Trump called for deposition in $500m lawsuit against Michael Cohen

Lawyers for Mr Cohen said that Mr Trump’s ‘testimony will strip the lie as to his claims against Mr Cohen’

Former President Donald Trump has been called to sit for a deposition in September as part of his lawsuit against his former attorney Michael Cohen.

Mr Trump is seeking $500m from his former fixer. According to NBC News, a Monday filing shows Cohen’s attorneys scheduled the deposition for 6 September at a Miami law office.

“Mr Trump has put at issue significant matters relating to at least one of his pending criminal indictments,” Mr Cohen’s attorneys, Ben Brodsky and Danya Perry, said in a statement to The Independent. “He will have to answer under oath, among other things, exactly what happened with the payments to Stephanie Clifford. Or he can assert his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. Either way, his testimony will strip the lie as to his claims against Mr Cohen.”

The Independent has reached out to an attorney for Mr Trump for comment.

Mr Trump’s complaint 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.

Mr Trump sued Cohen in April, accusing his former attorney of “multiple breaches of fiduciary duty, unjust enrichment, conversion, and breaches of contract.” The former president claimed Cohen spread falsehoods about him “with malicious intent and to wholly self-serving ends.”

Earlier this month, Mr Trump reached a settlement with Cohen over $1.3m in unpaid legal bills.

The ongoing lawsuit involving Cohen is just one of many that the former president is juggling. Last Thursday, Special Counsel Jack Smith handed down a superseding indictment, tacking on more charges against the former president related to his handling of the classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago.

He wrote on Truth Social that he predicts a federal indictment regarding the January 6 Capitol riot and the efforts to overturn the 2020 election will happen “any day now.”

Fulton County investigators are also expected to make charging decisions this month related to the former president’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election in the state. Over the weekend, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said she and her team are “ready to go.”

A Georgia judge on Monday rejected the former president’s attempt to blockMs Willis from bringing indictment charges against him or anyone else based on the results of a special grand jury probe.

Mr Trump is also facing criminal charges in a New York state court regarding hush money payments. In June, Manhattan prosecutors charged him with 34 counts of falsifying business records; he has pleaded not guilty.