Papadopoulos被判刑（获特朗普总统特赦）, Cohen入狱三年, Manafort获刑7.5年、Gates, Flynn, Patten认罪， Roger Stone获刑40个月；Flynn、Manafort、Stone获特朗普总统特赦; Steve Bannon、纳瓦罗被判四个月监禁

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In a change, Trump now says meeting with Kremlin-linked lawyer was over Clinton dirt
Son's meeting was 'totally legal and done all the time in politics,' tweets U.S. president
The Associated Press · Posted: Aug 05, 2018 10:57 PM ET | Last Updated: an hour ago

U.S. President Donald Trump waves as he arrives in Morristown, N.J., on Saturday. Trump sent a series of searing tweets from his New Jersey golf club, in which he tore into two of his favourite targets: the news media and Robert Mueller's ongoing investigation into possible links between the president's campaign and Russia. (Carolyn Kaster/Associated Press)

U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday appeared to change his story about a 2016 meeting at Trump Tower that is pivotal to the special counsel's investigation, tweeting that his son met with a Kremlin-connected lawyer to collect information about his political opponent.

"Fake News reporting, a complete fabrication, that I am concerned about the meeting my wonderful son, Donald, had in Trump Tower," Trump wrote. "This was a meeting to get information on an opponent, totally legal and done all the time in politics — and it went nowhere. I did not know about it!"

That is a far different explanation than Trump gave 13 months ago, when a statement dictated by the president but released under the name of Donald Trump Jr., read: "We primarily discussed a program about the adoption of Russian children that was active and popular with American families years ago."

The misdirection came amid a series of searing tweets sent from his New Jersey golf club, in which he tore into two of his favourite targets, the news media and Robert Mueller's ongoing investigation into possible links between the president's campaign and Russia. Trump unleashed particular fury at reports that he was anxious about the Trump Tower meeting attended by Donald Trump Jr. and other senior campaign officials.

Trump's critics pounce
Trump's critics immediately pounced on the new story, the latest of several versions of events about a meeting for which emails were discovered between the president's eldest son and an intermediary from the Russian government offering damaging information about Trump's opponent, Hillary Clinton. Betraying no surprise or misgivings about the offer from a hostile foreign power, Trump Jr. replied: "If it's what you say I love it especially later in the summer."

Sunday's tweet was Trump's clearest statement yet on the purpose of the meeting, which has become a focal point of Mueller's investigation even as the president and his lawyers try to downplay its significance and pummel the Mueller probe with attacks. On Sunday, Trump again suggested without evidence that Mueller was biased against him, declaring, "This is the most one sided Witch Hunt in the history of our country."

And as Trump and his allies have tried to discredit the probe, a new talking point has emerged: that even if that meeting was held to collect damaging information, none was provided and "collusion" — Trump's go-to description of what Mueller is investigating — never occurred.

"The question is what law, statute or rule or regulation has been violated, and nobody has pointed to one," said Jay Sekulow, one of Trump's attorneys, on ABC's This Week.

Several possible criminal charges
But legal experts have pointed out several possible criminal charges, including conspiracy against the United States and aiding and abetting a conspiracy. And despite Trump's public Twitter denial, the president has expressed worry that his son may face legal exposure even as he believes he did nothing wrong, according to three people close to the White House familiar with the president's thinking but not authorized to speak publicly about private conversations.

Sekulow acknowledged that the public explanation for the meeting has changed but insisted that the White House has been very clear with the special counsel's office. He said he was not aware of Trump Jr. facing any legal exposure.

Donald Trump Jr. released an email chain that shows him discussing plans to hear damaging information on Hillary Clinton. In one exchange, he wrote: 'If it's what you say I love it.' (Carolyn Kaster/AP)

"I don't represent Don Jr.," Sekulow said, "but I will tell you I have no knowledge at all of Don Jr. being told that he's a target of any investigation, and I have no knowledge of him being interviewed by the special counsel."

Democrats hammered away at the president's admission.

"The Russians offered damaging info on your opponent. Your campaign accepted. And the Russians delivered," tweeted Rep. Adam Schiff of California, top Democrat on the House intelligence committee. "You then misled the country about the purpose of the Trump Tower meeting when it became public. Now you say you didn't know in advance. None of this is normal or credible."

