(New York) A federal judge on Thursday ordered the release of former lawyer and Donald Trump's henchman, Michael Cohen, who was returned to prison for writing a highly critical book of the president.
Posted on 23 July 2020 at 14 h 06
France Media Agency
Sentenced in December 2018 to three years in prison, in particular for having bought the silence of two former mistresses presumed to be Donald Trump, the lawyer of 53 years had been taken into custody in May 2019.
He was then released on 14 last May, a federal judge acknowledging that his medical history made him a person at risk of complications in the event of coronavirus contamination.
He was to pay the balance of his sentence at his home in Manhattan, until his term at the end of November 2021.
On July 9, he was nevertheless imprisoned again, on the grounds that he had “rejected the conditions of his house arrest”, the Federal Bureau of Prisons had indicated, without giving further details.
According to his advisor, lawyer Lanny Davis, the sentencing service had made the possibility of serving his sentence at home conditional on a ban on writing a book.
But the former handyman of Donald Trump is working on a book project on the president, according to Lanny Davis.
The main human rights organization in the United States, the ACLU, went to court on Monday with Michael Cohen to challenge the detention.
The association asked the question of knowing “if the government (could), in accordance with the Constitution, revoke the release of a prisoner on the grounds that he (had) not renounced his right to criticize the president ”.
Such a condition, “which would personally benefit a president candidate for re-election, (would) challenge the rule of law in a way unprecedented in the history of this country”, argued Lawyers Defending American Democracy , another organization supporting the ACLU in the proceedings.
Ruling in interim relief Thursday, Manhattan federal judge Alvin Hellerstein ordered Michael Cohen's release on Friday.
He called the decision to send the lawyer back to prison a “retaliation”, according to statements at the hearing cited by the New York Times.
The book, “very unflattering for the President of the United States”, according to the summons, is expected to be published before the next presidential poll, scheduled for November 3.
The book mentions in particular “anti-Semitic remarks made by Donald Trump when talking about Jewish personalities as well as racist thoughts when talking about Barack Obama or Nelson Mandela”, according to the same document.