According to a legal expert, Donald Trump backed out of his $500 million lawsuit against his former lawyer Michael Cohen to avoid appearing for a deposition in the case, which can be seen as an act of cowardice.
Thursday evening saw Trump withdraw his lawsuit against Cohen. In the suit, Trump had accused Cohen of spreading false information about him, which would have been damaging for financial gain. Additionally, Trump alleged that Cohen had violated New York Rules of Professional Conduct.
According to court documents, Trump chose to dismiss the case against Cohen without providing any additional details. In a statement, Trump’s office cited the former president’s busy schedule, which includes involvement in a civil fraud trial in New York, campaigning for the presidency, and facing four criminal trials, as reasons why he was unable to proceed with the lawsuit against Cohen.
According to Tristan Snell, a former assistant attorney general for New York state and a lawyer, it is possible that Trump abandoned the case because he could not continue to postpone appearing for a deposition and giving testimony under oath as a part of the $500 million lawsuit.
On October 9th, Monday, Trump had a scheduled deposition. The deposition was initially postponed, allowing the former president to attend the opening days of the civil trial in Manhattan. The trial was in relation to the $250 million lawsuit filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James against Trump.
On X, formerly known as Twitter, Snell expressed his congratulations to Michael Cohen. Snell commended Cohen for making Trump back down and referred to it as a job well done.
According to Snell, Trump’s recent appearance at his New York Attorney General trial was solely to postpone his deposition in the ongoing case against Michael Cohen. However, the deposition has only been delayed until next Monday, and Trump was unable to secure further postponements. Fearing to testify, Trump has decided to withdraw from the case altogether. Snell stated, “The only reason Trump came to his NY AG trial this week was so he could delay his deposition in his case against Michael Cohen. The deposition got moved to next Monday. He couldn’t get it moved again—and he was afraid to testify. So Trump has now withdrawn the case.”
An email has been sent to Trump’s office for comment.
In April, Trump filed a lawsuit against Cohen, shortly after the ex-president entered a plea of not guilty to 34 charges of falsifying business records. The charges were in relation to the hush money that was paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels on Trump’s instruction, to keep their alleged affair hidden during the 2016 election.
Trump filed a lawsuit against Cohen, alleging that the latter breached a confidentiality agreement by publicly discussing his work with the former president through various mediums such as books, podcast series, and television interviews. Additionally, Trump claimed that Cohen deliberately released his 2020 book, Disloyal, at a time when it could cause maximum damage to his reputation and earn the most profit for Cohen.
Trump’s team has stated that the former president’s schedule is the reason for withdrawing the lawsuit. However, they have also hinted that this is only a temporary measure.
