On leaving for prison, Michael Cohen declares that "is at the helm of our country" – ABC News

The next chapter in Michael Cohen's legal tribulations is scheduled to begin Monday when former President Donald Trump's attorney will report to a federal penitentiary in Otisville, New York, to serve his three-year sentence.

Cohen, 52, pleaded guilty late last year for lying to Congress about a potential project of Trump Tower in Moscow, on violations of campaign financing related to payments he had made to two women under the orders of President Trump and on a multitude of financial crimes.

Leaving home in Manhattan on Monday, Cohen said "there is still a lot to be said."

Shannon Stapleton / Reuters

"I hope that when I join my family and friends, the country will find itself in a place without xenophobia, without injustice and that it is at the head of our country," Cohen said.

The former long-time fixator who had once declared that he "would take a bullet" in July 2018, in July 2018, had publicly announced to Trump, a man for whom he was working more than one. decade, when he had told ABC News first loyalty.

"I will not be a punching bag as part of anyone's defense strategy," Cohen said at the time. "I'm not a bad guy in this story, and I will not let others try to describe me that way."

Since then, Cohen has testified before three congressional committees and worked on a handful of federal investigations into Trump, his business empire, his charitable foundation, and his associates – including Special Advisor Robert Mueller's investigation into the interference. of Russia in the elections of 2016.

Prior to his conviction, the board of the special council acknowledged Cohen for providing "extensive and useful" information on matters related to his investigation, and Mueller cited Cohen's testimony dozens of times in his 448-page report.

Alex Brandon / AP

Last month, Lanny Davis, a Cohen lawyer, argued as a last resort to delay or curtail his client's incarceration. He begged the Democrats in the House to intervene on his behalf, but to no avail.

President Trump, for his part, began to call his long-time personal attorney a "bad lawyer and fraudster", "liar" and "rat" who "did bad things unrelated to Trump".

Two of Cohen's crimes were directly related to Trump, and federal prosecutors involved the president in one of them, alleging in court documents that Trump, at the time candidate, had ordered to Cohen to make payments in order to silence adult film actress Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, former playmate at Playboy.

Cohen also pleaded guilty in November to having lied to Congress on a project of the Trump Tower in Moscow that the president's real estate company was pursuing while he ran for president.

Cohen must report to the prison Monday at 14:00. In addition to his imprisonment, Cohen will pay $ 1.39 million in restitution, plus $ 500,000 in forfeiture for financial crimes and campaign financing. He will face an additional $ 50,000 fine for lying to Congress.