Global Courant
NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney and star witness against him in his own Criminal prosecution by the state of New York lost his bid for parole on Friday after serving a three-year sentence after federal prosecutors said he is lying again.
Manhattan U.S. District Judge Jesse M. Furman cited Michael Cohen’s recent remarks in a book and television appearance as grounds for concluding that early release from court supervision would not guarantee rehabilitation and deterrence from future crimes.
The credibility of Cohen — who served as Trump’s personal attorney from his inauguration in early 2017 until his arrest in 2018 — will come under scrutiny if a jury ever hears the state criminal case brought against Trump over payments Cohen says he made on behalf of Trump has done to silence two women who claimed they had affairs with Trump before the Republican became president.
In court documents, federal prosecutors highlighted Cohen’s recent public remarks arguing against early release from probation rules that, among other things, restrict his travel, subject him to visits and scrutiny by a probation officer, and prohibit him from owning firearms.
Prosecutors say Cohen falsely wrote in a book that he did not engage in tax fraud, that the allegations were “all 100 percent inaccurate,” and that he was “threatened” to plead guilty by prosecutors. They noted that during his hearings he admitted the crimes under oath and said he was not threatened or forced to plead guilty. They said he also lied in a television interview in March.
Attorney David M. Schwartz, in his request for Cohen’s early release from judicial oversight, asked that his client “provide clear evidence” that he has been rehabilitated after being a model prison inmate and after “cooperating substantially with all government agencies.” Schwartz did not return a request for comment on Friday.
2018, Cohen pleaded guilty to multiple charges, admitted to lying to Congress, violating campaign finance laws through excessive political contributions, lying to multiple banks to obtain funding, and evading income taxes by failing to report more than $4 million in income. He was sentenced to three years in prison, though he served almost two-thirds home, released after the COVID-19 outbreak overwhelmed the country’s prisons.
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Despite Cohen’s claims that he has repeatedly assisted state and federal authorities in investigations and deserves credit for his cooperation, Manhattan federal prosecutors have consistently said his lies undermine his attempts at cooperation, as they did again by opposing his request to be spared of the year. and half left over from his probationary period.
Federal prosecutors, knowing they would have to rely on Cohen as a key witness, chose not to prosecute Trump in connection with payouts to porn star Stormy Daniels and a Playboy centerfold, Karen McDougal, to buy their silence during Trump’s successful 2016 search for the White House. Trump has denied the matters.
Prosecutors prosecuted the case, relying on Cohen’s testimony before a Manhattan grand jury filed an indictment accusing Trump of 34 crimes. Trump, the first ex-president to face criminal charges, pleaded not guilty to the charge in early April.
