Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen sentenced to three years in prison

Donald Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen has been sentenced to three years in prison.

He had pleaded guilty to charges including breaking campaign finance laws, lying to Congress and tax fraud.

The judge said said Cohen deserved a harsh punishment for his crimes, one of which was arranging illicit payments to silence women who posed a risk to Trump's presidential campaign.

US District Judge William H Pauley III rejected arguments by Cohen's lawyers that he should be spared jail time because he cooperated in multiple federal investigations involving Trump.

Cohen said his "blind loyalty" to Trump made him feel a duty to "cover up" the president's "dirty deeds".

Cohen's crimes included evading $1.4 million in taxes, and misleading Congress about his talks with Russians about a Trump skyscraper project in Moscow.

Trump had called for a tough sentence for Cohen, whom he labelled a liar.

The judge said Cohen's cooperation with prosecutors "does not wipe the slate clean" of his crimes.

Mr Pauley said that Cohen "appears to have lost his moral compass" and that the lawyer "should have known better" than to dodge taxes, lie to Congress and violate campaign finance laws.

Cohen will "state publicly all he knows" about Mr Trump after special counsel Robert Mueller completes his investigation, an advisor to the former lawyer said after the sentencing.

Lanny Davis said that Cohen "continues to tell the truth about Donald Trump's misconduct over the years".

Davis, who was previously a lawyer for Cohen, said he will assist him in testifying before any Congressional committee "interested in the search for truth and the difference between facts and lies".

Cohen has been ordered to hand himself in on March 6 to start his sentence.