Ex-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen released from US prison amid COVID-19 pandemic
CGTN
Michael Cohen, the former personal lawyer for U.S. President Donald Trump arrives at his Manhattan apartment after being released from federal prison to serve the remainder of his sentence under home confinement in New York City, New York U.S., May 21, 2020. /Reuters

Michael Cohen, the former personal lawyer for U.S. President Donald Trump arrives at his Manhattan apartment after being released from federal prison to serve the remainder of his sentence under home confinement in New York City, New York U.S., May 21, 2020. /Reuters

A former personal lawyer to President Donald Trump was released from a federal prison on Thursday to serve the remainder of his three-year sentence at home.

Michael Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison in December 2018 for crimes that included arranging payments during the 2016 election to silence women who claimed affairs with Trump. The President's onetime "fixer" at the time attributed his offenses to "my duty to cover up his dirty deeds."

The 53-year-old was released as part of an ongoing move to decongest correctional facilities amid the COVID-19 pandemic. He arrived at his Manhattan apartment building at around 10:40 a.m. after his release from FCI Otisville in New York.

He began serving his sentence last May and had been scheduled to remain in prison until November 2021.

A federal judge had denied Cohen's attempt for an early release to home confinement after serving 10 months in prison and said in a ruling earlier this month that it "appears to be just another effort to inject himself into the news cycle." But the Bureau of Prisons can move prisoners to home confinement without a judicial order.

The Bureau of Prisons said last week that more than 2,400 inmates had been moved to home confinement since Barr first issued his memo on home confinement in late March, and 1,200 others had been approved and were expected to be released in the coming weeks.

Source(s): AP