Trump ramps up attack on media, probe
Trump's days of private anger spilled out into public with the Twitter outburst, which comes at a perilous time for the president.

A decision about whether he sits for an interview with Mueller may also occur in the coming weeks, according to another one of his attorneys, Rudy Giuliani. Trump has seethed against what he feels are trumped-up charges against his former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, whose trial began last week and provided a visible reminder of Mueller's work.

And he raged against the media's obsession with his links to Russia and the status of Michael Cohen, his former fixer, who is under federal investigation in New York. Cohen has indicated that he would tell prosecutors that Trump knew about the Trump Tower meeting ahead of time:

What did Donald Trump know, and when? One of his former lawyers, Michael Cohen, is reportedly dishing details about a meeting at Trump tower -- between a Russian surrogate and his son. Our U.S. political panel weighs in on that and Paul Manafort’s trial which starts Tuesday.

Despite a show of force from his national security team this week as a warning against future Russian election meddling, Trump again deemed the matter a "hoax" this week. And at a trio of rallies, he escalated his already vitriolic rhetoric toward the media, savaging the press for unflattering coverage and, he feels, bias.

'The Fake News hates me'
"The Fake News hates me saying that they are the Enemy of the People only because they know it's TRUE," Trump tweeted Sunday. "I am providing a great service by explaining this to the American People. They purposely cause great division & distrust. They can also cause War! They are very dangerous & sick!"

The fusillade of tweets came from Bedminster, Trump's golf course, where he is ensconced in a property that bears his name at every turn and is less checked in by staffers. It was at the New Jersey golf club where a brooding Trump has unleashed other inflammatory attacks and where, in spring 2017, he made the final decision to fire FBI Director James Comey, the move that triggered the Russia probe.

Trump was joined for his Saturday rally in Ohio by former White House communications director Hope Hicks, who departed the administration earlier this year. Her unannounced presence raised some eyebrows as Hicks has been interviewed by Mueller and was part of the team of staffers that helped draft the original statement on the Trump Tower meeting.

 

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特朗普爆出儿子见俄律师目的：是为了挖希拉里黑料
2018-08-07 07:26:45 来源： 环球时报

　　美国总统特朗普5日发表推文说，儿子小特朗普和俄方人员会面是为了挖希拉里的黑料。这是特朗普就那次会面的目的给出的最明确说法，不过他否认自己对此次会面知情。

　　据《纽约时报》5日报道，特朗普在推文中表示，小特朗普和俄罗斯律师会面完全合法，在政界是常规操作，而且也没有取得什么成果。他还强调，自己对于此次会面并不知情。特朗普还对《华盛顿邮报》此前的一篇报道进行驳斥，该报道称特朗普担心小特朗普无意中将自己置于法律险境中。特朗普的律师塞库洛在接受美国广播公司采访时也表示，会面并没有违反任何法律。

　　报道称，特朗普的说法与小特朗普之前的表态相冲突。小特朗普曾在去年发表声明称，与俄方人员会面是为了讨论收养俄罗斯孤儿问题。美国媒体称，该声明是在特朗普的授意下发布的。美国“政治”新闻网报道称，特朗普此时发推文承认会面动机并称其是竞选中的一种无害行为，意在为11月即将举行的中期选举做准备。一直以来，特朗普都否认2016年大选时其竞选团队与莫斯科存在勾结，并抨击“通俄门”特别检察官穆勒的调查为“猎巫行动”，“这是我国历史上最不公正的猎巫行动。幸运的是，真相正在大白于天下，而且很快!”

　　美国法律规定，候选人在竞选时不得接受外国政府的帮助。小特朗普与俄方人员会晤一直被美国媒体视为特朗普竞选团队“与俄方勾结最为实质性的证据”。穆勒正对此进行调查，还曾知会特朗普律师，称他可能寻求与特朗普面谈。如果特朗普不接受面谈，穆勒可能发出法院传票，强制要求总统作证。美国彭博社称，一旦穆勒真的传唤特朗普，势必会引发一场旷日持久的法律纠纷。这样一来，“通俄门”事件的调查反而会被搁置，而且穆勒还有可能遭到反诉。

 

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[Teddy]

开始滚刀肉，骂街

浏览附件779561

浏览附件779562

 

[向问天]

浏览附件779561

浏览附件779562

他说的是不是事实？

 

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(CNN) As a candidate, Donald Trump would famously boast that if elected, he'd "surround myself only with the best and most serious people" -- adding: "We want top-of-the-line professionals."

