Cohen’s submission suggests that this was but a brief error in judgment. Not so. Cohen
knew exactly where the line was, and he chose deliberately and repeatedly to cross it. Indeed, he
Case 1:18-cr-00602-WHP Document 27 Filed 12/07/18 Page 25 of 40
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was a licensed attorney with significant political experience and a history of campaign donations,
and who was well-aware of the election laws.
11
In fact, Cohen publicly and privately took credit
for Individual-1’s political success, claiming – in a conversation that he secretly recorded – that
he “started the whole thing . . . started the whole campaign” in 2012 when Individual-1 expressed
an interest in running for President. Moreover, not only was Cohen well aware of what he was
doing, but he used sophisticated tactics to conceal his misconduct. He arranged one of the
payments through a media company and disguised it as a services contract, and executed the
second non-disclosure agreement with aliases and routed the six-figure payment through a shell
corporation. After the election, he arranged for his own reimbursement via fraudulent invoices for
non-existent legal services ostensibly performed pursuant to a non-existent “retainer” agreement.
And even when public reports of the payments began to surface, Cohen told shifting and
misleading stories about the nature of the payment, his coordination with the candidate, and the
fact that he was reimbursed
Sean Hannity is involved. It's just a matter of time before that shoe drops.