We don’t have to wait until the New York case against former President Donald Trump goes to trial to see what at least one of his defenses will be. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg indicted Trump on charges of falsifying business records. The key witness in that case appears to be Michael Cohen, Trump’s former fixer and attorney. It therefore strains common sense to conclude that the $500 million case Trump filed Wednesday against Cohen is mere coincidence.
Despite his claims that others weaponize the legal system against him for political purposes, that is precisely what Trump has done, and appears to be doing here.
Filing a case against Cohen is a classic Trumpian move. Trump uses lawsuits like stump speeches. Despite his claims that others weaponize the legal system against him for political purposes, that is precisely what Trump has done, and appears to be doing here. Filing a lawsuit, even one that may later be tossed out as frivolous, allows Trump to claim that what Cohen allegedly did to him is so egregious that he had to resort to using the legal system.
Bragg’s case against Trump essentially hinges on the idea that in 2017, when Trump made payments to Cohen, those payments were not for legal services as Trump apparently stated, but rather were repayments for hush money payments that Cohen made to Stormy Daniels right before the 2016 election. Cohen’s testimony will therefore play a significant role in that case.
In the suit Trump filed against Cohen, he accuses Cohen of “multiple breaches of fiduciary duty, unjust enrichment, conversion, and breaches of contract by virtue.” Trump is basically claiming that Cohen lied about him in public, in books, in podcasts and in other media appearances, and that this breached legal obligations Cohen owed to Trump. But Trump has also alleged that Cohen revealed information covered by the attorney-client privilege.
Hence Trump appears to allege that Cohen divulged truthful information about him…
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