Donald Trump has voluntarily dismissed his $500 million federal lawsuit against his former attorney and fixer Michael Cohen, claiming that he’s too busy right now to continue pursuing the case.
In a rambling statement, Trump’s campaign specified that Trump found it a bigger priority to be campaigning in New Hampshire on Monday than to be deposed for the Cohen lawsuit.
“Given that President Trump is required to sit for 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, where he is leading the Republicans by 60 points and Crooked Joe Biden by 11 points, to serve as our next President of the United States, President Trump has decided to temporarily pause his meritorious claims against Michael Cohen,” read a statement sent to CBS News from Trump’s campaign.
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Trump’s campaign suggested that he intends to refile the lawsuit at a later date, but did not give an idea of when that might be.
“Once President Trump has prevailed in dealing with the witch hunts against him, he will continue to pursue his claims against Michael Cohen,” the statement added.
Trump sued Cohen in April, just days after the first of his quartet of indictments were filed. Trump said he wanted Cohen to cough up half a million dollars—claiming he breached attorney-client privilege and a confidentiality agreement by speaking publicly about Trump’s alleged hush-money payments to Stormy Daniels.
The official filing to drop the lawsuit was filed around 8 p.m. Thursday, which indicated the suit was being dropped “without prejudice,” meaning it could be filed as-is at another time.
Trump had faced mounting pressure from the South Florida judge as he repeatedly put off depositions as he jets around the country to court dates and campaign events. The deposition scheduled for Monday had already been rescheduled twice and, despite pleas from Trump’s lawyers to have the deposition on Sunday, the judge insisted it be held Monday afternoon—the same time he’d already scheduled a campaign rally in New Hampshire.
In a statement to The Guardian, Cohen said he now looks “forward to turning our full attention to holding Mr. Trump accountable for his latest abuse of the legal system.”
“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.”
Aside from his campaign’s statement, Trump is yet to comment personally on the dismissal of the lawsuit.
In a post to X, formerly known as Twitter, Cohen’s attorney who was slated to depose Trump, celebrated the former president’s motion, insinuating that Trump chose to drop the suit instead of letting her hold his feet to the fire.
“Great news out of the Southern District of Florida tonight: Rather than let me depose him on Monday, [Trump] voluntarily dismissed his $500 million lawsuit against our client,” wrote Danya Perry.
