Avenatti: Michael Cohen sought ‘to degrade the office of the presidency’ and deserves his sentence

Michael Avenatti, the attorney of adult-film star Stormy Daniels, said Wednesday that Michael Cohen “deserves every day” of the three year sentence he received Wednesday.

Avenatti added that Cohen sought to “degrade the office of the presidency” when he facilitated illegal campaign payments in 2016. Cohen allegedly made a payment to Daniels during President Trump’s 2016 campaign in an attempt to silence her accusations about having an affair with Trump. 

“[Cohen’s] choice time and time again was to degrade my client, seek to intimidate her, call her and me liars and seek to degrade the office of the presidency of the United States by seeking to buy, effectively, an election,” Avenatti told reporters.

“This is an outrage,” he continued. “He deserves every day of the 36-month sentence that he will serve.”

Michael Avenatti, Stormy Daniels’ attorney: “Michael Cohen is neither a hero, nor a patriot. He lied for months on end about his criminal conduct and the role of the President of the United States … he deserves every day of the 36 month sentence.” https://t.co/ePZMCH9WcD pic.twitter.com/aiqWO4bncc

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) December 12, 2018

{mosads}Cohen, President Trump’s former personal attorney, was sentenced Wednesday to three years in prison after previously pleading guilty to a range of federal crimes he committed while working for Trump.

The charges against Cohen included campaign finance violations. Cohen “made or caused” two payments to silence women who alleged that they had affairs with the presidential candidate years ago, according to prosecutors. Those payments match payments made to Daniels and to ex-Playboy model Karen McDougal, who both claim affairs with Trump.

Federal prosecutors in New York have said that a candidate matching Trump’s description directed Cohen to make those payments, implicating the president in the crime.

In addition to pleading guilty to the crimes in the Southern District of New York, Cohen has also been cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller’s team in its investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Avenatti on Wednesday said Cohen is “neither a hero nor a patriot” for pleading guilty.

“He lied for months on end about his criminal conduct and the role of the President of the United States. He lied in march, he lied in April, he lied in May, he lied in June, he lied in July,” Avenatti said. “And only until his back was against the wall and he faced significant prison time did he decide to come clean.”