Judge Frees Cohen, Says Re-Jailing Was “Retaliation”

The New York Daily News reports:

A federal New York judge ordered Thursday that Michael Cohen, the former fixer and personal attorney for President Trump, must be released from prison because the Department of Justice threw him back behind bars as an act of “retaliation” over his forthcoming tell-all book about the president.

In a virtual court hearing, Manhattan Federal Court Judge Alvin Hellerstein fumed at a DOJ attorney who struggled to explain why Cohen was returned into custody earlier this month after objecting to home confinement conditions that barred him from writing a book about Trump, speaking to journalists or using social media.

Breaking via CNBC: A federal judge has ordered Michael Cohen released from prison by Friday afternoon.

The judge found that Cohen was sent back to prison in retaliation for not agreeing to not to publish a book about Trump while on furlough from prison.https://t.co/AwxhBLJiOR

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) July 23, 2020