Michael Cohen, President Trumps former personal attorney, was released from prison today by a judge who ruled on Thursday that Cohen had been returned to federal custody from home confinement because he refused to agree to not write a book.

I make the finding that the purpose of transferring Mr. Cohen from furlough and home confinement to jail is retaliatory. And its retaliation because of his desire to exercise his First Amendment rights to publish a book and to discuss anything about the book or anything else he wants on social media and with others, said Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein of Federal District Court.

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Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to criminal campaign finance violations (for arranging hush-money payments to women who said theyd had affairs with Trump) and for lying to Congress. He was released on medical furlough in May but was sent back to prison on July 9 after what he and his lawyer had thought would be a routine parole meeting.

Instead, according to Cohen, he was asked to sign a document promising he would not continue work while he served his sentence on a book he is writing about the President. When he refused, Cohen said he was abruptly taken back into custody.

Earlier this week, Cohen filed suit against Attorney General William Barr and federal prison officials (the ACLU also filed a petition on Cohens behalf) claiming, among other things, that his First Amendment rights had been violated. The suit stated that Cohens book, tentatively titled Disloyal: The True Story of Michael Cohen, Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J. Trump, would allege that President Trump made anti-Semitic remarks and racist statements, including about President Obama and Nelson Mandela. On Wednesday, the Department of Justice denied it had taken retaliatory action against Cohen.

Hellersteins order was the most recent setback in a series of legal efforts to prevent or curtail the publication of books critical of the President written by former staffers, political appointees, and a family member. Its very hard to prevent a book from being published, says James Zirin, a former Assistant United States Attorney and the author of Plaintiff in Chief: A Portrait of Donald Trump in 3500 Lawsuits. Courts view most attempts at prior restraint as a violation of the First Amendment right to free speech.

So what have all the lawsuits achieved?

Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the Worlds Most Dangerous Man

Simon & Schusteramazon.com

Plot Twist: President Trumps nieces first-hand account of growing up in the New York real estate dynasty shines a bright light on the dark history of their family, according to its publisher, Simon & Schuster.

Legal Case: President Trumps brother Robert Trump sued Mary Trump and Simon & Schuster to block publication, claiming she violated a confidentiality agreement that was part of a 2001 settlement of the estate of his father and her grandfather, Fred Trump Sr. The case against the book went all the way to the New York State Supreme Court, which ultimately vacated a restraining order on July 13. Interestingly, even though the book is aimed at President Trump, the suit was brought by his brother, said Zirin. The President would have been subject to deposition and interrogatories [if he had brought the suit himself] and he probably wanted to stay out of all that.

Howd it do? Too Much and Never Enough sold 950,000 copies on its first day of publication, a record for Simon & Schuster, and 1.35 million copies in its first week.

The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir

amazon.com

Plot Twist: The former national security advisors memoir includes behind-the-scenes details of his time at the White House, including descriptions of his many disagreements with President Trump and fellow White House advisors over policy issues.

Legal Case: The Trump Administration sued Bolton, claiming his book contained classified information, but a judge refused to issue an injunction. The courts only agree to [prevent publication] in extreme cases, usually involving national security. said Zirin. In this case, most of the juicy parts of Boltons book had already been described in newspaper and on website articles. The information was already public, and an injunction would have been moot.

Howd it do? The Room Where it Happened sold 780,000 copies in its first week of publication and has been on the New York Times Best Seller list for non-fiction ever since.

A Warning

Twelveamazon.com

Plot Twist: This book, by the same author who wrote an un-bylined piece in the New York Times opinion page in September 2018 titled I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration," claims to offer a first-hand perspective by a senior administration official of President Trump and to explain why electing him to a second term would be a terrible idea.

Legal Case: Treason? tweeted President Trump on the day the op-ed came out. And while there was no mention of that particular charge from the Department of Justice, one of its lawyers did send a letter a year later to the publisher Hachette and literary agent Javelin warning that the author of the forthcoming book might be breaching non-disclosure agreements. Both refused to comply with DOJs request for information, and no further action was taken.

Howd it Do? Shortly after its publication, A Warning appeared at the top of the New York Times Best Seller list in the non-fiction category.

Unhinged: An Insider's Account of the Trump White House

Gallery Booksamazon.com

Plot Twist: A tell-all by one of Donald Trumps former co-stars on The Apprentice who went on to become communications director for the Office of Public Liaison in the White House, a position from which she was fired in 2018.

Legal Case: The Trump Campaign filed an arbitration case against Manigault Newman, claiming she had violated a non-disclosure agreement she signed in 2016. Two days later, she released a secret recording she made in which the Presidents daughter-in-law Lara Trump discussed a potential job offer. Final results of the arbitration filing were not made public.

Howd it Do? Unhinged reached the number one spot on the New York Times Best Seller list for non-fiction in August of 2018, a few weeks after the arbitration case became public.

Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House

1250158060amazon.com

Plot Twist: After being granted unprecedented access to the Trump White House, Wolff wrote an unsurprisingly (to anyone who had ever read anything by the author) unflattering book about its inner workings.

The Case: In January 2018, a lawyer for President Trump sent an 11-page legal demand to the publisher Henry Holt claiming the forthcoming book included defamation, libel, and invasion of privacy. A spokesperson responded, Henry Holt confirms that we received a cease and desist letter from an attorney for President Trump. We see Fire and Fury as an extraordinary contribution to our national discourse, and are proceeding with the publication of the book. The legal demand didnt stand a chance, says Zirin. All it did was boost sales for a book.

Howd it Do? Debuted at number one on the New York Times Best Seller list when it came out on January 4, 2018. By the end of the month it had sold over 1.5 million copies.

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Donald Trump Doesn't Want You to Read the Tell-All. That's Why You Want to Read the Tell-All. - TownandCountrymag.com