A Freedom of Information Act filed by former President Donald Trump's one-time personal attorney and fixer Michael Cohen in an effort to find out why he was forced to sign an agreement not to write a tell-all book before being released from prison has been rejected.
Cohen claims the extremely unusual move was imposed on Trump's orders because the former president was trying to silence him. He refused to sign the agreement and had to serve another two weeks in prison.
Cohen, who was ordered under the terms of this agreement not to write a book about his experiences, has been in an extensive legal battle over alleged retaliation from the Trump administration.
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According to a letter sent to Cohen's attorney Jeffrey Levine Friday, the Federal Bureau of Prisons stated that the information is exempt from FOIA because it's "information that could be withheld under civil discovery, attorney-client, or attorney-work product privileges," "information about individuals when disclosure would be a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy," and information the release of which could result in "endangering the safety or life of any individual."
The explanation did not satisfy Cohen.
"What kind of bulls--t is this?" he posted to X on Friday. "After years of fighting with DOJ and BOP ... they are denying releasing ANY information. I want and we all need transparency from OUR government. They are hiding and Congress needs to act!"
"This is wrong," Cohen told Raw Story. "To prove Trump administration’s weaponization of the DOJ, I need these documents. They will not release them because they know it will implicate them all in the intentional violation of a citizen's First Amendment right."
Cohen pleaded guilty to bank fraud, tax evasion and campaign finance violations after helping facilitate a hush payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels to keep an affair between her and Trump hidden from 2016 voters — the same deal that is the focus of Trump's criminal indictment by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Since then, Cohen has fought to expose his former boss, and testified in the grand jury proceedings in the Manhattan case.
