The New York Times reported Thursday that a federal judge has ordered that Michael D. Cohen “be released into home confinement and said he should be allowed to finish writing a book that has been billed as a “graphic” tell-all memoir about Mr. Cohen’s former boss, President Trump.”
According to The Times, District Court Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein found that prisons officials had acted against Mr. Cohen because of his desire to write the book when they returned him to prison this month after he had been released on a medical furlough.
“I make the finding that the purpose of transferring Mr. Cohen from furlough and home confinement to jail is retaliatory,” the judge said. “And it’s retaliation because of his desire to exercise his first amendment rights to publish a book and to discuss anything about the book or anything else he wants on social media and with others.”
Michael Cohen, the president’s former lawyer and fixer, sued U.S. officials on Monday night, claiming federal officials sent him back into custody to prevent him from completing the book. In court papers, he said the book would paint Mr. Trump as a racist and will offer revealing details about “the president’s behavior behind closed doors.”
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