Former federal prosecutor John Lauro gave some insight into the Michael Cohen case on Tuesday, explaining to CNN’s Brooke Baldwin the implications of the fact that there is no cooperation agreement in place.
Lauro said that he was surprised there was no cooperation agreement in place because it removed some of the leverage Mueller would have to use Cohen as a source of information.
He explained, “I try cases in this courtroom. It’s shocking to me that there’s not a cooperation agreement in place because, for Mueller, Cohen is the gold standard. He wanted Cohen’s cooperation and the fact that there’s not a cooperation agreement apparently as part of this plea deal is very surprising.”
But then Lauro delved into the possible reasons that there might not be a cooperation agreement, and things began to take shape. “It can only mean one of two things,” he said. “Either he didn’t have something to give the prosecutor, or they weren’t convinced that he was completely honest with them.”
The bottom line, according to Lauro: “It’s unusual not to have a cooperation agreement.”
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