A federal judge on Wednesday denied Michael Cohen’s attempt to end his supervised release early after finding Donald Trump’s former attorney likely “committed perjury” in past testimony.
Cohen asked to lift his supervised release, which ends in November, based on his testimony in the New York attorney general’s civil fraud case against Trump. His attorney at the time said Cohen’s testimony had “been widely lauded and publicized” and that he showed remorse by testifying. Cohen has tried three prior times to lift the supervision and told the judge now there had been a “substantial change in circumstances.”
US District Judge Jesse Furman agreed there was a change, but not one that helped Cohen.
“In short, there was ‘a substantial change in circumstances’ between Cohen’s third failed application and this, his fourth. But that change — his October 2023 testimony, which was either perjurious or confirms that he committed perjury before this Court — makes plain that Cohen should be required to serve out the remainder of his supervised release term,” the judge wrote.
Last fall, Cohen testified that he lied to Judge William Pauley when he pleaded guilty in 2018 to tax evasion, claiming he had not evaded taxes.
“It gives rise to two possibilities: one, Cohen committed perjury when he pleaded guilty before Judge Pauley or, two, Cohen committed perjury in his October 2023 testimony,” Furman wrote.
“At a minimum, Cohen’s ongoing and escalating efforts to walk away from his prior acceptance of responsibility for his crimes are manifest evidence of the ongoing need for specific deterrence,” the judge explained in denying Cohen’s request to supervise the release.
In a statement, Cohen’s attorney E. Danya Perry took exception to…
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