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The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
Thursday, December 13, 2018 3A
Ex-Trump lawyer Cohen gets prison time
CRAIG RUTTLE I Associated Press
Michael Cohen, center, President Donald Trump’s former lawyer,
accompanied by his children Samantha, left, and Jake, right, arrives at
federal court for his sentencing, Wednesday, Dec. 12, in New York, for
dodging taxes, lying to Congress and violating campaign finance laws.
BY LARRY NEUMEISTER
AND TOM HAYS
Associated Press
NEW YORK — Michael Cohen,
President Donald Trump’s one-time
fixer, was sentenced Wednesday to
three years in prison for crimes that
included arranging the payment
of hush money during the White
House campaign to conceal his
boss’ alleged sexual affairs, telling
a judge that “blind loyalty” led him
to cover up Trump’s “dirty deeds.”
Separately, the legal and politi
cal peril surrounding Trump
appeared to deepen when prosecu
tors announced that another major
piece of the investigation had fallen
into place: The parent company of
the National Enquirer acknowl
edged dispensing some of the hush
money in concert with the Trump
campaign to fend off a scandal that
could have damaged his bid for the
presidency.
Cohen, 52, shook his head slightly
and closed his eyes as a judge pro
nounced his sentence for evading
$1.4 million in taxes, lying about
Trump’s business dealings in Rus
sia and violating campaign-finance
laws in buying the silence of porn
star Stormy Daniels and Playboy
centerfold Karen McDougal, who
claimed they had sex with the can
didate. Cohen and federal prosecu
tors have said the payments were
made at Trump’s direction to influ
ence the election.
“Time and time again, I felt it was
my duty to cover up his dirty deeds
rather than to listen to my own inner
voice and my moral compass,” said
a choked-up Cohen, a lawyer who
once boasted he would “take a bul
let” for Trump. “My weakness can
be characterized as a blind loyalty
to Donald Trump.”
The twin developments repre
sented a double dose of bad news
for the president, who ignored
reporters’ questions about Cohen
during an appearance at the White
House later in the day.
Cohen is the first and, so far, only
member of Trump’s circle during
two years of investigations to go into
open court and implicate him in a
crime, though whether a president
can be prosecuted under the Consti
tution is an open question.
In a possible sign of further trou
ble for the president, Cohen said he
will continue cooperating with pros
ecutors, and one of his legal advis
ers said Cohen is also prepared to
tell “all he knows” to Congress if
asked.
At the sentencing, defense attor
ney Guy Petrillo pleaded for leni
ency for Cohen, saying, “He came
forward to offer evidence against
the most powerful person in our
country.”
U.S. District Judge William
H. Pauley III said the defendant
deserved modest credit, but his
assistance “does not wipe the slate
clean.”
“Somewhere along the way Mr.
Cohen appears to have lost his
moral compass,” the judge said.
The judge also ordered Cohen
to pay $1.39 million in restitution
to the IRS, forfeit $500,000 and pay
$100,000 in fines. He was ordered
to report to prison March 6 and left
court without comment.
The prison sentence was in line
with what prosecutors asked for.
Sentencing guidelines called for
around four to five years, and the
government asked in court papers
that Cohen be given only a slight
break.
The sentence was the culmi
nation of a spectacular rise and
fast fall of a lawyer who attached
himself to the fortunes of his big
gest client, helped him get elected
president, then turned on him,
cooperating with two ‘intercon
nected investigations: one run by
federal prosecutors in New York,
the other by special counsel Robert
Mueller, who is looking into Russia’s
efforts to influence the presidential
election.
Beyond the guilty pleas, it is
unclear what Cohen has told pros
ecutors or what he has left to say,
though one of Mueller’s prosecu
tors, Jeannie Rhee, said in court that
Cohen has “provided consistent and
credible information about core
Russia-related issues under inves
tigation.” Legal experts said Cohen
could get his sentence reduced by
cooperating.
In the hush-money case, Cohen
arranged for American Media
Inc., parent of the pro-Trump
National Enquirer, to pay $150,000
to McDougal to buy and bury her
story, according to prosecutors.
Cohen also said he paid $130,000
to Daniels and was reimbursed by
Trump’s business empire. Both pay
ments were made during the heat of
the 2016 campaign.
Prosecutors said those secret
payouts were not reported as cam
paign contributions and violated the
ban on corporate contributions and
the $2,700 limit on donations by an
individual.
