--- title: Former Trump Lawyer Michael Cohen Sentenced to 3 Years in Prison description: Michael Cohen, the former longtime personal lawyer of President Donald Trump, was sentenced to three years in prison on Wednesday. canonical: https://time.com/5477719/michael-cohen-sentenced-prison/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-12-12T17:21:01.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-12T16:03:55.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Former Trump Lawyer Michael Cohen Sentenced to 3 Years in Prison og:description: Cohen said his loyalty to Trump led him "to take a path of darkness" og:url: https://time.com/5477719/michael-cohen-sentenced-prison/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaa56929d545c48b1/69894160929fadb062bf24f5/michael-cohen-sentencing.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3151 og:image:height: 1772 og:image:alt: Former Trump Lawyer Michael Cohen Attends His Sentencing Hearing og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Former Trump Lawyer Michael Cohen Sentenced to 3 Years in Prison twitter:description: Cohen said his loyalty to Trump led him "to take a path of darkness" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaa56929d545c48b1/69894160929fadb062bf24f5/michael-cohen-sentencing.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Former Trump Lawyer Michael Cohen Sentenced to 3 Years in Prison > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: How Trump Changes His Story on the Russia Investigation [Watch (HLS stream): How Trump Changes His Story on the Russia Investigation](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/jtYJYHg3.m3u8) (3:51)  _Published 2018-12-06. As special counsel Robert Mueller and various news reports have dug up information about Russian meddling in the 2016 election, Trump has followed a predictable pattern._  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Updated: Dec 12, 2023 4:03 PM UTCPublished: Dec 12, 2018 5:21 PM UTC  Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former personal attorney, arrives at federal court for his sentencing hearing on Dec. 12, 2018 in New York City. Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former personal attorney, arrives at federal court for his sentencing hearing on Dec. 12, 2018 in New York City. Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Updated: Dec 12, 2023 4:03 PM UTCPublished: Dec 12, 2018 5:21 PM UTC Michael Cohen, the former longtime personal lawyer of President Donald Trump, was sentenced to three years in federal prison on Wednesday, taking a parting shot at the President after implicating him in hush money payments to two women over alleged affairs with Trump. “It was my blind loyalty to this man that led me to take a path of darkness instead of light,” Cohen said in court, the Associated Press reported. “I felt it was my duty to cover up his dirty deeds.” Cohen said he had been “living in a personal and mental incarceration” since starting to work for Trump, the [New York _Times_ reported](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/12/nyregion/michael-cohen-sentence-trump.html). But U.S. District Judge William H. Pauley III said a tough sentence was warranted because “as a lawyer, Mr. Cohen should have known better.” In August, Cohen [pleaded guilty](http://time.com/5373301/michael-cohen-plea-deal/) to tax evasion, campaign finance violations and making false financial statements — charges brought by prosecutors in New York’s Southern District. Cohen admitted that he worked at the direction of Trump to pay former Playboy model Karen McDougal and adult film star [Stormy Daniels](http://time.com/5428162/stormy-daniels-trump-spotlight/) to keep quiet about their alleged affairs with Trump — which Cohen said was an effort to influence the 2016 election. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York also announced a previously reached non-prosecution agreement with the parent company of the National Enquirer, American Media, Inc., which admitted to paying McDougal $150,000 “in concert with a candidate’s presidential campaign.” Before the 2016 election, the [National Enquirer agreed to pay McDougal](https://www.wsj.com/articles/national-enquirer-shielded-donald-trump-from-playboy-models-affair-allegation-1478309380) $150,000 for her story about the alleged affair, and then did not publish it. But AMI previously denied that the payment was intended to kill a story that could damage Trump. On Wednesday, prosecutors announced AMI had admitted otherwise, saying “its principal purpose in making the payment was to suppress the woman’s story so as to prevent it from influencing the election.” That admission could create more challenges for Trump, who has denied the affairs and [denied that the payments](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-impeachment-exclusive/exclusive-trump-says-he-is-not-concerned-about-being-impeached-defends-payments-to-women-idUSKBN1OB01N) were campaign contributions. “What it tells me from this distance is they are really focused on the President and his potential liability for the campaign finance violations,” says Elie Honig, a former assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District. “If Donald Trump wasn’t the President of the United States, I would take one look at this and say, they’re circling the wagons around this guy. They’re going after this guy.” Under existing Department of Justice policy, the President cannot be indicted. “I think this is bad news for Trump and his associates because it shows that there is a witness. Cohen was not a cooperating witness, but AMI is cooperating,” says Harry Sandick, also a former federal prosector in the district. “The Southern District is not yet finished investigating this particular cluster of crimes.” Cohen’s sentence aligns with the sentence of about three and a half years that [prosecutors had recommended](http://time.com/5474524/michael-cohen-deserves-substantial-prison-time/) in a filing on Friday. In a separate case, Cohen [pleaded guilty](http://time.com/5466766/michael-cohen-court-appearance-trump-lawyer/) last month to lying to Congress in 2017 about the timing and details of his work on a since-abandoned project to build a Trump tower in Russia. That charge was brought by [Special Counsel Robert Mueller](http://time.com/person-of-the-year-2018-robert-mueller-runner-up/) as part of his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Cohen received a two-month concurrent sentence in that case, which Mueller had recommended in his own filing on Friday, crediting Cohen for providing “credible and consistent” information in cooperation with the Russia investigation. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5477719/michael-cohen-sentenced-prison/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5477719/michael-cohen-sentenced-prison/"},"headline":"Former Trump Lawyer Michael Cohen Sentenced to 3 Years in Prison","datePublished":"2018-12-12T17:21:01.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-12T16:03:55.000Z","description":"Cohen said his loyalty to Trump led him \"to take a path of darkness\"","url":"https://time.com/5477719/michael-cohen-sentenced-prison/","keywords":["Donald Trump","White House","Courts","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaa56929d545c48b1/69894160929fadb062bf24f5/michael-cohen-sentencing.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaa56929d545c48b1/69894160929fadb062bf24f5/michael-cohen-sentencing.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Former Trump Lawyer Michael Cohen Attends His Sentencing Hearing","caption":"Former Trump Lawyer Michael Cohen Attends His Sentencing Hearing","creditText":"Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5477719/michael-cohen-sentenced-prison/","name":"Former Trump Lawyer Michael Cohen Sentenced to 3 Years in Prison"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"How Trump Changes His Story on the Russia Investigation","description":"As special counsel Robert Mueller and various news reports have dug up information about Russian meddling in the 2016 election, Trump has followed a predictable pattern.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/jtYJYHg3/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2018-12-06T17:58:43.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/jtYJYHg3.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5477719/michael-cohen-sentenced-prison/","duration":"PT3M51S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5477719/michael-cohen-sentenced-prison/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```