Trump golfs in Palm Beach as he sues ex-lawyer Michael Cohen
EXCLUSIVE: Trump goes through range of emotions chipping onto the green in Palm Beach – as it’s revealed he is SUING disgraced former fixer Michael Cohen for $500 MILLION
- Trump was at his West Palm Beach golf club on Wednesday
- He also sued his former attorney who testified against him
- Later in the day he’ll make his first trip to New York since arraignment
- On Thursday he’ll be deposed in a case involving his business empire
Donald Trump spent Wednesday playing golf ahead of his scheduled trip to New York to be deposed in a $250 million business fraud lawsuit filed against him and as he filed his own case against his former attorney Michael Cohen.
The former president went through a range of emotions as he played a round at his Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, appearing to try and chip his golf ball at one point, then raising his hands above his head and looking frustrated after he took a shot.
Golf was part of Trump’s busy Wednesday where his attorneys filed $500 million lawsuit against Cohen in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida and the former president prepared to defend his business practices in a legal fight with New York’s attorney general.
He drove himself on his golf cart, which is his preference. His Secret Service security detail was close by.
Donald Trump was spotted at his West Palm Beach golf club
He wore his signature red ‘Make America Great Again’ baseball cap with the number 45 stitched on its side. Trump was the 45th president of the United States.
Golfing is one of the former president’s favorite hobbies and he’s a regular at his Trump golf clubs.
However also on Wednesday he sued Cohen, his one-time fixer, breach of his attorney-client relationship, for breaches of attorney-client relationship, unjust enrichment, conversion, and breaches of contract, according to the 32-page lawsuit filed in court.
Trump is asking for the amount of compensatory and punitive damages to be determined at trial, but his attorneys note it’s ‘expected to substantially exceed Five Hundred Million Dollars ($500,000,000).’
Trump’s legal team argued Cohen breached his attorney-client relationship with the former president ‘by both revealing Plaintiff’s confidences, and spreading falsehoods about Plaintiff, likely to be embarrassing or detrimental.’ And that Cohen was ‘spreading falsehoods about Plaintiff with malicious intent and to wholly self-serving ends.
Cohen testified in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s role in the 2016 election and in the Stormy Daniels case. In 2018, Cohen pleaded guilty to arranging the hush-money payments to the porn star but said Trump directed them.
The former president got a round in before he’s expected to head to New York
Trump is due to be deposed on Thursday in a case involving his business empire
Trump’s lawsuit also says Cohen defamed the former president through the ‘publication of two books, a podcast series, and innumerable mainstream media appearances.’
Cohen worked for Trump from 2006 to 2018 in both his Trump Organization and as his private attorney. In 2018, he was sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to tax evasion and campaign-finance violations.
Later Wednesday Trump is scheduled to make his first trip to New York since his arraignment on charges related to a hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels. He pled not guilty.
But he’ll be deposed on Thursday in a different case, this one connected to his business empire.
New York Attorney General Letitia James sued Trump, three of his adult children, and the Trump Organization last September, following a three-year probe.
She charges they misled banks and others by providing financial statements the misstated the value of his assets, including his golf clubs and the hotels bearing his name.
James is seeking $250 million and a ban on Trump and his adult children doing business in the state again.
Trump is expected to face questioning at James’ office in lower Manhattan. He has attacked the attorney general, a Democrat, as conducting a ‘politically motivated witch hunt.’
Trump sued his ex-attorney Michael Cohen (left) for $500 million; Trump will be deposed in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ (right) lawsuit against his business empire
Trump takes a shot at his golf course on Wednesday
The former president enjoys golf and plays often at his Trump properties
He and his attorneys tried to get the case dismissed arguing that he, as a Republican, was being ‘singled out and subject to selective treatment’ by James.
The judge in the case, Arthur Engoron, denied the former president’s move and ordered it to trial. Engoron also rejected a separate attempt by Ivanka Trump, who is named in the lawsuit, to dismiss the accusations against her.
Trump previously sat for a deposition at James’ office last August, just weeks before she filed the lawsuit. At that time, he declined to answer questions and invoked his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination more than 400 times.
Engoron has scheduled an Oct. 2 trial date, which is shortly before the Republican presidential primaries are to begin.
He agreed to allow lawyers more time to review evidence, interview witnesses and file motions. Trump’s deposition is part of that process.
Donald Trump on his golf course
Donald Trump’s motorcade makes its way through rainy Palm Beach
Donald Trump with his caddie
Donald Trump drives his own golf cart but is followed by Secret Service
In addition to James’ case and the hush money case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, Trump faces a third legal case in New York: a civil lawsuit resulting from columnist Jean Carroll’s claims that he raped her in a department store dressing room in the 1990s. Trump has denied the charge.
The trial is scheduled to start April 25 in Manhattan federal court.
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