Freed Michael Cohen WILL be allowed to publish tell-all book calling Trump a racist under new agreement with federal prosecutors
- Federal prosecutors agreed to drop their effort to silence Michael Cohen as part of a new agreement with his attorney filed on Thursday
- Trump’s former personal lawyer was sent back to prison earlier this month after refusing to sign a gag order
- A federal judge last week branded the move as ‘retaliatory’ and a violation of his First Amendment rights
- Cohen is completing the last two years of a three-year prison sentence at home after pleading guilty to campaign finance charges and lying to Congress
Michael Cohen will be free to speak to the media and publish his tell-all book on President Trump under a new agreement with federal prosecutors filed on Thursday.
The U.S. government has agreed to drop its effort to silence Trump’s former personal lawyer, saying it will no longer demand that Cohen adhere to a gag order in the weeks before his book critical of his former boss is released.
‘The parties agree that a specific provision regarding Petitioner’s contact with the media is not necessary,’ the court filing read.
It comes a week after Cohen was released from a federal prison in New York where he spent two weeks for refusing to agree to a media ban.
Cohen, 53, is completing the last two years of a three-year prison sentence at home after pleading guilty to campaign finance charges and lying to Congress.
Michael Cohen, US President Donald J. Trump’s former lawyer, arrives to his apartment building after being released from federal prison in New York last week
He was released from prison in May amid coronavirus fears in U.S. prisons, only to be returned earlier this month after making it known that he planned to publish a book describing Trump using racial slurs against Barack Obama and Nelson Mandela.
He said in court papers that the book titled ‘Disloyal: The True Story of Michael Cohen, Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J. Trump’ would be published before the November election.
Cohen had sued federal prison officials and U.S. Attorney General William Barr, saying he was ordered back to prison because of the book.
U.S. Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein last week ordered him released, saying the government’s action was retaliatory and a violation of his First Amendment rights.
Probation authorities had told Hellerstein in court documents that Cohen was sent back to prison because he refused to sign a form banning him from publishing the book or communicating with the media or public.
The Bureau of Prisons has said any assertion that the re-imprisonment of Cohen ‘was a retaliatory action is patently false.’
He was released to home confinement last Friday after being held behind bars since July 9.
Cohen’s book is anticipated in part for what it might divulge about the circumstances that led him to plead guilty to campaign finance charges and blame Trump for directing him to commit the crimes.
The charges stemmed from his efforts to arrange payouts during the 2016 presidential race to keep the porn actress Stormy Daniels and model Karen McDougal from making public claims of extramarital affairs with Trump. Trump has denied the affairs.
In a written declaration, Cohen said his book ‘will provide graphic and unflattering details about the President´s behavior behind closed doors.’