Michael Cohen. Photo courtesy of Washington Examiner.
Summary: Michael Cohen said on Wednesday that he is dropping his defamation lawsuit against Buzzfeed.
Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, said on Wednesday that he was dropping his defamation lawsuits against Buzzfeed and Fusion GPS. The two publications were involved with the publication of the infamous Trump dossier that documented the president’s alleged pee tape and other offenses.
In January, Cohen sued Buzzfeed and political research firm Fusion in separate lawsuits, almost one year after Buzzfeed published the Russian dossier written by Christopher Steele. Cohen sued for defamation because the dossier claimed that Cohen had made an overseas trip to meet with the Russians, and Cohen said at the time that was not true. However, a federal investigation recently discovered that Cohen was in Prague at the time the dossier claimed he was.
According to CNN, by dropping the lawsuits, Cohen can now avoid the discovery process, which means he can avoid turning over information about himself to the companies.
Earlier this month, Cohen’s office, hotel room, and home were raided by the FBI. They were searching for information regarding his payments to porn star, Stormy Daniels, and Playmate, Karen McDougal, in relation to possible campaign finance law violations.
Cohen had sued Fusion GPS and Buzzfeed in January, but not Steele, an ex-British spy who composed the file for Fusion GPS. The dossier was written as opposition research for political opponents against then-candidate Donald Trump, and many sections of the dossier remain unconfirmed.
The salacious dossier generated a lot of press when it was published initially, and it was the origin of the rumor that Vladimir Putin possessed a tape of Donald Trump being in a hotel room with hookers who peed in front of him.
While Cohen’s lawsuit has been dropped, Buzzfeed and Fusion GPS face other defamation lawsuits filed by Russian and other foreign businessmen.
Cohen is currently under criminal investigation by the FBI because of his business dealings, and insiders worry that he may flip on Trump, according to Politico.
“That’s what they’ll threaten him with: life imprisonment,” said attorney Alan Dershowitz, who has met recently with the president. “They’re going to threaten him with a long prison term and try to turn him into a canary that sings.”
Trump is also under investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller. Mueller is investigating whether or not Russia helped Trump win the 2016 presidential election, and so far, he has indicted five members of Trump’s inner circle, four of which have pled guilty.
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