Cohen takes Trump retaliation claims to the Supreme Court

Mike Heuer
·2 min read
UPI
Former attorney Michael Cohen on Wednesday appealed his retaliation case against former President Donald Trump to the Supreme Court. Photo by Justin Lane/EPA-EFE

July 10 (UPI) -- Former attorney Michael Cohen on Wednesday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review his retaliation claim against former President Donald Trump.

A panel with the Second Circuit Court of Appeals recently denied Cohen's legal claim seeking to hold Trump accountable for Cohen's imprisonment in 2018.

Cohen had pleaded guilty to violating federal campaign finance laws and other offenses.

A federal judge sentenced Cohen to three years in prison, but he was released during the COVID-19 pandemic and transferred to home confinement.

Cohen says one of the conditions for his release was to refrain from criticizing Trump.

When Cohen questioned the legality of the condition, he was thrown back in prison and placed in solitary confinement.

U.S. District Court for New York's Southern District Judge Alvin Hellerstein ruled Cohen was put back in prison for trying to speak and publish a book critical of Trump and ordered his permanent release from federal prison.

Cohen sued Trump and several federal officials for retaliation, but the lower federal courts denied his claims.

Cohen filed his appeal with the Supreme Court and told The Hill he is trying to stop other U.S. citizens from "being imprisoned because they refuse to waive their First Amendment right or because the express criticism."

In Cohen's writ of certiorari filing Wednesday, his attorney, Jon-Michael Daughter, says Trump and others sought to "silence one of the President's most vociferous and prominent public critics" by putting him back in federal prison.

The Supreme Court typically declines to hear such cases.

Cohen recently testified against Trump in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's case that accused Trump of 34 felony violations related to paying former porn star Stormy Daniels and having her sign a non-disclosure agreement in 2016.

A Manhattan jury found Trump guilty on all counts, but the former president and presumptive GOP nominee is appealing the case and its verdict.

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