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Michael Cohen, Ex-Trump Lawyer, To Be Released Early From Prison Amid Pandemic

Michael Cohen on the day he reported to federal prison last May. The pandemic means President Trump's former lawyer and fixer will be permitted to move to home confinement.
Kevin Hagen
/
AP
Michael Cohen on the day he reported to federal prison last May. The pandemic means President Trump's former lawyer and fixer will be permitted to move to home confinement.

President Trump's former lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, is to be released early from federal prison and moved to home confinement because of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to a range of financial and campaign finance crimes, as well as lying to Congress.

He is currently serving a three-year sentence at the federal correctional institution in Otisville, N.Y.

Cohen will be released to home confinement for the remainder of his sentence, according to the person with knowledge of the matter. Cohen is expected to first have to be quarantined for 14 days before going home.

A Justice Department official confirmed that Cohen is to be released to home confinement.

The Bureau of Prisons declined to comment on Cohen's status. It only said that as of Friday morning, he was still at Otisville.

But the agency has been working at the direction of Attorney General William Barr to move at-risk inmates to home confinement to try to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus in the bureau's 122 facilities nationwide.

Despite a range of steps taken by the bureau, the coronavirus has continued to spread throughout the federal prison system. So far, 473 inmates and 279 staff members have tested positive.

Otisville is among the facilities affected by the outbreak. The agency says 14 inmates and seven staff members there have confirmed cases of COVID-19.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Ryan Lucas covers the Justice Department for NPR.

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.

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