Trump drops suit against former lawyer Michael Cohen
Former President Donald Trump late on Thursday abruptly dropped a lawsuit against his former personal lawyer Michael Cohen as a conflict loomed between the litigation and Trump's campaign to win back the White House.
Trump claimed through a spokesperson that he was simply pausing the litigation, but seemed to concede that it had become complicated by the four criminal cases the former president now faces.
A federal magistrate judge had ordered Trump to sit for a deposition in the Cohen suit starting Monday morning in New York. Earlier this week, however, the former president scheduled a campaign rally in New Hampshire for Monday at noon.
Trump had already delayed the deposition twice, and his lawyers had tried to have it scheduled for Sunday. But at a hearing last week, the judge declined to grant that date and insisted on Monday.
Trump aides and lawyers rebuffed questions about the conflicting demands over the past couple of days, but in a court filing around 8 p.m. on Thursday, a Florida-based attorney for Trump, Alejandro Brito, announced that his client was dropping the case.
The one-line filing offered no explanation for the rare courtroom retreat by Trump but said the termination of the suit was "without prejudice," meaning he was reserving the right to re-file it.
Trump "decided to temporarily pause his meritorious claims against Michael Cohen," a Trump spokesperson said in a statement. "Once President Trump has prevailed in dealing with the witch hunts against him, he will continue to pursue his claims against Michael Cohen, who rightfully deserves to, and will be held accountable for his unlawful words and actions just as the Southern District of New York held him accountable for numerous non-Trump related acts and crimes, making Cohen a very 'proud' felon."
Cohen said in a statement that the move indicated Trump feared the prospect of a deposition where he would be required to answer questions from Cohen's attorney under oath.
"As I have said from the beginning: this case was nothing more than a retaliatory intimidation tactic, and his attempt to hide from routine discovery procedures confirms as much," Cohen said. "Mr. Trump's cowardly dismissal spells the end of this latest attempt to deter me from providing truthful testimony against him. My legal team and I now look forward to turning our full attention to holding Mr. Trump accountable for his latest abuse of the legal system."
Trump filed the suit in April in federal court in South Florida, alleging that Cohen breached attorney-client privilege and a confidentiality agreement by making public allegations about Trump.
Cohen's lead attorney, Danya Perry, filed a motion to dismiss the case in May. However, it had not yet been ruled on. As a result, Trump can dismiss the case and reserve his right to re-file it. However, if he does so, he'd again be subject to deposition.
Cohen is expected to be a key witness in one of the four criminal cases Trump faces—allegations he falsified business records in connection with hush money payments Cohen arranged to porn star Stormy Daniels in advance of the 2020 presidential election. Trump pleaded not guilty in the case and has denied Daniels' claims of an affair. Cohen pleaded guilty in federal court to a campaign finance felony related to those events and was sentenced to three years in prison.
An ongoing civil suit against Trump brought by New York Attorney General Tish James was triggered in part by Cohen's allegations that Trump and his businesses routinely inflated real estate values when seeking loans and understated them for tax and insurance purposes. Trump has also denied those allegations, but a New York state court judge found Trump's businesses engaged in pervasive fraud related to the valuations. A trial on other aspects of the case is currently underway.