Michael Cohen's Big 2024 Plans

Former Trump fixer Michael Cohen has big plans for 2024, including a potential pardon from President Joe Biden.

While Cohen has expressed his plans to seek a pardon from Biden since September, he told Newsweek on Tuesday that he plans to personally file the hard copy of his pardon application in early January—a request that would "restore various rights lost as a result of the pardoned offense," according to the Department of Justice.

Cohen, who was sentenced in 2018 to three years in prison for tax evasion, making false statements and campaign finance violations, has garnered significant support for a possible pardon from Biden. More than 10,000 of his supporters have sent letters to the White House requesting his pardon. He's also received support from members of Congress and constitutional scholars.

"The pardon campaign, started with support letters by [Congressman] Jaime Raskin, [Congressman] Steve Cohen, [former U.S.] Ambassador Norm Eisen, [former White House Counsel] John Dean, [former Watergate prosecutor] Nick Akerman and [former FBI Special Agent] Asha Rangappa," Cohen told Newsweek.

He said, "It continued on my X (formerly Twitter) account, Threads as well as on my top-rated Political Beatdown YouTube podcast with Ben Meiselas. Based on the audience tally from these platforms, the number [of more than 10,000 pardon requests] was derived."

Although there is a five-year waiting period before someone can apply for a pardon from the Department of Justice, the president can make clemency decisions without receiving a recommendation from the agency.

Last week, Cohen, who completed his sentence in 2021, promised on X that once he was pardoned by Biden, "The true story will be revealed of Trump's weaponization of the DOJ against his critics."

Cohen had not been among the group that former President Donald Trump pardoned before he left office. Trump, who used his clemency power less often than nearly every other modern president, granted clemency to many within his innermost circle during the final weeks of his presidency, including to former advisers Michael Flynn, Roger Stone, Paul Manafort, Charles Kushner and Steve Bannon.

Cohen had criticized the flurry of last-minute pardons from Trump, saying at the time that those acts of clemency showed "how broken the whole criminal justice system is." Stone and Manafort had been facing charges from the Mueller investigation into Russian interference in U.S. elections, in which they did not cooperate. Cohen cooperated with that probe amid his charges.

"Despite me and family being threatened by @POTUS @realDonald Trump, I still cooperated with a dozen federal/state agencies, Mueller, Congress... and all these criminals receive #pardons. This is wrong!" Cohen tweeted on December 24, 2020.

Earlier this year, Trump accused Cohen of asking him for a presidential pardon on "three separate occasions," which he refused each time. Cohen has continuously denied making such a request and again rebuffed Trump's allegations to Newsweek on Tuesday.

Cohen's supporters have shared screenshots of their pardon correspondences to Biden over social media, in which they praised Cohen for providing the "nation a great service" by "exposing" Trump.

"Michael Cohen has proven in court that he was jailed as a political prisoner," one person wrote to Biden. "Everything he did was for the former president. He has done his time, and righted his wrongs. I believe Michael Cohen should get a full pardon. A full pardon is the right thing to do to right the wrongs done to Michael."

"I feel the information he has provided in exposing the fraud Donald Trump has come at a great price," another said. "He told the truth when he could, as many others have kept quiet. Going to prison, losing his license, his ability to provide for his family, has been enough."

Update 12/26/23, 2:42 p.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.