A federal judge in New York on Thursday ordered that Michael Cohen, the former personal attorney and fixer for President Donald 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, Judge Alvin Hellerstein fumed at a Justice Department 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.
"I've never seen such a clause. In 21 years of being a judge ... I've never seen such a clause," Hellerstein said. "How can I take any other inference than that it was retaliatory?"
Hellerstein said Cohen would have to be released from the prison in upstate Otisville by Friday afternoon.
"I make the finding that the purpose of transferring Mr. Cohen from home confinement to jail is retaliatory, and it's retaliatory because of his desire to exercise his First Amendment rights to publish a book," he said.
