Donald Trump's former lawyer and personal "fixer" caught a HUGE break on Thursday when a decision was made to release him early from prison due to coronavirus outbreaks in New York prisons and jails. Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison and had been serving his sentence at a federal facility in Otisville which has seen an outbreak of coronavirus - 14 inmates and 7 staff members have tested positive SO FAR.
If he served his full sentence, he would have been eligible for release in November of 2021 due to good behavior, but coronavirus means he will get to serve the rest of his sentence at home. He will have to undergo a 14 day quarantine before his official release, which is for the safety of the public.
He was notified of his release on Thursday. The Bureau of Prisons has been under immense pressure over the last few weeks to review and release those detainted purely because of bail issues, non-violent offenders, those with compromised immunity and anyone close enough to release to warrant an earlier review. In the case of Michael Cohen, early release was totally warranted. He is a non-violent, first time offender serving a sentence for tax fraud, campaign finance violations and lying to Congress. None pose a risk to the public in any way.
CNN reports that the Bureau of Prisons has so far reported that 473 inmates and 279 staff members have tested positive for coronavirus and 18 inmates have died. To try to thin out the prison population, they have released 1,198 inmates to home confinement out of the total prison population of over 143,000.
The big question is this: Will Michael Cohen be able to do interviews from home? Can he write a book? This could have huge negative implications for President Dum Dum. Expect a flurry of tweets decrying Barr and the DOJ for allowing this release.