The first 18 months of his presidency have repeatedly revealed the fallacy of that pledge, as myriad members of Trump's Cabinet and senior staff have departed -- often under suspicious circumstances -- even as the President himself has railed against the ineptitude of people who still work for him.

Just this weekend, Trump dealt with two major staff problems -- both of which, in different ways -- he created.

The first was a series of interviews by Omarosa Manigault Newman, a former aide to the President, in which she alleged -- among other things -- that she had been offered money to stay silent after leaving the White House. Manigault Newman also claimed that she secretly taped White House chief of staff John Kelly firing her in the Situation Room. And on Monday morning, she released an audio recording to NBC's "Today" of an apparent phone conversation with Trump that suggested he was unaware of her firing before it happened.

(Omarosa's tell-all memoir of her time in the White House comes out this week.)

The second came when Trump -- amid a now-regular Twitter tirade regarding the special counsel probe -- derided Attorney General Jeff Sessions as "scared stiff and Missing in Action." (And, yes, that capitalization is in the original tweet.)

The twin episodes highlight the "why" behind the massive staff volatility in Trump's White House: He relies almost totally on his gut in the hiring process, he plays aides against each other for sport, he runs incredibly hot and cold on staff, and he is more than willing to publicly embarrass or shame those who work for him.

The Trump of "The Apprentice" -- which, by the way, is where the billionaire's path first crossed with Omarosa -- is the Trump that now sits behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office.

The difference is that Trump was solely playing for ratings on "The Apprentice," whereas now he is trying desperately to effectively run a government. Turnover -- or the threat of firings -- was the name of the game in Trump's reality TV world. In the White House, all of the turmoil adds to the already palpable sense of chaos that surrounds 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Already, 57% of Trump's "A Team" staffers have left the White House in just its first year and a half, according to statistics maintained by Brookings Institute's Kathryn Dunn Tenpas. That nearly equals the turnover among top staffers for the entire first terms of Barack Obama (71% turnover), George W. Bush (63%), Bill Clinton (74%) and George H.W. Bush (66%).

(Tenpas' data may actually undersell the changes in Trump's administration, given that she only counts one departure for each office. So, while Trump has had five communications directors since being elected President, they only count as one departure in Tenpas' calculations.)

Focusing just on Cabinet secretaries, the numbers are equally stunning for Trump. He's already seen seven Cabinet officials -- three in his first year, four in his second -- leave in his first 18 months in office. Obama had zero Cabinet departures in his first year and four in his second. George W. Bush lost only four Cabinet members in the entirety of his first four years.

Again, those numbers may underestimate the chaos of Trump's Cabinet. His second pick to be the Secretary of Veterans Affairs -- White House physician Ronny Jackson -- was forced to withdraw after a series of negative stories about his conduct on the job emerged. Trump has clashed with Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen over border security. He has reportedly derided Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross as "past his prime" in meetings.

And then there is Sessions. No Cabinet member -- past or present -- has been bullied by Trump more than the nation's top law enforcement professional. Trump has repeatedly said publicly that he wishes he would have picked someone other than Sessions to be his attorney general -- due in large part to the fact that Sessions recused himself from the Justice Department's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Sessions did so because he was a prominent surrogate for Trump during that campaign. The President has never forgiven him.

Trump has referred to the former Alabama senator in tweets as "beleaguered," very weak" and "disgraceful." He has teased Sessions by referring to him as "Mr. Magoo." And on and on.

What Trump has not done, inexplicably, is fire Sessions. And neither has Sessions quit. Instead the two men remain locked in a what, to all the world, looks like a game of chicken between two willful teenagers. Sessions continues showing up to the Justice Department day in and day out. Trump takes to Twitter to attack his AG almost as often. Neither man blinks.

