Well, for those who don’t know yet, the relationship between Michael Cohen, an attorney who served as one of Trump’s closest aides, and Donald Trump, the ex-US president was one of mutual trust and genuine camaraderie that largely helped him to manage the former president’s private matters. Just so you know, Cohen who would often act as a clean-up guy for this so-called ‘fixer’ ended up being the center of attention after he publicly announced that he was breaking ties with Trump and accusing the latter of wrongdoing. The close relationship between Cohen and Trump turned into animosity when Cohen pleaded guilty to charges filed by the Federal Government, and in 2021, he did go a step further and filed a lawsuit against Trump. So, let’s go over what is going on with this Cohen Trump Retaliation Lawsuit, and why it is kinda a big deal right now, shall we?
So, What Happened And When?
In 2018, Cohen admitted that he had committed several federal crimes, such as money laundering, tax evasion, and lying to Congress. Cohen said he was simply following the orders of Trump in doing these actions, which were meant to hide critical facts, including hush-money payments, for the 2016 campaign. Cohen got a three-year prison sentence which he started in 2019.
Though, in 2020, because of COVID-19, Cohen was granted temporary release from home confinement as part of a larger federal initiative to decrease the number of people in prison during the pandemic, you know? But that’s not it though, during this time, Cohen stated he would be publishing a tell-all book titled Disloyal: A Memoir, which would describe his collaboration with Trump, which would get him into trouble later.
The Alleged Retaliation
In July 2020, Cohen was ordered to report to probation officers to discuss the terms of his release, and sure, he was handed a form that would not permit him to participate in media and social media, which according to him, would prevent him from talking about Trump or promoting his book, you know? Cohen declined to sign, considering it an attempt to silence him. Soon after, he was sent back to prison for the next 16 days, the majority of the time in solitary confinement, which he viewed as punishment, for sure.
Fighting against his imprisonment again, Cohen stated that this act was solely to keep him from expressing his views and nothing else. A federal court agreed, stating that Cohen’s imprisonment was a probable retaliation. The court ruled that he would be released again on home confinement so he could finish the rest of his punishment at home.
The Lawsuit, Court Decisions, and Final Denial
In the year 2021, Michael Cohen was the one who filed a lawsuit claiming that Trump, the former Attorney General Barr, and the prison officials had infringed upon his rights by re-imprisoning him as punishment for speaking against Trump. Cohen alleged that this was the intention of his re-imprisonment and that it was a direct violation of his free speech and other fundamental rights. However, the lower courts refused to hear his case saying that the recent Supreme Court rulings made it nearly impossible to sue federal officials in this way, you know?
But still, Cohen decided to push forth his case to the Supreme Court hoping for a different result, but in July 2024, the Supreme Court refused to hear the case effectively concluding his fight for compensation against Trump and the others. This decision right here was a clear indication that limits the cases that are filed against government officials because it was seen that these cases only come up when there are presidential elections around the corner.
