Judge rejects Michael Cohen’s bid for early court supervision release amid perjury claims

A federal judge has indicated that former Trump fixer Michael Cohen may have committed perjury.

In a written order rejecting Cohen’s request for early release from the Manhattan court, Judge Jesse Furman appeared to doubt that Cohen had been telling the truth ahead of former President Donald Trump’s criminal trial in the hush money case in New York.

Cohen was previously sentenced to three years in prison for tax evasion, lying to Congress and banks, and campaign finance violations.

Judge Furman pointed to Cohen’s testimony at Mr Trump’s civil fraud trial in October last year. While Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018, he has argued that he didn’t commit tax evasion. When he was asked if he had lied to the judge in that case, the late William Pauley III, Cohen said he had.

“Cohen repeatedly and unambiguously testified at the state court trial that he was not guilty of tax evasion and that he had lied under oath,” Judge Furman said in his written order, adding that it means that there are two possibilities: “One, Cohen committed perjury when he pleaded guilty before Judge Pauley or, two, Cohen committed perjury in his October 2023 testimony.”

“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,” Judge Furman added in his order. He decided not to release Cohen from court supervision set to come to a close later this year.

Cohen issued a statement from his lawyer to the press, in which attorney Danya Perry said Judge Furman’s conclusion was “inaccurate” on the facts and “incorrect” on the law.

“Judge Furman did not have a front seat to the testimony at the lengthy trial,” the attorney