Ex Trump lawyer Michael Cohen faces possible jail sentence

Michael Cohen’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for 11 a.m. at a courthouse in Manhattan. (File Photo By IowaPolitics.com/Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 2.0)

NEW YORK — A lawyer who made his career protecting President Donald Trump is set to learn whether co-operating with federal investigators will lessen his punishment for dodging taxes, lying to Congress and violating campaign finance laws.

Michael Cohen’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for 11 a.m. at a courthouse in Manhattan.

He could get around four years in prison. His lawyers have asked for leniency.

They say some of his crimes were motivated by overenthusiasm for Trump.

Cohen pleaded guilty to misleading Congress about a Trump real estate project in Moscow and orchestrating prohibited payments to two women who said they had affairs with Trump.

Cohen also dodged $1.4 million in taxes.

New York prosecutors have urged a judge to give Cohen a substantial prison term.