The former president, facing a scheduling conflict with a campaign rally, ended his case seeking $500 million from the attorney who turned on him.
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.”
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Trump drops suit against former lawyer Michael Cohen https://t.co/nwlmfPlH5r
— POLITICO (@politico) October 6, 2023
BREAKING NEWS: Donald Trump has voluntarily dismissed his SDFL lawsuit against Michael Cohen.
Of course right before his deposition on Monday, no less.
I guess Trump didn’t want to answer questions under oath…
— Katie Phang (@KatiePhang) October 6, 2023
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