Federal prosecutors have asked a judge to sentence Michael Cohen, US President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer, to a “substantial” prison term for paying an adult film star hush money on Mr Trump’s behalf and evading taxes.

Cohen pleaded guilty to the tax and fraud claims and making hush-money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels in August in New York.

The man known as Mr Trump’s former fixer and right hand man has been cooperating with US Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into possible collusion between Russia and Trump’s 2016 election campaign.

He also pleaded guilty to lying to Congress in a separate case handled by Mr Mueller.

In a separate filing, Mr Mueller’s office said on Saturday (Friday local time) that it would not take a position on Cohen’s sentencing, scheduled for next Wednesday.

It noted that Cohen cooperated with its probe but described his lies to Congress about his efforts to build a Trump skyscraper in Moscow as “deliberate and premeditated”.

Mr Mueller said Cohen continued to work on the Moscow project and discuss it with Mr Trump well into the 2016 presidential campaign.

Mr Mueller said Cohen’s untruthfulness about the project “was material” to its ongoing investigations “particularly because it occurred at a time of sustained efforts by the Russian government to interfere with the US presidential election.”

The federal prosecutors in the New York case described Cohen in their filing as being motivated by “personal greed” and said he “repeatedly used his power and influence for deceptive ends” in pressing the judge to reject Cohen’s request he be spared prison.

They said Cohen should receive some credit for his cooperation with Mr Mueller, but noted that he had not entered into a cooperation agreement with their office.

They said his sentence should reflect a “modest” reduction from the four to five years they said federal guidelines would suggest.

Cohen is scheduled to be sentenced next Wednesday by US District Judge William Pauley in Manhattan on all of the charges to which he pleaded guilty, including his admission of lying to Congress which was handled by Mueller’s office.

Cohen’s lawyers have asked that he receive no jail time, saying he has cooperated extensively with Mr Mueller and New York prosecutors and has taken responsibility for his actions.

Mr Mueller is also scheduled on Saturday (Friday local time) to submit details about alleged lies by Mr Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, to investigators, in a separate case in a federal court in Washington.

Mueller accused Manafort last month of breaching a plea bargain agreement by lying to his prosecutors.

Manafort, who maintains he has been truthful with Mueller, managed Mr Trump’s campaign for three months in 2016.

The Mueller probe has infuriated Mr Trump, who has regularly issued tweets criticising the special counsel and his team.

The president has denied any collusion between his campaign and Russia, and accuses Mr Mueller’s prosecutors of pressuring his former aides to lie about him, his election campaign and his business dealings.

Russia has denied meddling in the 2016 US election.

The president has called Cohen a liar and “weak person”.

In new tweets on Saturday (Friday local time), Mr Trump again questioned prosecutors and accused federal investigators and senior officials of having conflicts of interest, without offering any evidence.

We will be doing a major Counter Report to the Mueller Report. This should never again be allowed to happen to a future President of the United States!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 7, 2018

Mr Trump said his lawyer, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, would release a response to the report that Mueller is expected to finalise in the coming months.

“We will be doing a major Counter Report to the Mueller Report,” Mr Trump tweeted.

Representatives for the US Justice Department and Mr Mueller’s office declined to comment on Mr Trump’s tweets.

-RAW