Former President Donald Trump’s onetime personal attorney and fixer Michael Cohen taunted Bill Barr in a tweet after the former attorney general was served papers last week regarding Cohen’s lawsuit against him.
Cohen’s attorney, Andrew Laufer, noted in a tweet that Barr “did not appear happy” when he was served at his home on Thursday:
Cohen sued Trump, Barr and prison officials last month in Manhattan federal court, claiming his home confinement, which began in May 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, was suspended weeks later in retaliation for a tell-all book he was writing about Trump. Cohen was then held in solitary confinement for 16 days, the suit recounted.
The home confinement was rescinded when Cohen refused to sign an agreement that would have prevented him from using social media or publishing the book.
His lawsuit claims the effort to quash his book was just “one instance in a long line of retaliatory measures” taken by Trump, his family and associates “in the weaponization of his administration against his enemies.”
U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein later ordered the government to return Cohen to home confinement. Hellerstein described the attorney’s remand to prison as “retaliatory in response to Cohen desiring to exercise his First Amendment rights to publish a book critical of the president — and to discuss the book on social media.”
Cohen completed his three-year sentence for campaign finance violations, lying to Congress and other offenses in November.
Cohen’s lawsuit seeks damages for “extreme physical and emotional harm” and violations of his First Amendment rights.
On Sunday, Cohen told MSNBC that Trump and Barr need to be held accountable for their actions. (See the video above.)
Barr could not immediately be reached for comment. Trump has yet to respond to the lawsuit.