CAMPAIGN FINANCE/LEGAL/MICHAEL COHEN/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/WOMEN: “President Donald Trump on Thursday [12-13-18] disputed claims by former lawyer Michael Cohen that he engaged in ‘dirty deeds’ that included hush payments to two women to keep them quiet during the 2016 campaign…Wednesday, a federal judge sentenced Cohen to three years in prison for campaign finance violations, tax evasion and lying to Congress. Prosecutors said Trump authorized the hush money scheme. Cohen, who is cooperating with prosecutors in the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, said before sentencing that he took ‘full responsibility’ for ‘each act that I pled guilty to: the personal ones to me and those involving the president of the United States of America’…In pre-sentencing filings, prosecutors said Cohen – with Trump’s approval – arranged for payments to two women who claimed to have had affairs with Trump to try to keep them quiet before the election. The payments to former Playboy model Karen McDougal and adult film star Stormy Daniels were not reported at the time and amounted to improper campaign contributions, prosecutors said.”
–David Jackson, “President Trump denies Michael Cohen’s claims of ‘dirty deeds’,” USA Today, December 13, 2018 5:14 pm