Michael Cohen seeks damages from Trump, U.S. over prison return
Send a link to a friend
[April 29, 2023]
By Karen Freifeld
(Reuters) - Michael Cohen on Monday asked a U.S. appeals court to revive
his lawsuit against Donald Trump and other government officials, seeking
damages for sending him back to prison in retaliation for publishing a
tell-all memoir criticizing the former U.S. president.
Lawyers for Cohen said in a filing with the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals in Manhattan that the judiciary has a responsibility to
remediate the harm done by Trump and his subordinates.
"The head of the executive branch wielded his power to have one of his
critics silenced, thrown back into prison, and kept in conditions
dangerous to his health," Cohen's lawyers wrote. "Where such a grievous
injury is done to a citizen's rights and to the nation's rule of law,
there must be a remedy."
Cohen is appealing U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman's dismissal of his
lawsuit in November.
Liman said that while his decision did "violence" to Cohen's
constitutional rights, Cohen was not entitled to damages under U.S.
Supreme Court precedent.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Apr/29/images/ads/current/chicagost_sda_SHG_2023.png)
Alina Habba, a lawyer for Trump, said the lower court was correct when
it dismissed Cohen's "meritless" case.
Cohen, Trump's former lawyer and fixer, was sentenced to three years in
prison in 2018 after pleading guilty to campaign finance violations and
other crimes.
He was released in May 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but thrown back
in prison two months later after questioning an agreement that barred
the book's publication, communicating with the media and social media.
Another judge ordered Cohen's release 16 days later, finding he had been
targeted with retaliation.
[to top of second column]
|
![](../images/042923PIX/news_l73.jpg)
Michael Cohen, former attorney for
former U.S. President Donald Trump, arrives to the New York
Courthouse in New York City, U.S., March 13, 2023. REUTERS/Eduardo
Munoz
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Apr/29/images/ads/current/graue_lda_preowned_042423.jpg)
The book, "Disloyal: A Memoir" topped the New York Times' hardcover
nonfiction best-seller list in September 2020.
Former U.S. Attorney General William Barr and various prison
officials are also defendants in Cohen's lawsuit. A spokesman for
the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan, which represented the other
defendants, declined to comment.
Cohen is a central witness in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin
Bragg's criminal case against Trump over a $130,000 hush money
payment to silence porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election
about her alleged sexual encounter with Trump.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts, and said the
encounter with Daniels never happened.
He is also suing Cohen for $500 million in damages in federal court
in Miami, accusing him of "spreading falsehoods" and failing to keep
attorney-client communications confidential.
(Reporting by Karen Freifeld; Additional reporting by Jonathan
Stempel; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
[© 2023 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Apr/29/images/ads/current/culligan_sda_SFARM_2023.png) |