JOY REID: And I have another question that goes to both of you because I just quickly googled, in 2018, when the Southern District of New York, when the Southern District indicted Michael Cohen, for the same conduct plus some tax violations, it was the same case, which is why this case made sense as an easily convictable case, because there had been a nonprosecution agreement for David Pecker's organization, AMI, on the same facts, and Michael Cohen was convicted on the same facts for the same conduct. He got three years in prison. He was also a nonviolent first offender. He had committed no previous crimes. He wasn’t like a bank robber before that, he had not been a felon before. He was a first offender, and Donald Trump's Justice Department, and I have to say that again, Donald Trump's Justice Department prosecuted Michael Cohen and gave him a three-year sentence plus a $50,000 fine. For the same conduct. Now, does the -- I know it's a state case, I know it's separate, but it is the same conduct.
ANDREW WEISSMANN: So- two points.
REID: Is it taken into account that a person who was a co-conspirator got three years?
WEISSMANN: So I'm going to add even another fact to make your point. One of the reasons he got three years and not a higher sentence is that Michael Cohen cooperated with the Mueller investigation.
REID: Yes. He pleaded guilty.
WEISSMANN: He pled- he pled guilty, he didn't go to trial. That's a benefit in terms of sentencing. You get a lower sentence just for doing that. But he also cooperated. I know that he- the Southern District says he didn't cooperate with that case, but the Mueller case, he got a cooperation agreement and he was given that letter. So the one quibble would be that some of what -- some of what sort of was the result of that sentence was other conduct. So that that was something that the judge could consider. But there is no question that one of the arguments is, you should come to court and make it, is one of the arguments that the D.A. will make is comparability. The underling is gone to jail. This is something we have seen in the January 6th cases. It's why I always thought Judge Chutkan, if she has- eventually has the opportunity, would send Donald Trump if he were convicted there to jail, because it's so anathema to the criminal justice system that an underling would go to jail but the boss would not.
ARI MELBER: So that was the big question that D.A. Bragg faced, and that’s how he answered it.