Former President Donald Trump has been called to sit for a deposition in September as part of his lawsuit seeking $500 million from his former attorney Michael Cohen.
In a filing Monday, Cohen’s attorneys scheduled the deposition for Sept. 6 at a law office in Miami.
“I look forward to Donald’s deposition under oath and proving the frivolous nature of the lawsuit,” Cohen told NBC News in a statement.
The deposition notice comes after Trump sued Cohen in April, alleging that his former lawyer turned critic spread falsehoods, violated attorney-client privilege and unjustly enriched himself.
In the complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for Southern Florida, Trump’s lawyer Alejandro Brito had argued 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.
When reached for comment on Monday, Cohen’s attorney, Ben Brodsky, said the deposition notice “functions like a subpoena.”
“He can’t avoid it, though he could dismiss the case,” Brodsky said of Trump.
NBC News has reached out to a Trump attorney for comment on the deposition.
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Cohen has become a key witness against Trump in a separate case — the 34-count indictment against Trump in New York stemming from alleged hush money payments made before the 2016 election. That trial is scheduled for March. Trump has pleaded not guilty.
NBC News reported this month that Cohen and the Trump Organization settled a lawsuit that Cohen filed in 2019 seeking $1.3 million in legal fees from the Trump Organization and accusing the company of reneging on a contractual deal to “indemnify Mr. Cohen and to pay attorneys’ fees and costs incurred by Mr. Cohen” in connection with work that involved the Trump Organization and its leadership, including Trump.
The deposition comes about two weeks after Trump said he was notified by special counsel Jack Smith that he’s a target in a federal investigation into interference in the 2020 election. Trump is also facing criminal charges in a hush money case in New York state court and a federal case over his handling of classified documents after leaving the White House. He has referred to both cases as “election interference” as he seeks the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.
Trump has participated in other depositions since leaving office, including onelast year in writer E. Jean Carroll’s civil lawsuit alleging that Trump raped her in a New York department store in the 1990s. A New York jury this year found Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll but not liable for her alleged rape, awarding her $5 million in damages for her battery and defamation claims.
The former president was also deposed twice by New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office, most recently spending about eight hours at her office in April in connection with a $250 million lawsuit that alleges Trump and his company engaged in fraudulent business practices. That case is scheduled to go to trial in October.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
