Michael Cohen officially released from prison sentence

Former President Trump’s onetime personal attorney Michael Cohen was officially released from his three-year prison sentence on Monday, CNN reported. 

Cohen, 55, told reporters outside the New York federal courthouse that he received three years of supervised release and plans to cooperate with law enforcement to help ensure others “are held responsible for their dirty deeds.” 

“My release today in no way negates the actions I took at the direction of and for the benefit of Donald J. Trump,” Cohen told the media on Monday. “But it also does not negate the behavior of the Justice Department, Bill Barr, the Southern District of New York Prosecutors, Judge William H. Pauley the third, or Donald himself, in my initial incarceration and prosecution.”

“I will continue to provide information, testimony, documents and my full cooperation on all ongoing investigations to ensure that others are held responsible for their dirty deeds and that no one is ever believed to be above the law,” Cohen added.  

Cohen pleaded guilty to nine federal crimes including tax fraud, lying to Congress and paying off two women who threatened to go public with their past alleged affairs with Trump just before the 2016 presidential election. 

Cohen remained loyal to Trump until the federal authorities raided his home, office and hotel room at the Regency in April 2018.

Cohen was released from prison in May 2020 due to COVID-19 concerns, and has served out most of the rest of his sentence in home confinement at his Park Avenue apartment. He was briefly taken back into custody after objecting to his living conditions. 

Cohen sued former Attorney General William Barr in July 2020, alleging that the Justice Department retaliated against him due to his plans to write a tell-all book about Trump. A federal judge agreed and returned him to home confinement. 

Cohen is planning to publish a second book about Trump and continues to host his podcast, called Mea Culpa. 

“I look forward to rebuilding my life, one day, one client at a time,” Cohen told Bloomberg in a recent interview. “This time I’m going to be more selective about who I work with.”