Lawrence native Michael Cohen is said to have reacted to Trump’s book | Herald Community Newspapers

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Michael Cohen, a Lawrence native and former attorney for former President Donald Trump, has filed a notice of claim against the federal Bureau of Prisons and can charge the government agency with $ 20 million accusing them of returning him to prison as retaliation for his intention to write a book about Trump.

Cohen, 54, served a three-year prison sentence for violating campaign finance laws, tax evasion and lying to Congress, among other charges in 2018, when he was furloughed from upstate Otisville in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. His lawsuit charges wrongful arrest, wrongful imprisonment and wrongful detention. Imprisoned at home, his sentence will run until November of this year.

He was first taken into the custody of federal marshals on July 9 last year, because officials said he violated the rules of his release including not using social media. The other violation was for Le Bilboquet, a French restaurant in Manhattan on July 2, 2020, which was tied to the parameters of the agreement that he could not leave the house without permission.

Cohen claimed his return to prison was engineered because of the book. “Dishonest, A Memoir: The True Story of the Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J. Trump” was published in September. Since then Cohen has been producing a podcast called “Mea Culpa,” has made rounds of news and conversation shows and continues to have a presence on the social media platform Twitter. Mea culpa is Latin for “through my sin.”

At a telephone hearing on July 23, 2020, a federal judge agreed with Cohen’s claim and rejected prosecutors’ argument that the release form was not adapted to prohibit Cohen from speaking to the media. The judge said the only “inference” was revenge as a reason to return Cohen to federal care and his May 21 discharge due to coronavirus disease.

“Sir. Cohen is the personal lawyer of the president of the United States and if he can be thrown in prison for wanting to write a critical book of the president the imagination must not go away before realizing that the unacceptable and contrary violation of the constitution can be directed at any of us, ”Cohen’s attorney Jeffrey Levine said in a statement, first reported by NBC News.

Another lawsuit is being prepared by Cohen’s attorneys alleging former Attorney General William Barr and Bureau of Prisons Director Michael Carvajal violated his Right to First Amendment by putting Cohen in jail.

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