Michael Cohen denied planned prison release day after getting warning about ‘tell-all’ book
FRI, MAY 1 20202:51 PM EDT UPDATED MOMENTS AGO
Michael Cohen, the former personal lawyer and fixer for President Donald Trump, was denied a promised early release from prison Friday, a day after an attorney from the Trump Organization sent him a threatening letter warning against him publishing a reported “tell-all” book before the 2020 election.
White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany said “absolutely not” when asked at a press conference whether the White House directly or indirectly interfered in the decision to delay Cohen’s planned early released from a federal prison in New York state.
Cohen was due to be set free into home confinement Friday from the facility in Otisville because of concerns about the coronavirus spreading among inmates and guards.
He has completed a 14-day quarantine required for that release.
But the 53-year-old ex-lawyer, who was in the midst of serving a three-year criminal sentence, was told he would not be going home on Friday to his family in Manhattan, according to people familiar with the situation.
It is not clear if Cohen’s release, which was originally approved by the federal Bureau of Prisons, has been permanently rescinded.
Cohen’s original release date, which is possibly now his current release date, was in November 2021.
His defense lawyer, Roger Adler, and the BOP did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
On Thursday, Charles Harder, a lawyer for the Trump Organization, sent Cohen a letter warning him that he would be at legal risk if he wrote a book about his time working for Trump, according to several people.
The letter came 11 days after The Daily Beast reported that Cohen had been “writing an explosive tell-all book about his stint” as Trump’s lawyer “and plans on releasing it before the election.”
“The actor and comedian Tom Arnold, who has been in regular contact with Cohen while he has been in prison, says Cohen told him the book would pull no punches,” the Daily Beast reported.
Arnold told the news site, It’s like ‘Jaws’—you don’t see Jaws very much, but you hear the music, and for Trump he knows Michael is coming and Trump better hear the ‘Jaws’ music.”
“He told me he’s been writing a book and he’s pissed. He told me he is going to spill the beans. What has he got to lose now?” Arnold said, according to the Daily Beast.
http://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/01/trump-lawyer-michael-cohen-denied-prison-release.html
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