Judge to order Michael Cohen be released from prison, returned to home confinement

A federal judge on Thursday said he intended to order that Michael CohenMichael Dean CohenMichael Cohen book to allege Trump made racist comments about Obama, Nelson Mandela Michael Cohen sues Barr alleging retaliation, seeks release from prison Ousted Manhattan prosecutor Geoffrey Berman to teach at Stanford MORE be returned to home confinement, after the former Trump attorney was sent back to prison earlier this month over a dispute with federal corrections officials.

Judge Alvin Hellerstein, of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, accused the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) of trying to violate Cohen’s First Amendment rights by imposing a gag order as a condition of his home confinement.

“I make the finding that the purpose of transferring Mr. Cohen from furlough and home confinement to jail as retaliatory, and it’s retaliatory because of his desire to exercise his First Amendment rights to publish the book and to discuss anything about the book or anything else he wants on social media” and elsewhere, Hellerstein said during a court hearing on Thursday.

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Cohen had been writing a book about his time working for President TrumpDonald John TrumpTrump says he would be comfortable sending son, grandchildren to school in person Cafeteria worker on White House grounds tests positive for COVID-19: reports Republicans to start unveiling coronavirus package Thursday MORE and the ACLU filed a lawsuit this week alleging that he was sent back to prison in retaliation for the tell-all. Cohen is serving a three-year sentence for various charges, including fraud and lying to Congress.

He had been released to home confinement in May amid concerns about the coronavirus pandemic’s effects on the prison population.

Earlier this month, Cohen and his attorney met with corrections officials to finalize the terms of the home confinement agreement and objected to a number of the conditions, including a prohibition against speaking with the media or publishing any sort of writing.

Justice Department officials detained Cohen during the meeting over his objections and sent him back to prison.

The DOJ denied that the gag order was aimed at stopping Cohen from proceeding with his book or that his being returned to prison was retaliation over the planned publication.