Donald Trump's former fixer Michael Cohen walked out of court a free man on Monday morning, after completing a sentence split between house arrest and federal prison for tax evasion and campaign finance violations.
'The official end to the #CohenConfinementCountdown,' he tweeted, with a picture of a court document. 'This is what freedom finally looks like!'
Moments earlier, he left federal court in Manhattan at the end of a three-year sentence imposed after pleading guilty to lying to Congress about the Trump election campaign's connection to Russia, as well as tax evasion and campaign finance violations.
It marked the end of his confinement at an upscale Upper East Side apartment on Park Avenue, split with time at federal prison in Otisville, New York.
Cohen, 55, was Trump's long-time personal attorney, self-described fixer and attack dog for the best part of a decade.
He steered the man he called 'the Boss' through multiple scandals, including alleged affairs with porn star Stormy Daniels and the Playboy model Karen McDougal.
Cohen ended up paying $130,000 to Daniels for her silence, an illegal campaign expense that landed him in jail.
A beaming Michael Cohen leaves Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Court House, Manhattan, on Monday morning after officially completing his sentence
Cohen spent 13 months in federal prison before completing his sentence confined to his smart Upper East Side apartment on Park Avenue, Manhattan, because of the COVID pandemic
Cohen announced his freedom with a tweet, after leaving the federal courthouse in Manhattan
Cohen paid $130,000 to Stephanie Clifford, whose stage name is Stormy Daniels, for her silence ahead of the 2016 election, which was later ruled to be an illegal campaign expense
'I am done Sunday night,' Cohen told CBS on its America: Changed Forever podcast. 'This has not been a short stint, even in home confinement for me. I will now have served my time.'
He gained national notoriety after testifying before Congress in 2019 about the possible collusion between former President Trump and Russia and later publishing a best-selling memoir, Disloyal, about his time working for Trump.
The then president was not amused.
Trump labeled Cohen a 'rat' for cooperating with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
Cohen, who lives
