US Prosecutors Agree To Sentencing Cohen For All Charges At Single Hearing - Lawyer

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 30th November, 2018) US Federal prosecutors agreed to combine all charges against former President Donald Trump attorney Michael Cohen for the purposes of sentencing at a single hearing on December 12, defense lawyer Guy Petrillo said in a letter.

"The government has indicated that it has no objection to this request," the letter said on Thursday.

Cohen entered a guilty plea on August 21 to eight charges, including tax fraud and campaign finance violations. In addition to these crimes, Cohen admitted on Thursday morning that he was lying to Congress about his involvement in building a Trump estate project in Russia in 2016.

The former longtime Trump lawyer was repeatedly questioned by the team of Special Counsel Robert Mueller who is currently investigating Russia's role in the 2016 US presidential election and the Trump campaign's ties with Moscow.

The US president has repeatedly denied any business connections with Russia and called the allegations of collusion a "witch hunt."

After Cohen's new guilty plea, Trump said his ex-lawyer is making up stories to reduce his prison sentence. The president told reporters he did not proceed with the project in Moscow and even if he would, there was nothing wrong with it. He insisted the presidential run was his priority, but he was still a businessman before the elections and could have returned to a private sector in case of losing to Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

Cohen worked for Trump for nearly 12 years. Yet, the president said he only hired this attorney because Cohen has done him some kind of favor long time ago. Trump did not give any details on what that favor was.