleged evidence of wrongdoing. American media organizations reported on Tuesday that he is likely to plead guilty to all of these charges at a 4:00 pm EST court hearing, and is likely to serve some prison time.The New York attorney worked for the Trump Organization in the decade leading up to Trump's campaign for the presidency and represented himself as a body man for the future president. But in recent weeks, he appears to have turned on his former boss, signaling a willingness to cooperate with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into possible collusion between Trump associates and the Russian government to influence the 2016 race.Cohen was responsible for facilitating "hush money" payments to women that Trump had affairs with leading up to the election, and aided Trump in his efforts to build a Trump Tower in Moscow.Cohen's court appearance occurred just as a federal jury in Virginia found Paul Manafort, Trump's former campaign chairman, guilty of five counts of tax fraud, one count of bank fraud and one count of hiding foreign bank accounts.Follow live on JPost.com
