President Donald Trump's ex-lawyer Michael Cohen is resigned to "doing the time" for his guilty plea to tax and bank fraud and campaign finance violations — all to protect his family, CNN reported Wednesday.
According to CNN, over the past few months, Cohen's outlook on his legal woes has shifted.
"He's very resigned to doing the time; he's resigned to the fact that he's going to go to jail for some time," an unnamed source told CNN, adding Cohen does not believe he will get a presidential pardon.
Earlier this year, however, Cohen "was very — 'I'm going to fight this to the death.' Very defiant," the unnamed friend told CNN. "But I think over a period of time, you get to realize the reality of this. What are you fighting for? And who are you fighting for?"
A second friend, who was not identified, said once Cohen concluded he had no choice but to plead guilty, he became focused on protecting his wife and family, telling CNN: "I don't think it was such a great deal, but he had to take it because there could have been liability on the part of his wife."
Fighting the criminal charges would have also meant huge legal bills, that friend told the news outlet, saying: "At the end of the day, he did what was best for his family."
According to CNN, prosecutors in New York had threatened Cohen with numerous more counts that could have also implicated his wife, and also raised the possibility of his assets being seized.
Cohen's sentencing hearing is set for Dec. 12.
"He's not going into hiding," the first Cohen friend told CNN. "He's not avoiding anything. It's business as usual. . . . In New York, everything's in the public eye. He wants to believe he's past this and turning a corner."
"You know who Michael took a bullet for? His family," that friend added about a man who once said he would "take a bullet" for Trump.