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Everyone’s talking about ‘Individual 1’ after Michael Cohen’s guilty plea

There were a lot of jokes.

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Andrew Wyrich

Internet Culture

Posted on Nov 29, 2018   Updated on May 21, 2021, 12:33 am CDT

President Donald Trump‘s long-time lawyer Michael Cohen has agreed to plead guilty as part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller‘s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Cohen pled guilty on Thursday for lying to Congress as part of its investigation. However, within Cohen’s plea agreement, the criminal information document repeatedly mentions “Individual 1,” who—by using very basic context clues—is almost assuredly now-President Trump.

“Individual 1” is, as the document points out, who Cohen worked for at a Manhattan-based real estate company. The document also says that Cohen worked on behalf of “Individual 1” in trying to secure a real-estate project in Russia during 2016 (and lying about it to Congress.)

It also references “Individual 1” in the context of winning the nomination ahead of the 2016 election.

In the wake of the plea agreement, Trump called Cohen a “weak person” and accused him of lying about it to get a better sentence. Cohen is now expected to cooperate with Mueller’s probe. The president and his former lawyer have had a falling out in recent months.

With “Individual 1” appearing so frequently, and obviously being Trump, Twitter began mockingly referring to the president by the new moniker on Thursday afternoon.

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*First Published: Nov 29, 2018, 11:41 am CST

Andrew Wyrich

Andrew Wyrich is the newsletter editor at the Daily Dot. He previously served as the deputy tech editor. Andrew has written for USA Today, NorthJersey.com, and other newspapers and websites. His work has been recognized by the Society of the Silurians, Investigative Reporters & Editors (IRE), and the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ).

Andrew Wyrich