In April, a grand jury indicted 18 Trump allies, including White House former chief of staff Mark Meadows and former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, on charges stemming from their efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Arizona. Cohen’s self-removal comes after defense lawyers questioned him of anti-Trump bias.

“While Judge Cohen is entitled to his political opinions and speech, his rhetoric and exhortation precisely mirrors the evidence of hostile partisan political zealotry at the heart of the motions to dismiss [the case] that have been languishing before the Court for months,” attorneys David Warrington and Michael Columbo wrote on behalf of Republican state Sen. Jake Hoffman, one of the defendants in the case. 

In the emails reported by the Arizona Daily Independent, he implored his white male colleagues to speak out against racist and sexist comments Vice President Kamala Harris faced during the 2024 election. 

“We must speak out. We must tell those within our circles of influence that this s*** must stop. NOW! We cannot allow our female colleagues to feel as if they stand alone when there are those who may intimate that their ascension was anything other than based upon exceptionalism,” Cohen wrote, according to the report.

He also invoked a famous post-World War II-era essay discussing the failure to speak out against Nazism to describe the current political landscape as it pertains to President-elect Donald Trump.

“I have been reflecting on Martin Niemoller’s brilliant post-WWII essay known as ‘First they came for …’ While the subject matter of his commentary was one of the most horrific periods in world history, its instruction applies equally to present day events,” Cohen wrote in emails. “When we cannot or do not stand with others, the words of Martin Niemoller are no longer a historic reference to the atrocities of WWII, those words describe the present.”

Cohen defended his comments but did acknowledge they could create a perception of bias.

“This court is also mindful of the appearances the subject email may have created for those who have interpreted the communication differently than intended,” he wrote in the court document announcing his decision. “Out of a commitment to justice, even the appearance of bias cannot be allowed to undermine the fundamental fairness that is extended by the court to all who come before it.”

Cohen was appointed as a judge in Maricopa County, Arizona, by former Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano in 2005. He has won several retention elections to remain in his seat in the nearly 20 years since.

Cohen later apologized to his colleagues regarding the emails and said he shouldn’t have aired his views in that way.

The Arizona fake electors case is set to go to trial in January 2026, five years after the alleged crimes occurred. Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said she has no intention of dropping the case despite Trump’s presidential victory.