Michael Cohen is suing Attorney General Bill Barr, alleging he was tossed back in prison to stop him from writing a book about his former client, President Donald Trump. In court papers filed Monday and first reported by Courthouse News, Trump’s ex-fixer says the Bureau of Prisons demanded that he agree to a gag order after he was released from lockup on a furlough because of the coronavirus crisis. Cohen—who is serving time for his role in hush-money payments to women who said they’d had affairs with Trump—tweeted about finishing up the tell-all while on furlough. But he also visited a restaurant when he was supposed to be on home confinement and ended up in the pages of the New York Post days before he was returned to custody. “The First Amendment forbids Respondents from imprisoning Mr. Cohen in retaliation for drafting a book about the President and for seeking to publish that book soon,” his petition reads. Cohen said the American Civil Liberties Union is representing him in the matter.
