Donald Trump Threw Eric Trump 'Under the Bus' in Deposition: Michael Cohen

Donald Trump's ex-attorney Michael Cohen said on Saturday that the former president threw his son Eric Trump "under the bus" in a newly-released deposition.

Trump's attorneys on Wednesday released a transcript of his April 13 deposition as part of New York Attorney General Letitia James's lawsuit into Trump's business dealings. James, a Democrat, filed a $250 million civil lawsuit last year accusing the former president, the Trump Organization and three of his adult children of misrepresenting business assets to obtain favorable loans and tax benefits. They are also accused of inflating Trump's net worth by billions of dollars.

The former president has maintained his innocence in the case, writing in a Friday Truth Social post that he was targeted and that he has a net worth "billions of dollars more than she [James] viciously and falsely claimed" after the New York attorney general alleged that he inflated his net worth by as much as $2.2 billion in 2014 alone.

In his deposition, Trump said he had become less involved in the business in recent years. He stepped away from management after assuming office in 2017, delegating top roles to his children—though he continued to profit off his businesses while in office through 2021, sparking concerns about conflicts of interest.

He mentioned one of his children, Eric, as being "more involved" in the business in his testimony.

"My son Eric is much more involved with it than I am. I've been doing other things. And I guess you could say on something major, final decisions, whatever. But I've been much less involved in it than—over the last five years, five or six years than ever before," Trump said.

Referencing the deposition, Cohen wrote in a post to social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, on Saturday that Trump's testimony amounted to throwing his son "under the bus." Cohen for years worked as Trump's personal attorney, but flipped on him after serving a prison sentence for charges of campaign finance violations, tax evasion and lying to Congress in connection to alleged hush money payments made by Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.

"I keep repeating myself over and over and over. Donald doesn't care about anyone of you and will look to make you the scapegoat," Cohen wrote in a Friday post on X in reference to an article about Trump not funding the defenses of his co-defendants in his Georgia election interference case.

Newsweek reached out to Trump's campaign for comment via email.

Trump sought to downplay his role in the company during his presidential tenure, describing himself as very busy during his administration when asked if he was too busy for the company during his testimony.

"I was very busy. I was—I considered this the most important job in the world, saving millions of lives," he said. "I think you would have nuclear holocaust if I didn't deal with North Korea. I think you would have a nuclear war, if I weren't elected. And I think you might have a nuclear war now, if you want to know the truth."

The case is set to go trial on October 2. As part of the suit, James is also seeking a ban on Trump and two of his children, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, from doing business in New York as part of her lawsuit. The former president's eldest daughter, Ivanka Trump, was dismissed from James's lawsuit in June due to statute of limitations for most of the allegations against her.