Former President Donald Trump has launched a $500 million lawsuit against Michael Cohen, claiming that his former attorney and fixer spread lies and breached his contractual obligation. But Cohen told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins that he never signed an NDA.
“I don’t recall signing any NDA and I would like to see the documents,” he said. “So far, it has yet to be produced.”
He argued that the whole purpose of Trump’s lawsuit is to “harass and intimidate.”
“That’s the whole purpose of this lawsuit, it’s to harass and intimidate. It’s not just to harass, intimidate me. It’s also to put out a message to everyone else, that if, in fact, you follow in what Cohen is doing, you too will get a $500 million lawsuit against you, which you’re going to have to defend,” he Cohen. “And to be honest with you, they — defense is expensive.”
When asked if he would be able to afford paying for the expenses around the lawsuit if it doesn’t get tossed out, Cohen replied “no.”
“However, I was fortunate enough that American patriots put together a GoFundMe, and it’s already — I mean, our first goal was to reach $100,000. I think we’re already halfway there,” he added. “And I’ll figure out how to make it work with various different law firms in Florida, as well as New York. Even if that means that I have to start, you know, doing some of the legal work myself.”
Once Cohen receives the complaint from Trump’s legal team, he noted there’s multiple strategies he could employ in response.
“I can look at maybe doing a rule 12, or rule 16 motion, and force an immediate deposition. We could file an answer. We can go ahead and make a motion for summary judgment or dismissal,” he said. “There’s many different strategies, and I’m trying to figure out which one will put me in the best situation and him in the — obviously, the worst.”
According to Collins, the Trump campaign issued a statement in response to Cohen’s CNN appearance, arguing that he has “zero credibility,”
“Any and all statements made by him about President Trump and others should be disregarded as the rantings of a deeply troubled, jealous and sad individual who was clearly trying to rehabilitate his image by selling what’s left of his soul through lies and deception,” the statement continued.
Cohen said that Trump is deflecting and this is his normal playbook.
“I know the playbook because I wrote part of it, and I know exactly what he’s doing in advance,” he said. “It’s very sad to see that these are the — this is the language coming from a former president, a guy who’s right now allegedly leading the Republican Party, wanted to be the 47th president of the United States. You see the comments that come out on Truth Social. So before he wants to attack my credibility, so far, everything has turned out to be exactly right. District attorney here in New York, grand jury ended up indicting based upon not just my testimony, but multiple people’s testimony.”
Watch Cohen’s full CNN interview in the video above.
