Faced with a federal investigation, President Donald Trump's personal lawyer Michael Cohen has decided to pick his battles and is dropping two lawsuits he filed over the Trump-Russia dossier.
Related: Can Trump Be Indicted in Mueller's Russia Probe? Here's an Explainer
Cohen, who is trying to regain possession of documents FBI agents took last week—reportedly related to payments to women who allegedly had affairs with Trump—on Wednesday night dropped libel lawsuits against BuzzFeed and the political research firm Fusion GPS for publishing the dossier that links Trump to Russia.
The dossier, made public 10 days before Trump's inauguration, claims that Cohen got together with Russian operatives in Prague and Europe to do damage control on reports that Trump associates had contacted Russia. The dossier also infamously claimed that the Kremlin blackmailed Trump with a tape showing sex workers he hired in Moscow urinating on a hotel bed the Obamas once slept in.
"The decision to voluntarily discontinue these cases was a difficult one," Cohen's attorney David Schwartz told Politico. "We believe the defendants defamed my client, and vindicating Mr. Cohen's rights was—and still remains—important. But given the events that have unfolded, and the time, attention and resources needed to prosecute these matters, we have dismissed the matters, despite their merits."
Cohen's decision to abandon the suits comes five days after he denied and criticized an anonymously sourced report stating Russia probe special counsel Robert Mueller had evidence he visited Prague, as the dossier alleged.
"Bad reporting, bad information and bad story by same reporter Peter Stone @McClatchyDC," Cohen tweeted. "No matter how many times or ways they write it, I have never been to Prague. I was in LA with my son. Proven!"
Bad reporting, bad information and bad story by same reporter Peter Stone @McClatchyDC. No matter how many times or ways they write it, I have never been to Prague. I was in LA with my son. Proven! https://t.co/ra7nwjUA0X
— Michael Cohen (@MichaelCohen212) April 14, 2018
Cohen may have picked his battles wisely.
Discontinuing the suits could help him dodge having to provide evidence on the case as well as questioning from Fusion GPS lawyers, which could compromise his defense in the seeming criminal investigation related to the FBI raid, according to Politico. With those civil lawsuits ongoing in federal courts, it may also have been hard for Cohen to persuade a judge to postpone a suit that porn star Stormy Daniels filed against Trump over their alleged affair.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
A Los Angeles native, Jessica Kwong grew up speaking Spanish, Cantonese and English, in that order. Her journalism career started ... Read more