Shortly after Cohen’s sentencing,
federal authorities announced a
deal not to prosecute AMI. As part
of the deal, prosecutors said, AMI
admitted making the payment to
McDougal “in concert” with the
Trump campaign to protect him
from a story that could have hurt
his candidacy. An AMI representa
tive had no comment.
Trump had denied any sexual
relationship with the women and
argued on Twitter earlier this week
that the payments to the women
were “a simple private transac
tion,” not a campaign contribution.
And if it was a prohibited contribu
tion, Trump said, Cohen is the one
who should be held responsible.
“Lawyer’s liability if he made
a mistake, not me,” Trump wrote,
adding, “Cohen just trying to get his
sentence reduced. WITCH HUNT!”
Trump’s legal culpability could
hinge on whether the payments
to the women were, in fact, made
at his direction, and whether he
intended them to influence the
election.
UK’s Prime Minister wins
Brexit no-confidence vote
France Christmas market
attack gunman still at large
FRANK AUGSTEIN I Associated Press
A sculpture depicting Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May
stands opposite Parliament as the protest against Brexit
continues in London, Wednesday, Dec. 12.
BY JILL LAWLESS
Associated Press
LONDON — British
Prime Minister Theresa
May survived a political
crisis over her Brexit deal
Wednesday, winning a no-
confidence vote by Con
servative lawmakers that
would have ended her lead
ership of party and country.
But the margin of victory
— 200 votes to 117 — leaves
May a weakened leader who
has lost the support of a big
chunk of her party over her
handling of Britain’s exit
from the European Union.
It also came at a steep price
as she promised not to run
for re-election in 2022. Brit
ain’s Brexit problem, mean
while, remains unsolved as
May seeks changes to her
EU divorce deal in order to
make it more palatable to
Parliament.
May said she was “pleased
to have received the back
ing of my colleagues” but
acknowledged that “a sig
nificant number” had voted
against her in Wednesday
evening’s secret ballot.
“I have listened to what
they said,” May promised
as she stood in a darkened
Downing St. after what she
called a “long and challeng
ing day.”
The threat to May had
been building as pro-Brexit
Conservative lawmakers
grew increasingly frustrated
with the prime minister’s
handling of Brexit. Many
supporters of Brexit say
May’s deal, a compromise
that retains close economic
ties with the EU, fails to
deliver on the clean break
with the bloc that they want.
The balloting came after
May’s Conservative oppo
nents, who circled the belea
guered prime minister for
weeks hoping to spark a no-
confidence vote, finally got
the numbers they needed to
call one.
The vote was triggered
when at least 48 lawmak
ers —15 percent of Conser
vative legislators — wrote
letters asking for a no-confi-
dence ballot.
On Monday, May post
poned a vote to approve the
divorce deal to avoid all-
but-certain defeat. She has
until Jan. 21 to bring it back
to Parliament after— she
hopes — winning conces
sions from the EU.
The result of the vote was
announced to loud cheers
from lawmakers gathered
in a stuffy, ornately wall
papered room in the House
of Commons. Under party
rules, May cannot be chal
lenged again by fellow Con
servatives for a year.
Transport Secretary Chris
Grayling, an ally, said the
result showed that May “has
the support of her party.”
“This is a clear statement
by the parliamentary party
they want her to go forward,
they want her to lead us
through Brexit,” he told Sky
News.
But pro-Brexit lawmaker
Mark Francois said the
result was “devastating” for
May, who has lost the sup
port of a third of her party in
Parliament.
“If I were her, I wouldn’t
be pleased with this at all,”
Francois said. “I think she
needs to think very carefully
about what to do now.”
Before the vote Wednes
day, May had vowed to fight
for the leadership of her
party and the country “with
everything I’ve got,” and
spent the day holed up in the
House of Commons trying to
win over enough lawmakers
to secure victory.
In a bid to win over waver
ing lawmakers, May indi
cated she would step down
before the next election, due
in 2022.
Solicitor-General Robert
Buckland said May told law
makers at a meeting that “it
is not her intention to lead
the party in the 2022 general
election.”
May’s victory is a reprieve
but does not lay to rest
uncertainty about Brit
ain’s EU departure, due on
March 29.
Opposition lawmakers
expressed astonishment and
outrage at the Conservative
civil war erupting in the
middle of the fraught Brexit
process.
“This government is a
farce, the Tory party is in
chaos, the prime minis
ter is a disgrace,” Scottish
National Party leader Ian
Blackford said during a
pugnacious Prime Minis
ter’s Questions session in the
House of Commons.
