Michael Cohen will be released from prison in the coming days.
The former Trump lawyer was released earlier this summer into house arrest, due to fears over Covid-19 infecting inmates.
He was swiftly sent back after he was spotted out to dinner while on house arrest.
It is being reported that Cohen was asked to sign an agreement stating he would not work on a book he intends to write on his time working for President Trump, and now a judge has ruled that this was a violation of his 1st Amendment Rights, and he should be allowed back out of prison.
From CNBC:
Shortly before being taken into custody earlier this month, he had been posting on social media about his upcoming book, which is going to be critical of Trump.
During Thursday’s hearing, Hellerstein was highly skeptical of arguments by a federal prosecutor that Cohen was not locked up in retaliation for the book or that the book-related condition was not sought by officials for a specific reason in his case.
At one point, when another prosecutor tried to come to the aid of the prosecutor who was answering the judge’s questions, Hellerstein angrily cut him off, reminding him of the rule that only one lawyer argued for each side in a case.
Hellerstein in ordering Cohen’s release, said that he found that “the purpose of transferring Mr. Cohen from furlough and home confinement to jail is retaliatory, and it’s retaliatory because of his desire to exercise his First Amendment rights to publish a book and discuss anything about the book or anything else he wants on social media and others.”
Cohen, who has been in quarantine in Otisville since his arrival there, will be released by 2 p.m. after being tested for the coronavirus and will be driven back to his home on Manhattan’s Upper East Side by his son, Hellerstein said.
After his release into home confinement, he will be subject to a number of restrictions on his movement, employment and contact with other people."
Here is coverage from Business Insider from when he was first sent back to prison:
Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former personal attorney who has been under house arrest completing a three-year prison sentence, has been taken into custody again, the Bureau of Prisons told Business Insider.
"Today, Michael Cohen refused the conditions of his home confinement and as a result, has been returned to a BOP facility," the agency said in a statement.
Cohen was granted furlough and released from prison on May 21 due to COVID-19 concerns, and was placed on house arrest for the duration of his sentence.
It's unclear what violation in particular that Cohen was accused of making, but The New York Times reported Thursday that Cohen had declined to sign documents related to conditions on his writings and media appearances.
His arrest also came just days after Cohen was spotted dining at a Manhattan restaurant, apparently in violation of the terms of his early release. According to the Bureau of Prisons, inmates are not permitted to leave "the area of his/her furlough without permission."
Photos obtained by The New York Post showed Cohen dining at Le Bilboquet, a French bistro on the Upper East Side, alongside his wife and two others."
While this will undoudtedly be spun as further proof of Trump's totalitarianism, putting Cohen back in prison is the same treatment any other Felon would receive if he was lucky enough to get out of jail and then spotted eating fancy dinners.
Further, any person being put on house arrest would likewise be expected to behave like a prisoner, not a media jockey, not going on virtual book tours.
Cohen didn't sign because he wanted to capitalize on his presumed "tell all," just like every other savior who has thrusted their books onto the public in the Trump Era.
The Michael Cohen circus, coming this summer to a screen near you.
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