The result, like so much of Trump's wildly unpredictable management style, is disorder, disarray and disorganization. Turnover and uncertainty rarely create a well-functioning work environment. And because of Trump's tendency to openly discuss and deride both those who have left his side and those who continue to work within his administration, he launches a series of storylines that not only highlight the pandemonium within his ranks but also crowd out other, more positive stories for his White House. (The latest tweet on Sessions and the ongoing Omarosa mishigas are prime example of this latter reality; both of those narratives will drive this week's news cycles.)

Trump, at least outwardly, seems entirely unbothered by the constant churn within his senior staff.

"The one that matters is me," he told Fox News' Laura Ingraham last November. "I'm the only one that matters. Because when it comes to it, that's what the policy is going to be."

What that view overlooks is that running the federal government is not the same thing as running a business. Trump the businessman made a career out of relying only on himself and a very tight knit group of family and hangers-on. While he has tried to do the same in Washington -- his daughter and son-in-law both work for him in the White House -- he has met with far less success.

Whether Trump is playing the long game -- and that his consolidation of power will, in the end, create major wins for the country -- remains a topic of some debate. What is beyond argument is this: The first 18 months of Trump's administration make clear that his plan to bring together "the best and most serious people" has failed miserably.

 

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Paul Manafort, the campaign manager for Donald Trump when the reality TV star and businessman accepted the Republican nomination for president, has been found guilty of eight out of 18 charges in his financial fraud trial.

The judge declared a mistrial on the 10 other counts after jurors were unable to reach a unanimous consensus.

Manafort stood accused of hiding about $16 million US in income from the Internal Revenue Service between 2010 and 2014 by allegedly disguising the money he earned advising pro-Russian politicians in Ukraine as loans and hiding it in foreign banks.

He was charged with a total of 18 counts of bank fraud, bank fraud conspiracy, failing to file foreign bank account reports and subscribing to false income tax returns.

Jurors were in their fourth day of deliberations in Alexandria, Va., on Tuesday before advising U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III they had reached a partial verdict.

The trial was the first related to the special counsel investigation led by former FBI director Robert Mueller, although his probe has also secured guilty pleas from a number of individuals, including former longtime Manafort aide Rick Gates, who co-operated with prosecutors.

One of Manafort's lawyers, Kevin Downing, told reporters outside the courthouse Tuesday that his client is disappointed in the conviction and is evaluating all his options.

Tales of wealth and deceit
The jury of six men and six women heard tales of ostentatious displays of wealth and deceit at the trial in Virginia. That included the testimony of Gates, who admitted to an extramarital affair and stealing money, unbeknownst to Manafort.

The defence tried to attack the credibility of Gates, who has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. It also argued that Manafort couldn't have committed bank fraud, as Federal Savings Bank officials who signed off on his loans were well aware of the shaky state of his financing.

Longtime Manafort colleague Rick Gates, seen leaving federal court in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 23, was the star witness for the prosecution. (Jose Luis Magana/Associated Press)

Trump defended Manafort as recently as Aug. 17, when the jury was already deliberating. The president's public statements have raised the spectre he might try to issue a pardon for the longtime Republican operative.

The president said the prosecution was a "sad day for our country."

Asked if he would consider a pardon if Manafort is convicted, Trump said: "I don't talk about that."

As Trump arrived in West Virginia for a rally Tuesday evening, he appeared to distance himself from Manafort's conviction. "I feel very badly for Paul Manafort. It has nothing to do with me. Nothing to do with Russia collusion," the U.S. president said.

Manafort joined the Trump campaign in March 2016 and was elevated to chair in May.

He left the campaign in August that year — days after the New York Times reported a Ukraine investigation had uncovered $12.7 million in undisclosed cash payments involving Manafort from 2007 to 2012. The money, the newspaper reported, came from the pro-Russian party of Viktor Yanukovych, the one-time Ukraine president.

But the court was given an indication that Manafort was not necessarily shut out from the Trump team when he was let go.

Evidence at the trial included a November 2016 email sent by Manafort to Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, after Trump won the presidential election. In the email, Manafort recommended three candidates for administration posts, including Stephen Calk, chairman of the Federal Savings Bank, where Manafort was able to arrange millions in loans.

Kushner enthusiastically responded to Manafort's recommendations by email: "On it!"

