Michael Dean Cohen, otherwise known as Trump’s ex-lawyer and “fixer,” has just been sentenced to 3 years in federal prison on 8 counts of various charges. This has caused the Democratic party to issue an investigation into the background of these charges.

      What is causing all the talk? Cohen recently testified to Congress, creating negative attention toward the President while doing so. But in order to get a better understanding of Cohen’s actions, it is necessary to look back through his history.

Cohen grew up in New York with his mother and father, who was a Holocaust survivor. He started his legal career in 1992 and met Trump in 2006. Cohen quickly became a close confidant to Trump after he joined the Trump Organization and bought several of the organization’s properties. Cohen in an interview with ABC News in 2011 once stated, “If somebody does something Mr. Trump doesn’t like, I do everything in my power to resolve it to Mr. Trump’s benefit. If you do something wrong, I’m going to come at you, grab you by the neck and I’m not going to let you go until I’m finished.” His deep commitment to Trump later led him to act in several illegal ways.

According to The Moscow Project, Cohen on behalf of the President had frequent contact with Felix Sater: a Russian-American businessman. They discussed plans to build a Trump Tower in Moscow and lift sanctions on Russia; even through Trump’s campaign, despite having told the White House it was shelved.

His recent testimonies are a part of the aftermath of being investigated by the FBI these last couple months. In this, he told Congress he also paid hush money to Trump’s mistress along with lying under oath and more (New York Times). Cohen says he is talking now because “I’m done with the lying, I’m done being loyal to President Donald Trump. My first loyalty belongs to my wife, my daughter, my son and this country.”

The investigation and testimony Cohen gave to Congress impacted both America and the President in many ways. The accusations have done little to damage the President’s image as Nancy Pelosi has denied any talks of impeachment. In addition, the March 26th Mueller report stated that the Trump campaign had no involvement in the Russian collusion. The only setback Trump has faced is his decrease in approval rating in every state and D.C which has no direct correlation with Cohen.

The main effect of the testimony, however, has been a further divide in the government, especially with the Democratic-Party led investigation. When asked about the impact, Ethan Miedema (‘19) stated, “ This isn’t normal, but it is being normalized by the last two years of Trump’s presidency.” Both Cohen’s testimony and the investigation has caused a temporary uproar that is slowly being forgotten.