President Donald Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen is supposed to be an expert on the law.
But for some reason, he just can’t keep himself out of prison.
Cohen was returned to federal prison yesterday, weeks after his early release to serve the remainder of his sentence at home because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) said Cohen had “refused the conditions of his home confinement and as a result, has been returned to a BOP facility.”
His return to prison comes days after the New York Post published photos of him and his wife enjoying an outdoor meal with friends at a restaurant near his Manhattan home.
Cohen, who pleaded guilty to tax evasion, campaign finance fraud and lying to Congress, had been released May 21 on furlough as part of an attempt to slow the spread of the virus in federal prisons.
He began serving his sentence in May 2019 and had been scheduled to remain in prison until November 2021.
Cohen was once one of Trump’s closest advisors but became a loud critic after pleading guilty.
A federal judge had denied Cohen’s attempt for an early release to home confinement after serving 10 months in prison and said in a May ruling that it “appears to be just another effort to inject himself into the news cycle.”
But the Bureau of Prisons can move prisoners to home confinement without a judicial order.
Prison advocates and congressional leaders had pressed the Justice Department to release at-risk inmates, arguing that the public health guidance to stay 6 feet away from other people is nearly impossible behind bars.
But home confinement means home confinement. And that’s a piece of law that Cohen seems to have forgotten.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.