Republicans line up to support Michael Cohen lawsuit against Trump

A court ruled that Donald Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, couldn't sue the ex-president and his attorney general, Bill Barr, over claims they weaponized the Department of Justice in retaliation against him. Now Cohen is appealing — and he's got an extensive list of Republicans and conservatives standing beside him.

The case stems from 2020 when imprisoned Cohen, Trump's former lawyer who pleaded guilty to campaign finance charges in 2018, was set to be released to home confinement because of health risks posed by COVID.

To secure the release, however, Cohen was ordered to sign an agreement stating he wouldn't speak to the media, and he wouldn't publish a book he'd been working on behind bars. When Cohen refused, he was not only thrown back in prison, but into solitary confinement for 16 days.

It wasn't until he sued and was granted a hearing that he was released, and the judge admonished the Justice Department. Cohen has spent the past several years claiming the imprisonment was unlawful.

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One federal judge argued that Cohen's experience was indeed “retaliation” for his speech about Trump, but Cohen couldn't file a lawsuit seeking damages. Another two federal courts dismissed the case, saying there were no consequences for a president throwing a political critic in prison.

The ex-Trump lawyer has appealed, and in a recently filed amicus curiae brief made public Wednesday, he brings together a number of Republicans who agree that Cohen has a right to file a lawsuit.

Among them is George W. Bush's appointee to the Federal Elections Commission, Trevor Potter, and former Republican Rep. Claudine Schneider (R.I.).

Robert Shanks, the deputy assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel to former President Ronald Reagan, also signed on. As did Alan Charles Raul, the former associate counsel to then-President George H. W. Bush. Philip Allen Lacovara, who served as the deputy solicitor general in Richard Nixon's administration, is also included.

Perhaps the most notable is former Rep. Mickey Edwards (R-OK), a founding trustee of the far-right Heritage Foundation.

Writing about the matter for Slate, Jon Dougherty and Norm Eisen said, "It is hard to imagine a more clear-cut violation of the Constitution than jailing an American for expressing his political opinions."

Read the court filing below or at the link here.