Manafort's prominence in D.C. lobbying circles extends back nearly four decades, when he helped found a firm along with individuals including Roger Stone, another former Trump campaign adviser who has testified to congressional committees examining Russian interference in the 2016 election.

U.S. President Donald Trump spoke to reporters from the White House on Aug. 17, when he called the prosecution of Manafort 'a very sad day for our country.' (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

The Manafort trial came about as Mueller was given the authority as of May 2017 to investigate any links and/or co-ordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of Trump, as well as any potentially criminal matters that arose directly from the investigation.

Present at controversial Trump Tower meeting
Trump has repeatedly denied colluding with Russia, although there is no such federal crime of collusion. The president could be damaged politically should there be findings of conspiracy or obstruction of justice in a report Mueller is expected to deliver at the conclusion of the investigation.

Manafort succeeded Corey Lewandowski in directing Trump's campaign, and was essentially replaced in that role by Steve Bannon. Manafort was present, along with Kushner and Donald Trump Jr., at a controversial Trump Tower meeting in June 2016 with Russian figures that has been a subject of inquiry in the congressional intelligence, judiciary and oversight committees.

Mueller's indictments have included some two dozen Russians for alleged cyber-intrusions designed to disrupt the 2016 election and roil the U.S. political debate.

Russia has denied the allegations, although at a joint news conference with Trump in July in Helsinki, Russian President Vladimir Putin admitted he wanted the Republican to defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton.

 

[ottawa_tj]

判了，8项指控guilty，10项不确定。。。
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45265676

And Trump feels sad! "Nothing to do with me..."

 

[ottawa_tj]

Trump的前私人律师（Michael Cohen）也认罪了，替Trump付钱让艳星消声，然后给trump开“假发票”报销。。。违法竞选捐款的法律。。。

怎么都赶到一天的下午了？！祸不单行啊！

 

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(CNN) Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former personal attorney, pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court Tuesday to eight criminal counts, admitting that "in coordination and at the direction of a candidate for federal office" he acted to keep information that would have been harmful to the candidate and the campaign from becoming public during the 2016 election cycle.

The charges against Cohen, an attorney for Trump until earlier this year and a member of his inner circle throughout his presidential campaign, bring an end to a months-long investigation by the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.

The counts against Cohen included tax fraud, false statements to a bank and campaign finance violations tied to his work for Trump, including payments Cohen made or helped orchestrate that were designed to silence women who claimed affairs with the then-candidate.

Though not named in the plea deal filed in court, the women whom Cohen helped silence were two who have since gone public with their claims of sexual encounters or affairs with Trump: a porn star named Stephanie Clifford, who goes by the stage name Stormy Daniels, and a former Playboy model named Karen McDougal. Trump has denied the claims.

In the case of Clifford, Cohen arranged a nondisclosure agreement for which he paid her $130,000, and for that Cohen was charged with making an excessive campaign contribution, since the payment was made in service of the campaign and exceeded the federal limit.

McDougal, Cohen and the CEO of a media company "worked together to keep an individual from publicly disclosing" information that would have been harmful to a candidate, saying the individual received $150,000. In the summer of 2016, the publisher of the National Enquirer, American Media Inc. paid McDougal $150,000 for a contract that effectively silenced her claims of an affair with Trump.

Appearing in court on Tuesday, Cohen said of the charge linked to McDougal that it was done "for the principal purpose of influencing the election." Regarding the charge linked to Clifford, Cohen said the money "was later repaid to me by the candidate."

Cohen faces up to 65 years in prison.

Judge William H. Pauley set a sentencing date for Cohen for December 12. The judge set a $500,000 bond, which must be co-signed by Cohen's wife and another party.

When checking if he was of sound mind, Pauley asked Cohen whether he had consumed alcohol. Cohen replied that he had some alcohol with dinner the previous evening -- a Lillet on the rocks.

The plea deal
Shortly after 4 p.m., Cohen entered court in a dark suit, white shirt and gold tie, followed moments later by his attorney, Guy Petrillo. Cohen had surrendered to the FBI earlier Tuesday.

The deal would include jail time and a substantial monetary fine.

Jail time was one of the sticking points in the negotiations between the two sides, according to one source. Cohen had been pressing for three years but prosecutors sought 50 months.

Cohen has been concerned about asset forfeiture, and the possibility that he would leave his family with nothing. Prosecutors made clear there was a bigger risk that he would have to forfeit assets should he go to trial and be found guilty.

Also in attendance to observe Cohen's guilty plea in court were Deputy US Attorney Robert Khuzami and the public corruption chief for the Southern District of New York.





As part of the plea deal under discussion earlier Tuesday, Cohen was not expected to cooperate with the government, one source told CNN. However, by pleading guilty both Cohen and prosecutors would avoid the spectacle and uncertainty of a trial.

A plea deal could be a significant blow for Trump. Cohen was part of Trump's inner circle for more than a decade, working as his personal attorney at the Trump Organization and continuing to advise the President after the election. Cohen once said he would take a bullet for Trump, but the relationship between the two men has frayed since an FBI raid in April of Cohen's office, hotel room and home.

Trump has distanced himself from Cohen, who has told friends he has felt isolated, according to the friends. Last month, Cohen told ABC News his loyalty is to his family and country first, not the President.

On Tuesday morning, Cohen was seen entering his attorney's office and did not respond to questions. Cohen's attorneys, Petrillo and Lanny Davis, didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. A spokesman for the US attorney's office declined to comment.

The investigation
The Cohen investigation was referred to the Southern District of New York by special counsel Robert Mueller. The plea deal does not include cooperation by Cohen, and it is unclear if he will follow through on his previous assertion to friends, according to sources, that he is willing to talk to Mueller.

Prosecutors said in court their investigation is into Cohen's personal financial dealings. The search warrant authorizing the FBI raid referenced Cohen's taxi medallion business, the identity of banks that loaned him money and payments made to suppress negative information during the presidential campaign.

It's not clear how the plea deal with Cohen might affect other entities that have been under scrutiny by federal prosecutors as part of the Cohen investigation, including the publisher of the National Enquirer, American Media Inc.

This is an absolutely critical moment for Donald Trump's presidency
CNN and the The New York Times reported Sunday that investigators were finalizing criminal charges against Cohen and could announce them by the end of the month.

According to the Times, investigators were trying to determine whether Cohen misrepresented the value of his assets to obtain the loans from two financial institutions that have catered to the taxi industry. They were also scrutinizing whether he failed to properly report his income from taxi medallions to the Internal Revenue Service, the Times reported.

CNN previously reported in April that Cohen is under investigation for possible bank and tax fraud, that his taxi medallions are a focus of the investigation, and that one of the banks that made the loans was Sterling National Bank, whose spokesman declined to comment earlier this month about federal scrutiny of the loans. The Times, citing financial records and people with knowledge of the matter, reported that the other financial institution is the Melrose Credit Union.

Prosecutors have been scrutinizing a variety of documents submitted by Cohen to various institutions, including those to the Internal Revenue Service and those to Sterling National Bank, CNN has reported.

 

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Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer and "fixer," has pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations and other charges, saying he and Trump arranged the payment of hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels and a former Playboy model to influence the election.

The guilty plea came Tuesday — almost at the same moment former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was convicted in Alexandria, Va., of eight financial crimes in the first trial to come out of special counsel Robert Mueller's sprawling Russia investigation.

In a deal reached with federal prosecutors, Cohen, 51, pleaded guilty to eight counts in all, including tax evasion and making a false statement to a financial institution. He could get about four to five years in prison at sentencing on Dec. 12.

In entering the plea, Cohen did not specifically name the two women or Trump, recounting instead that he worked with an "unnamed candidate." But the amounts and the dates all lined up with the payments made to Daniels and Karen McDougal.

After Cohen's guilty plea, deputy U.S. Attorney Robert Khuzami told reporters that he submitted invoices to the candidate's company to obtain reimbursement for the unlawful campaign contributions.

Cohen said the first payment was "in co-ordination and at the direction of a candidate for federal office," and the second was made "under direction of the same candidate."

Cohen's plea follows months of scrutiny from federal investigations and a falling out with the president, whom he previously said he'd "take a bullet" for.

FBI raids in April sought bank records, communications with Trump's campaign and information on payments to Daniels and McDougal.

