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A26 U.S. NEWS
Friday 24 July 2020
Judge orders Michael Cohen to be released from prison

By LARRY NEUMEISTER tion, where he worked for a
Associated Press decade, was claiming he
NEW YORK (AP) — A judge was barred from publish-
on Thursday ordered the ing his book by a non-dis-
release of President Don- closure agreement. Cohen
ald Trump's former personal disputes that.
lawyer from prison, saying Cohen has been in isolation
the government retaliated at an Otisville, New York,
against him for planning to prison camp, quarantined
release a book critical of while prison authorities en-
Trump before November's sure he does not have the
election. coronavirus.
Michael Cohen's First Prosecutors declined
Amendment rights were through a spokesperson to
violated when he was or- comment on Hellerstein's
dered back to prison on ruling. Cohen's attorney,
July 9 after probation au- Danya Perry, said in a state-
thorities said he refused to ment that Hellerstein's order
sign a form banning him was "a victory for the First
from publishing the book or Amendment" and showed
communicating publicly in that the government can-
other manners, U.S. District not block a book critical
Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein In this May 21, 2020 file photo, Michael Cohen arrives at his Manhattan apartment in New York of the president as a con-
said during a telephone after being furloughed from prison because of concerns over the coronavirus. dition of release to home
conference. Associated Press confinement.
Hellerstein ordered Michael "This principle transcends
Cohen released from pris- In ruling, Hellerstein said he taliatory action is patently media. Still, it said Cohen's politics and we are grati-
on to home confinement made the "finding that the false." refusal to agree to those fied that the rule of law pre-
by 2 p.m. on Friday. purpose of transferring Mr. It said the terms of his home conditions or his intent to vails," she said.
"How can I take any other Cohen from furlough and confinement were deter- publish a book played "no Cohen was initially re-
inference than that it's re- home confinement to jail mined by the U.S. Proba- role whatsoever" in his re- leased in May along with
taliatory?" Hellerstein asked is retaliatory." He added: tion Office, which is run by turn to prison. other prisoners as authori-
prosecutors, who insisted "And it's retaliatory for his the courts, rather than the In a written declaration, ties tried to slow the spread
in court papers and again desire to exercise his First bureau. Cohen said his book "will of the COVID-19 in federal
Thursday that Probation Amendment rights to pub- "During this process, Mr. provide graphic and un- prisons.
Department officers did lish the book." Cohen refused to agree to flattering details about the He was one year into a
not know about the book Cohen, 53, sued federal the terms of the program, President's behavior be- three-year prison sentence
when they wrote a provi- prison officials and Attor- specifically electronic hind closed doors," includ- after pleading guilty to
sion of home confinement ney General William Barr monitoring. In addition, he ing a description of anti- campaign finance charg-
that severely restricted Co- on Monday, saying he was was argumentative, was Semitic and "virulently rac- es and lying to Congress,
hen's public communica- ordered back to prison attempting to dictate the ist remarks" against Black among other crimes.
tions. because he was writing a conditions of his monitor- leaders including President Campaign finance charg-
"I've never seen such a book: "Disloyal: The True ing, including conditions re- Barack Obama and Nelson es stemmed from his ef-
clause in 21 years of be- Story of Michael Cohen, lating to self-employment, Mandela, South Africa's first forts to arrange payouts
ing a judge and sentenc- Former Personal Attorney to access to media, use of Black president. during the 2016 presiden-
ing people and looking President Donald J. Trump." social media and other ac- He said he worked openly tial race to keep the porn
at terms of supervised re- The Bureau of Prisons is- countability measures," the on his manuscript until May actress Stormy Daniels and
lease," the judge said. "Why sued a spirited defense of statement said. at Otisville's prison library model Karen McDougal
would the Bureau of Prisons its intentions after the ruling The Bureau of Prisons also and discussed his book with from making public claims
ask for something like this ... Thursday, calling any as- said it was not uncommon prison officials. He said he of extramarital affairs with
unless there was a retalia- sertion that the reimprison- for it to place restrictions on was told in April that a law- Trump. Trump has denied
tory purpose?" ment of Cohen "was a re- inmates' contact with the yer for the Trump Organiza- the affairs.q

Why are coins hard to find during the pandemic?

seen a significant decline ing those coins at places Sales at restaurants, bars
of coins in circulation be- like laundromats, banks, and gas stations dropped
cause people are not restaurants, or shops be- more than 40% in April
spending them as regu- cause the businesses are compared with a year ago.
larly at businesses, many of closed, or people are not Sales have since picked up,
which are either temporar- visiting them as often as but some businesses — like
ily closed or not accepting they were before the pan- bars — remain shuttered in
cash. demic. certain states, while others
Coins are still plentiful. In "The typical places where can only operate at a lim-
April, the U.S. Treasury esti- coin enters our society have ited capacity.
mated more than $47.8 bil- slowed or even stopped The Federal Reserve has
lion were in the market, up the normal circulation of encouraged banks to or-
AP Illustration/Peter Hamlin by more than a billion dol- coin," said the Federal Re- der only the coins they
lars compared to last year. serve, which manages coin need and to make depos-
By The Associated Press during the pandemic? But in recent months, peo- inventory, in a June state- iting coins easy for custom-
Why are coins hard to find The Federal Reserve has ple have not been spend- ment. ers. q