#Feds say Michael Cohen back in prison for being combative, not for tell-all

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Michael Cohen dining out in NYC earlier this month.
Christopher Sadowski

Federal prosecutors denied on Wednesday that they took former President Trump fixer Michael Cohen into custody to prevent his forthcoming tell-all book, according to a new court filing that claims he was instead hauled back to prison because he was combative with federal probation officers.

Cohen, who is being held in Otisville prison, had claimed he was brought into custody on July 9 because he objected to only the first term of a home confinement agreement that barred him from publishing a book and having contact with the media.

In Wednesday’s filing, prosecutors said the officials who drafted his home confinement agreement had no clue he was writing a book — and only rearrested Cohen after he’d refused the terms.

“While I was aware that Cohen was a high-profile inmate, at the time I drafted the … Agreement I was not aware that Cohen was writing a book. I drafted the … Agreement without input from the BOP or anyone in the executive branch,” Probation Officer Specialist Adam Pakular wrote in court papers.

Jon Gustin, a Bureau of Prisons official who made the decision to remand Cohen into custody added in a declaration that the former fixer had also objected to electronic monitoring.

“Cohen had objected to electronic monitoring, had been argumentative, and was attempting to dictate the conditions of his monitoring, including conditions relating to self employment, access to media, use of social media and other accountability measures,” Gustin wrote.

Gustin added he had no idea Cohen was writing a tell-all book about his time as Trump’s right-hand man.

“At the time I determined to remand Cohen to secure custody, I was not aware that Cohen was writing a book. Cohen’s intent to publish a book thus played no role whatsoever in my decision to remand him,” Gustin wrote.

Cohen had been serving a three-year prison sentence for tax evasion, bank fraud, and lying to Congress, but was released on furlough in May after one year due to concerns over the spread of coronavirus in his prison.

Cohen was locked up again on July 9 after refusing terms of a home-confinement agreement at the federal courthouse in Lower Manhattan — about a week after he was caught by a Post photographer chowing down at a Manhattan restaurant.

After he was rearrested, Cohen sued Attorney General Bill Barr and the Bureau of Prisons, claiming they locked him up to stop him from publishing the book.

His lawyers will appear in an initial hearing Thursday morning to argue for his release.