WASHINGTON -- Since mid-March, prosecutors in New York have rebuffed repeated offers from President Donald Trump's former lawyer to provide more information about alleged wrongdoing by Trump and other people in his orbit, Michael Cohen's attorney told The Associated Press on Friday.
"Why not see him?" Lanny Davis asked. "What's the downside? He's about to go to prison."
Cohen's legal team reached out to prosecutors in March asking for an opportunity to meet for a "frank discussion" about reducing his sentence, based on his cooperation. That meeting never happened.
Cohen is scheduled to report Monday to a federal prison 70 miles north of New York City to begin serving a three-year sentence for campaign-finance violations, tax evasion, bank fraud and lying to Congress.
On Saturday, Cohen told journalists in New York that he plans to hold a news conference Monday before heading to prison.
Cohen remains the only person charged in a scandal involving hush-money payments to the porn actress Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal, who were threatening during the presidential campaign to speak up about alleged affairs with Trump.
Cohen started to cast himself publicly as a whistleblower less than three months after the FBI raided his home and apartment.
He gave a series of teases that there was "more to come," starting with an interview last July in which he told ABC news anchor George Stephanopoulos he was no longer loyal to Trump.
Cohen's effort to sell himself as a potential witness, though, has largely been met with an uncompromising approach by federal prosecutors.
New York investigators built their case for months without speaking with Cohen, then finally agreed to meet with him on a Saturday last August. There, they delivered an ultimatum: plead guilty or be indicted within days.
Cohen soon pleaded guilty and later met with Manhattan-based prosecutors multiple times to discuss several issues. Those included Trump's personal business dealing and his inaugural committee, which is now the subject of a criminal investigation centering on possible donations by foreigners and influence peddling. He also accused the president of personal involvement in attempts to pay off McDougal and Daniels.
Cohen also met with special counsel Robert Mueller's investigators several times. Cohen's attorneys say they believe he gave enough information to support several potential prosecutions.
Still, the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan, in court filings before his sentencing, criticized what it described as Cohen's unwillingness to cooperate fully and be debriefed "on other uncharged criminal conduct, if any, in his past."
A spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office declined to comment.
Davis said Friday that he believes Cohen has been treated unfairly.
"The Southern District of New York was disproportionate in the sentence it asked for and appears to have targeted just Michael Cohen for reasons that I can't understand," Davis said.
A Section on 05/05/2019