Ever since pleading guilty to a series of fiscal and campaign-related crimes, President Donald Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen has done everything but take out a billboard to send the special counsel's office a message: Pay Attention To Me.
Although the crimes for which he pleaded guilty were not Russia-related, Cohen, through his lawyer Lanny Davis, wants Robert Mueller to know he can still be useful in the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
” Mr. Cohen has knowledge on certain topics that should be of interest to the special counseling and is more than happy to tell the special advise all that he knows, ” Cohen's attorney, Davis, told MSNBC's Rachel Maddow on Tuesday night.
So, it's clear Cohen is open for business. Less clear is what he might have to sell or, for that are important, whether Mueller will feel the need to use him.
” I would try to flip him and use him as a cooperator ,” former U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade told The Daily Beast.” He clearly wants to cooperate. He might have to plead to additional crimes if he is responsible for committing them. The SDNY plea agreement does not preclude additional charges by Mueller .”
As McQuade ensures it, Cohen's cooperation could further implicate Trump or his associates in Russia's attempts to influence the 2016 election. More specifically, there are at least three subject areas that Cohen could help shed light on as Mueller does his excavating. They include the following:
The infamous 2016 Trump Tower meeting between Russians and the Trump campaign to get “dirt” on Hillary Clinton Efforts to build a Trump Tower Moscow, which stretched into the 2016 presidential campaign A 2017 Ukrainian” peace scheme” delivered to the White House that would have lifted U.S. imposing sanctions on Russia
