Report: Michael Cohen prayed with Rev. Al Sharpton after …
President Donald Trump's former personal attorney Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance and other charges. Deputy U.S. Attorney Robert Khuzami told reporters that Cohen thought "he was above the law." USA TODAY
The Rev. Al Sharpton during a news conference after visiting with rapper Meek Mill at the state correctional institution in Chester, Pa. on Nov. 27, 2017.(Photo: Matt Rourke, AP)
Not long after pleading guilty to a host of federal charges, Michael Cohen met for breakfast with Rev. Al Sharpton, according to a report from The New York Times.
There, Cohen, the former attorney to President Donald Trump, and Sharpton, a leading Democrat and civil-rights activist, prayed together and ate.
"He seemed to be resolved that he was facing some time," Sharpton told the Times. "He even asked me to pray with him, and we did at the table."
Though Cohen could face a maximum of 65 years in federal prison based on the charges, it's likely he will receive a much more lenient sentence due to sentencing guidelines and an agreement with prosecutors.
Michael Cohen, former personal lawyer to President Donald Trump, leaves his apartment building, in New York, Aug. 21, 2018.(Photo: Richard Drew, AP)
Last month, he pleaded guilty to eight federal charges includinglying about his income to evade income taxes, lying to banks to obtain loans andmaking illegal contributions to benefit Trumps campaign.
Those campaignfinance violations were made to women who alleged affairs withTrump. In his plea, Cohen implicated the president by stating he made the illegal contributions at the direction of Trump.
Since Cohen's apartment, office and hotel were raided in April, he met at least one other time with Sharpton. Both posted on Twitter about meeting and talking together.
Cohen said he's known Sharpton for 20 years and there was "no one better to talk to."
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Sharpton, after the first meeting with Cohen, said the president's former attorney was wanting to clear the air, tell the truth and do right by his family.
"He kept saying to me over and over again, 'Reverend, Im going to do whats right for the country, Im going to do whats right for my family,'" Sharpton told MSNBC.
Sharpton said the fact that Cohen reached out to him, a leading Democrat and critic of Trump, should have been viewed as a "signal" to the president.
It was only about a month after the July meeting that Cohen appeared before a federal judge in New York and pleaded guilty to charges.
Sharpton and Cohen met for breakfast at the Loews Regency hotel on Park Avenue in New York City not long after his plea. Sharpton told the Times that Cohen, the president's former wealthy fixer, seemed mystified at how quickly his life had changed and had turned upside down.
"He seems like a guy who feels like hes been wronged even though hes willing to admit that there may have been some things that he should not have done," Sharpton said.
Cohen has yet to be sentenced. It's unclear whether his testimony could be used in special counsel Robert Mueller's probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible obstruction of justice by the president.
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Report: Michael Cohen prayed with Rev. Al Sharpton after ...