Michael Cohen, ex-Trump lawyer, sentenced to 3 years in prison

NEW YORK CITY -- (WPIX) -- Ex-Trump lawyer Cohen was sentenced on Wednesday to 3 years in prison for crimes including hush-money payments that prosecutors say Trump ordered.

President Donald Trump's former lawyer has been sentenced to three years in prison.

U.S. District Judge William H. Pauley III said Wednesday that Michael Cohen deserved a harsh punishment for crimes including tax evasion, lying to Congress and arranging illicit payments to silence women who posed a risk to Trump's presidential campaign.

The judge rejected arguments by Cohen's lawyers that he should be spared jail time because he cooperated in multiple federal investigations involving Trump.

Cohen said his "blind loyalty" to Trump made him feel a duty to "cover up" the president's "dirty deeds."

Cohen's crimes included evading $1.4 million in taxes and misleading Congress about his talks with Russians about a Trump skyscraper project in Moscow.