Both women claimed Trump had affairs with them, which he has denied.

It wasn't clear if the plea agreement requires Cohen's co-operation with the Russia probe or other investigations.

U.S. President Donald Trump ignored questions about Cohen as he boarded Air Force One for a campaign visit to West Virginia. (Alex Brandon/Associated Press)

President ignores questions
Trump ignored questions about Cohen as he boarded Air Force One for a campaign visit to West Virginia. The White House and the Trump re-election campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The president has fumed publicly about what he felt was government overreach, while privately worrying about what material Cohen may have after working for the Trump Organization for a decade.

Trump branded the raid "a witch hunt," an assault on attorney-client privilege and a politically motivated attack by enemies in the FBI.

"Obviously it's not good for Trump," Sol Wisenberg, who conducted grand jury questioning of then-president Bill Clinton during the Whitewater investigation, said of Cohen plea bargain.

"I'm assuming he's not going to be indicted because he's a sitting president," Wisenberg added. "But it leads him closer to ultimate impeachment proceedings, particularly if the Democrats take back the House."

What it shows is that the people close to the president have criminal exposure and it may mean they don't need Cohen to co-operate.- Laurie Levenson , former federal prosecutor

The Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, which provides legal advice and guidance to executive branch agencies, has held that a president cannot be indicted while in office. Trump's lawyers have said that Mueller plans to adhere to that guidance, though Mueller's office has never confirmed that. There would presumably be no bar against charging a president after he leaves the White House.

Laurie Levenson, a former federal prosecutor and professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, noted that the deal does not require Cohen to co-operate, but does not preclude it from happening, which should be worrying to the president and his allies.

"What it shows is that the people close to the president have criminal exposure and it may mean they don't need Cohen to co-operate," she said.

Levenson argued the deal also knocks back the argument that the investigations swirling around Trump are a "witch hunt."

"No longer can you say Mueller is on a witch hunt when you have his own lawyer pleading guilty to things that were designed to impact the election," she said.

On Tuesday, Cohen's lawyer Lanny Lewis suggested Trump should face criminal charges.

"If those payments were a crime for Michael Cohen, then why wouldn't they be a crime for Donald Trump?," he tweeted.

Mueller's team is looking into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The team referred the case involving Cohen's financial dealings to federal prosecutors in Manhattan.

In this April 16, 2018, photo, Stormy Daniels, left, stands with her lawyer Michael Avenatti as she speaks outside federal court in New York. Avenatti tweeted that Cohen's plea deal should open the door to questioning Trump under oath in Daniels's defamation lawsuit against him. (Mary Altaffer/Associated Press)

Loyal 'fixer' under investigation for months
The search of Cohen's files sought bank records, communications with the Trump campaign and information on hush money payments made in 2016 to former Playboy model McDougal, who received $150,000 US, and the porn actress Daniels, who got $130,000 US.

Daniels's hard-charging lawyer, Michael Avenatti, later upped the drama by disclosing bank reports showing that Cohen had been hustling behind the scenes to cash in on his close relationship with the president.

Avenatti tweeted that Cohen's plea agreement should open the door to questioning Trump under oath in Daniels's defamation lawsuit against him about "what he knew, when he knew it, and what he did about it."

Trusted member of Trump organization
The New York Times reported earlier this week, based on anonymous sources, that prosecutors have been focusing on more than $20 million in loans obtained by taxi businesses that Cohen and his family own.

Before the election, Cohen had been a trusted member of the Trump organization, working out of an office in Trump Tower next to one used by his boss.

He raised millions for Trump's campaign and, after being interviewed by the House Intelligence Committee last year, told Vanity Fair that Trump had no part in the suspected Russian conspiracy to tamper with the election.

The president's initial support for Cohen after the raid has since degenerated into a public feud, prompting speculation that, to save himself, Cohen might be willing to tell prosecutors some of the secrets he helped Trump keep.

Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani has steadily ratcheted up attacks on Cohen, suggesting he was untrustworthy and lying about what he knew about the former celebrity real estate developer's business dealings.

When Cohen's team produced a recording he had made of Trump discussing a payment to silence a woman about an alleged affair, Giuliani went on a media tour to impugn his credibility and question his loyalty.