President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen asks to finish his three-year prison sentence at home over fears he might catch the coronavirus
- Michael Cohen, U.S. President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer and fixer, ‘risks catching coronavirus while serving his three-year prison sentence’
- Cohen’s attorney is asking for his client to serve the rest of his sentence at home
- Cohen’s lawyer Roger Adler wrote to Manhattan US District Judge William Pauley
- Adler accused the Federal Bureau of Prisons of being ‘demonstrably incapable’ of safeguarding inmates who live in close quarters and face an ‘enhanced risk’
- Cohen pleaded guilty in August 2018 to campaign finance and other crimes
- Coronavirus symptoms: what are they and should you see a doctor?
Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer and fixer, risks catching coronavirus while serving his three-year prison sentence, justifying his release into home confinement, Cohen’s attorney said on Tuesday.
In a letter to U.S. District Judge William Pauley in Manhattan, Cohen’s lawyer Roger Adler accused the Federal Bureau of Prisons of being ‘demonstrably incapable’ of safeguarding inmates who live in close quarters and face an ‘enhanced risk’ of catching coronavirus.
Adler urged Pauley ‘to consider my client’s exposure to the coronavirus,’ and act ‘thoughtfully and decisively’ given the ‘absence of Presidential leadership’ in protecting federal prisoners from COVID-19.
Michael Cohen, U.S. President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer and fixer, risks catching coronavirus while serving his three-year prison sentence, according to his lawyer
A spokesman for U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman in Manhattan declined to comment.
Cohen, 53, has lived since last May at a minimum-security camp in Otisville, New York, which like all federal prisons has suspended visits to help protect inmates from coronavirus.
He pleaded guilty in August 2018 to campaign finance and other crimes, including directing hush money before the 2016 election to two women who claimed to have had sexual encounters with Trump, which the president has denied.
Cohen’s attorney is asking for his client to serve the rest of his sentence at home. File photo from February 2019
Cohen asked Pauley last December 11 to shorten his sentence to a year and a day or allow home confinement, citing his cooperation with former Special Counsel Robert Mueller and other investigators concerning Trump.
Mueller had examined Russian interference in the 2016 election.
In a December 19 letter opposing Cohen’s release, Acting U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said Cohen was not a ‘credible witness,’ citing statements in which she said he minimized his acceptance of responsibility for conduct underlying his guilty plea.
