A July 2019 internal memo from the Southern District of New York documenting a call where Michael Cohen's attorneys claimed Cohen 'has heard Trump say things about Epstein' and requested a Rule 35 motion for sentence reduction.

This is a prosecutor's note to file from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York dated July 17, 2019. It documents a phone call from Michael Cohen's defense attorneys, Mike Monico and Barry Spevack, who were seeking a Rule 35 motion—a federal procedure that allows for sentence reduction when a defendant provides substantial assistance to the government. The attorneys indicated that Cohen had information about statements Trump made regarding Jeffrey Epstein, though they declined to provide specifics. The prosecutor noted skepticism, referencing a previous April 2019 conversation where they had already declined to pursue such a motion and mentioned concerns about Cohen's credibility.

Key Highlights

• •Cohen's attorneys claimed he 'has heard Trump say things about Epstein' but refused to elaborate
• •SDNY prosecutors had already rejected a Rule 35 motion request in April 2019
• •Prosecutors questioned what had changed and raised concerns about Cohen's credibility
• •Document dated July 17, 2019—one week after Epstein's arrest on July 6, 2019

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