On Wednesday, Donald Trump's former counsel and "fixer," Michael Cohen, was sentenced to three years imprisonment, in what was a major milestone for Robert Mueller's wide-ranging inquiry into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Not surprisingly, the late-night comics wasted no time in rubbing salt into Cohen's wounds. Stephen Colbert was no exception, offering the lawyer some sage advice for when he arrives in jail.
"Just today, another big decision in the landmark case of Donald Trump v Getting Caught," Colbert told the audience during Wednesday night's Late Show. The show was broadcast just hours after Cohen had been sentenced on several criminal charges, including lying to Congress, tax evasion and violating campaign finance laws by paying off women who claimed to have had sex with the president.
"Little tip," Colbert jokingly proffered Cohen. "First day in prison, you walk right up to the biggest guy in the yard, you pay him $130K," referencing the $130,000 hush money Cohen paid to adult actress Stormy Daniels during the election campaign.
"Poor Cohen climbed up onto the prison bus, he made sure to throw Trump under it," Colbert added.
The host then read out comments made in court by Cohen in which the lawyer blamed the crimes on his blind loyalty to Trump who, he said, had led him to follow "a path of darkness rather than light."
"Recently the President Tweeted a statement calling me weak, and he was correct, but for a much different reason than he was implying," Cohen said. "It was because time and time again I felt it was my duty to cover up his dirty deeds."
"And evidently, you suck at it," Colbert joked.
Cohen told the court he was actually relieved not to be working for Trump anymore and, ironically, that the sentencing would give him his freedom back. The lawyer said he had been living in "personal mental incarceration" ever since he accepted the job offer from the business mogul.
"That's how bad working for Trump is," Colbert commented. "Actually, the irony is that while you're in prison for your crimes, the guy who ordered you to do the crimes will be at Mar-a-Lago, sharing chocolate cake with Xi Jinping and Kid Rock."
Cohen is the first member of Trump's inner circle to be sentenced to prison as part of the Mueller inquiry. On Thursday, Democrat and member of the House Intelligence Committee, Denny Heck, told CNN's Erin Burnett that the lawyer's sentencing marked the "beginning of the end for Trump."
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Aristos is a Newsweek science reporter with the London, U.K., bureau. He reports on science and health topics, including; animal, ... Read more
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