WASHINGTON.- Michael Cohen the former lawyer of the US President Donald Trump was sentenced today. Cohen delivered a fierce attack on his ex-boss as he was sentenced to three years in prison for multiple crimes including paying "hush money" to two women who claimed to have had affairs with Trump. "It was my duty to cover up his dirty deeds," Cohen said as he pleaded for leniency before US District Judge William H. Pauley III.

Cohen, 52, Trump's longtime "fixer," said he was taking responsibility for his personal crimes and "those implicating the President of the United States of America."

Cohen's lawyers had asked for no jail time after he admitted tax evasion, making false statements to a financial institution, illegal campaign contributions and making false statements to Congress.

According to judge Pauley, Cohen as a lawyer "should have known better" and sentenced him to three years in federal prison, ordering him to surrender to custody by March 6.

"Each of these crimes standing alone warrant considerable punishment," Pauley said, adding that Cohen was "motivated by personal greed and ambition."

Cohen addressed the court, saying: "Today is the day that I am getting my freedom back," he said.

"I have been living in a personal and mental incarceration ever since the day that I accepted the offer to work for a real estate mogul whose business acumen that I deeply admired," he said.

Cohen referenced a tweet from Trump calling him "weak," saying his "weakness was a blind loyalty to Donald Trump."

Cohen pleaded guilty to charges brought by federal prosecutors in New York and by the office of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, the former FBI director who is looking into Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether any members of Trump's campaign colluded with Moscow