Trump withdraws lawsuit against lawyer Michael Cohen, plans to resume legal battle in the future.
Former President Trump Drops Lawsuit Against Michael Cohen, Plans to Revisit Claims
Former President Donald Trump has decided to dismiss his lawsuit against his former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, but he intends to address his allegations at a later time.
The former president filed a $500 million lawsuit against Cohen in April, accusing him of breaching attorney-client duties, unjust enrichment, and other offenses.
“Plaintiff, President Donald J. Trump, by and through undersigned counsel, hereby gives notice that … he is voluntarily dismissing this action without prejudice,” President Trump’s legal team stated in a court filing in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
Following the filing to dismiss the civil case, Michael Cohen’s attorney, Danya Perry, released a statement revealing that the former president was scheduled for a deposition on Monday.
“Instead of being deposed by me on Monday, Donald J. Trump has voluntarily dropped his $500 million lawsuit against our client Michael Cohen,” Perry wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Michael Cohen served as President Trump’s personal attorney from 2006 to 2018 and was also a vice president of the Trump Organization.
In 2018, Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations related to hush-money payments made during President Trump’s 2016 campaign to adult film actress Stormy Daniels and another woman who claimed to have had affairs with him. Cohen served a prison term from May 2019 to July 2020 for these charges.
The former president has consistently denied both the affairs and making the payments.
Lawsuit Against Cohen
President Trump’s civil lawsuit against Cohen demanded a jury trial and sought damages that were expected to exceed $500 million.
The civil lawsuit accused Cohen of violating a confidentiality agreement he signed as a condition of his employment. President Trump also alleged that Cohen spread falsehoods with malicious intent and caused significant damage to his reputation by publicly discussing the hush-money payments, which are central to other criminal charges the former president currently faces in New York.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s criminal case against President Trump is partly based on a payment he allegedly made to Stormy Daniels through Cohen. President Trump filed the civil lawsuit after Cohen testified before a Manhattan grand jury that voted to indict him on 34 counts of felony falsifying business records.
A spokesperson for Trump previously stated in April, “The lawsuit and the many wrongdoings by Michael Cohen—a convicted felon—speak for themselves and have been admitted by Cohen himself through his falsehood-filled books, podcasts, and constant media appearances.”
The lawsuit alleged that Cohen’s actions after his 12-year attorney-client relationship with President Trump ended in 2018 included multiple breaches of fiduciary duty, unjust enrichment, conversion, breaches of contract, and spreading falsehoods that could be embarrassing or detrimental to President Trump.
The New York criminal charges were the first of four indictments against President Trump, making him the first former president in the United States to be indicted. Two federal indictments followed, one with 40 counts related to the alleged retention of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago, Florida, home, and another with four counts regarding alleged efforts to dispute the results of the 2020 election. The fourth indictment involves 13 charges against President Trump, including a racketeering conspiracy stemming from efforts to challenge the 2020 election results in Georgia.
President Trump maintains his innocence in all the cases and accuses President Joe Biden and his administration of politically targeting him.
Trump Plans to Revisit Civil Case
Cohen requested the court to dismiss the lawsuit against him in May, calling it an “abusive act of pure retaliation and witness intimidation.” He reiterated on Thursday that the lawsuit was “nothing more than a retaliatory intimidation tactic.”
“Mr. Trump’s cowardly dismissal marks the end of this latest attempt to prevent me from providing truthful testimony against him,” Cohen stated. “My legal team and I are now focused on holding Mr. Trump accountable for his latest abuse of the legal system. More to come.”
A spokesperson for President Trump announced on Thursday that he plans to revisit his claims in the future but is temporarily pausing his legal battle with Cohen due to his presidential campaign and ongoing legal cases.
“Given that President Trump is required to sit for a deposition in a civil matter on Columbus Day, when he is scheduled to be in the Great State of New Hampshire, and while the President is fighting against the meritless claims that have been lodged against him in New York, Washington D.C., Florida, and Georgia, as well as continuing his winning campaign … President Trump has decided to temporarily pause his meritorious claims against Michael Cohen,” the spokesperson stated.
President Trump is currently the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
The spokesperson added that 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.”
Gary Bai and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
What were the allegations made by President Trump against Michael Cohen in the lawsuit?
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