By Mark Hosenball
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Michael Cohen, the former personal lawyer to President Donald Trump, will not be released from prison this week to serve the remainder of his term in home confinement, a source familiar with the matter said on Friday.
Reuters and other media reported last month that Cohen was set to be freed from a minimum-security camp at Otisville, New York on May 1. He had pressed to be released early due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has hammered New York and surfaced in prisons nationwide.
ABC News reported on Friday that Cohen’s anticipated release had been “rescinded.”
The source said it was unclear now whether Cohen would be released early. The source did not know the reason for the change of plans.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s office declined to comment.
Cohen’s lawyer, Roger Adler, did not respond to a request for comment on Friday. Earlier in the week he told Reuters he “remained hopeful” that Cohen would be released, but that only BOP could make that decision.
Cohen, who has served less than one year of a three-year sentence, was convicted of directing hush money payments to pornographic film star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who claimed they had affairs with Trump. The president has denied having the encounters.
(Reporting By Mark Hosenball in Washington; Additional reporting by Aram Roston; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Daniel Wallis)