British business figures
expressed exasperation
at the continuing political
uncertainty.
“With news that the prime
minister remains in place,
business communities will
hope that these political
games can finally be put to
bed,” said Adam Marshall,
director general of the Brit
ish Chambers of Commerce.
“Westminster must now
focus all its energy on
urgently giving businesses
clarity on the future and
avoiding a messy or disor
derly Brexit.”
BY LORI HINNANT
AND ELAINE GANLEY
Associated Press
STRASBOURG,
France — Security
forces combed eastern
France for a 29-year-old
man with a long criminal
record who shouted “God
is great!” in Arabic and
sprayed gunfire during a
deadly rampage in Stras
bourg’s famous Christmas
market, officials said.
Tuesday night’s attack
at France’s largest Christ
mas market, which killed
two people, left a third
brain-dead and injured 12,
was a stark reminder to a
nation wounded by previ
ous assaults that terrorism
remains a threat, even as
anti-government protests
roil the country.
National police dis
tributed a photo of the
wounded fugitive, identi
fied as Cherif Chekatt,
with the warning: “Indi
vidual dangerous, above
all do not intervene.”
Interior Minister Chris-
tophe Castaner told lawmak
ers that the French native
had run-ins with police start
ing at age 10 and his first con
viction at age 13.
Chekatt had been con
victed 27 times, mostly in
France but also in Swit
zerland and Germany, for
crimes including armed rob
bery. He had been flagged
for extremism and was on a
watch list.
The emerging profile
pointed to an increasingly
common hybrid extremist
who moves from acts of delin
quency to sowing terror.
Chekatt was flagged as a
potential extremist, but Cas
taner said “the signs had been
weak.”
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Hall County Schools
PUBLIC NOTICE
HALL COUNTY BOARD OP EDUCATION
2019 BOARD MEETING DATES
THE HALL COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION SHALL CONVENE ITS RECiULAR MEETINGS
FOR 2019 ACCORDING TO THE FOLLOWINCi SCHEDULE. ALL MEETINGS EXCEPT THE MAY
WORK SESSION WILL BE HELD AT THE HALL COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT CENTRAL
OFFICE BUILDING LOCATED AT 711 GREEN STREET. THE MAY WORK SESSION WILL BE
HELD AT CHESTATEE HIGH SCHOOL LOCATED AT 3005 SARDIS ROAD, GAINESVILLE.
WORK SESSIONS WILL BEGIN AT 5:00 P.M. ON THE SECOND MONDAY OF EACH MONTH
(EXCEPTIONS AS NOTED*), AND REGULAR BUSINESS MEETINGS WILL BEGIN AT 5:00 P.M.
ON THE FOURTH MONDAY OF EACH MONTH (EXCEPTIONS AS NOTED*):
WORK SESSIONS
REGULAR MEETINGS
Second Monday of Each Month
Fourth Monday of Each Month
Conference Room - 5:00 P.M.
Conference Room - 5:00 P.M.
(Exceptions as noted*)
(exceptions as noted *)
January 7, 2019*
January 28, 2019
February 4, 2019*
February 18, 2019*
March 4. 2019*
March 18. 2019*
April 8. 2019
April 22,2019
May 13, 2019 (Chestatec HS - 6:00 P.M.)
May 20, 2019*
June 10,2019
June 24, 2019
July 15, 2019*
July 22, 2019
August 12,2019
August 26, 2019
September 9, 2019
September 23, 2019
October 14,2019
October 28. 2019
November 11, 2019
November 18, 2019*
December 9, 2019 (Combined)
December 9, 2019 (Combined *)
Approved by Hall County BOE on 11/26/18
TOWN OF CLERMONT, GEORGIA
Report on Projects Funded Through Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax
For the Year Ended June 30, 2018
Project Description
SPLOST VI
Municipal Buildings
Park facilities
Roads and sidewalks
SPLOST VII
Parks
Roads. streets.& sidewalks
Municipal buildings
Total
Estimated Cost
Expenditures
Original
$ 550,000 $
$ 150,000 $
S 250,000 S
Current
400,000
60,000
190,000
Prior Years
173,322 $
65,735 $
185,035 S
150.000
157,888
350,000
150,000
157,888
350,000
657.888 S_
657.888
15,041
Current
950,000 S 650,000 $ 424,092 $
$
731 S
73,552 S_
74,283 S
15,041 $
Total
173,322
66,466
258,587
498,375
5,818 $
31,172 S
- $
20,859
31,172
36,990 S
52,031