Michael Cohen sues Donald Trump and Bill Barr for violating his First Amendment rights

Former President Donald Trump's ex-lawyer Michael Cohen announced Thursday that he will be filing a lawsuit against his former boss and former Attorney General Bill Barr after they tried to kill his First Amendment rights.

When Cohen was put in prison, COVID-19 was raging through the country and, namely through prisons. As a result, many correctional facilities put non-violent offenders on house arrest, including Cohen. To let him out, however, Cohen was told he'd have to sign a statement promising he wouldn't publish his book until he had served his entire prison term, which would come after Trump's presidency. It also demanded that he wouldn't speak to the press.

Cohen refused and was sent back to FCI-Otisville, where he waged a lawsuit.

"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," Senior U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein said.

READ: Michael Cohen: Steve Bannon is a racist 'maniac' who thinks Trump is an 'idiot'

Not only was Cohen released, but he also began appearing on cable news shows, started a podcast and published the tell-all book just months before the 2020 election.

Trump desperately tried to stop the book's publication with a lawsuit saying Cohen signed an NDA and claims that Cohen and Trump's conversations fell under attorney/client privilege. An attorney who breaches that privilege can be disbarred, but Cohen had already been disbarred in 2019.

See Cohen's tweet below: