Former President Trump on Monday was scheduled to sit for a deposition on September 6 in his lawsuit against his former attorney and self-proclaimed “fixer” Michael Cohen.
Cohen’s attorneys scheduled the deposition to take place at a law office in Miami. Trump is suing Cohen for $500 million. The former President accuses his former attorney of revealing confidences and “spreading falsehoods” related to Trump’s indictment in a 2016 hush money case.
Cohen pleaded guilty in federal court in 2018 for arranging a nondisclosure agreement for which he paid adult film actress Stormy Daniels $130,000, a campaign contribution violation during the 2016 election cycle, since the payment was made in service of the Trump campaign and exceeded the federal limit. Cohen has asserted that Trump reimbursed him for the payments via a series of checks.
In April Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records and conspiracy for his alleged role in the payments of hush money to Daniels and another woman during the 2016 campaign season.
Trump filed his suit against Cohen in the U.S. District Court for Southern Florida that same month. In the complaint, Trump attorney Alejandro Brito asserted that his client has “suffered vast reputational harm as a direct result of Defendant’s breaches,” and suggested that Cohen took part in other misconduct that violated New York’s Rules of Professional Conduct.
Last month, Trump settled with Cohen for a reported $990,000 in a lawsuit the former fixer had originally filed in 2019, while Trump was still in office. Cohen was seeking to have the Trump Organization pay for his defense of then-President Trump and himself in 2017 and 2018, along with expenses related to some 20 meetings Cohen undertook with the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and a New York grand jury regarding Cohen’s role in paying the hush money ahead of the 2016 Presidential election.
In a statement Monday Cohen said, “I look forward to Donald’s deposition under oath and proving the frivolous nature of the lawsuit.”
Trump’s legal counsel has so far not responded to a request from NBC News for comment on the deposition.
