Trump could face "unpleasant" sentence in New York, says former US lawyer after Cohen interview for investigation

Ex-U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance told MSNBC on Wednesday that President Donald Trump could be sentenced to an "unpleasant" sentence after his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, cooperates with the New York District Attorney's Office in connection with the case. his investigation on the Trump organization.

New York District Attorney's Prosecutors recently interviewed Cohen in his investigation into the Trump Organization's treatment of cash payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, sources told CNN close to the survey. The interview would have taken place at the federal prison in Otisville, where Cohen is currently sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty last year to various crimes, including campaign financing offenses, tax frauds and bank fraud.

NBC News also quoted an unnamed source that Cohen had reached an agreement with prosecutors to "provide information about the president's business activities." The NBC source also confirmed that a meeting had taken place between Cohen and officials of the Attorney General's office at Otisville Prison last month.

During a segment on MSNBC Hardball, host Chris Matthews and Vance discussed the potential consequences of Cohen's cooperation for the president.

"Let's talk about Cohen's cooperation here," said Matthews. "He has a point of view, it's fair to say, about Trump and what he thinks about Trump and what they did together. etc., etc."

Matthews then asked if there was a "criminal offense by the president regarding the way he paid Stormy Daniels?"

"What the prosecutors seem to be focusing on is the idea that there would have been false commercial documents that would have been submitted," Vance said. "Normally, it's a crime, but if you submit false professional documents in order to conceal another crime – here, presumably a federal crime involving election campaign fraud – then it becomes a crime and you are really in trouble. "

"What we hear in this testimony is that there is an effort to convert the [hush money payment] the legal fees, and that's probably how the Trump organization noted it in its records, such as legal fees, "she added.

Wallace later noted that this "could be an important case, if you take the US president in a criminal case," before asking Vance what are the potential penalties for Trump.

"It really depends on the final structure," said Vance. "They could do some sort of tax burden here, which we do not know – we do not know if they have a tax background – we could consider a long-term violation for a crime." certainly not a crime. "

"The crime of crime is serious, it has many collateral consequences," said Vance. "But the most significant fact is the threat of prison hanging over us, and such a condemnation in the state system of New York would be very unpleasant for the President of the United States."