A New York appeals court has ruled that Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s former fixer and personal attorney can sue the Trump Organization to recoup millions of dollars in legal fees, ABC News [1] reports.
In a unanimous opinion, the Appellate Division, First Department court ruled the trial judge incorrectly dismissed Cohen’s lawsuit “that sought indemnification for outstanding legal fees Cohen incurred in connection with the special counsel and congressional hearings, New York attorney general and Manhattan District Attorney proceedings and the proceeding related to FBI search warrants,” per ABC News.
This is definitely good news for Cohen, who’d originally suffered a setback when a federal judge dismissed his lawsuit that alleged Trump, former Attorney General Bill Barr, and the Trump administration were retaliating against him for saying some rather unflattering [2] things about his former boss.
In regard to his lawsuit over legal fees, the appellate judges said “it should not have been dismissed based on the finding that those fees were not, as a matter of law, incurred by reason of the fact that he had been an employee of defendant.”
Having worked for Trump for more than a decade, Cohen became familiar with the unpleasant nature of the former president. He soon became one of Trump’s most ardent opponents, absolutely shredding Trump in his 2020 book Disloyal. He also described Trump [3] as “absolutely morally bankrupt.”
Cohen became embroiled in legal turmoil that forced him to plead guilty to various crimes in 2018. These included campaign finance violations, tax evasion, and lying to Congress. He was sentenced to three years in prison but as Covid 19 spread, Cohen was released six months earlier.
Testifying before Congress’s House Oversight Committee in an event that was watched [4] by 16 million viewers on February 19, 2019, Cohen called the former president “a racist,” a “conman,” and a “cheat,” Cohen said his loyalty to Trump “cost him everything.”
“I will not sit back, say nothing and allow him to do the same for the country,” he said.
January 20, 2023, will mark two years since this conman left office but the country still bears the wounds he left behind. Hate groups proliferated during his time in office, with Vox [5] noting in one report that he was the “accelerant” in encouraging these groups and political violence.
The wounds are deep and we must hope there isn’t another Trump presidency. Because if there is, more hate and violence will undoubtedly occur.