Ex-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen back in federal prison

NEW YORK — President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, was returned to federal prison Thursday, after balking at certain conditions of the home confinement he was granted because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The federal Bureau of Prisons said that Cohen had “refused the conditions of his home confinement and as a result, has been returned to a BOP facility.”

Lanny Davis, a Cohen legal adviser, said Cohen had refused to sign off on conditions requiring he avoid speaking with the media and publishing a tell-all book he began working on in federal prison. Davis said the book had been nearly ready to publish.

“That was a point that disturbed him because he pointed out that he was able to talk to the media while he was in Otisville,” Davis said. “He said, ‘But the book is already done and I’m not giving up my First Amendment right to talk to the media, to use social media and, of course, to publish my book.’ ”

Cohen later agreed to accept the requirements, Davis said, but was taken into custody nevertheless.