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The Trump Organization was served with a subpoena on Monday asking its executive vice president, Donald Trump Jr., to testify in the upcoming trial.
New York jurors will be asked to decide whether the company owes ex-President Donald Trump’s former lawyer and “fixer” Michael Cohen up to $1.3 million in legal fees. Cohen and his attorney, Hunter Winstead, told CBS News on Tuesday that the subpoena was sent to Trump Jr.
Cohen originally sued in March 2019. He wanted the Trump Organization to pay fees stemming from Cohen’s defense of Trump and himself during the 2017 and 2018 investigations, and in about 20 meetings with Manhattan district attorney and a grand jury before Trump was indicted in March.
Winstead said in court Friday that a company attorney said in a deposition that the Trump Corporation covered Trump Jr.’s legal fees. in connection with some of the same investigations for which Cohen is seeking payment.
“We want to introduce testimony about what Mr. Trump Jr. paid his lawyers on exactly the same things,” said the lawyer, Hunter Winstead.
Winstead initially said Friday that they also intended to call the former president as a witness, saying he could testify about whether there were oral agreements related to Cohen’s legal fees in 2017 and 2018.
“No, there’s no need for him,” Judge Joel Cohen said Friday, after lawyers for the Trump Organization agreed not to contest the fact that oral agreements were made.
After the judge, who is not related to Michael Cohen, said Trump Jr. could be subpoenaed, the company’s lawyer said it could file an opposition to the subpoena.
“As far as we’re concerned both of those witnesses are irrelevant to the case,” said the attorney, James Kiley, calling their inclusion on the list “borderline harassment.”
Representatives of the Trump Organization did not respond to emails Tuesday from CBS News.
Cohen entered a guilty plea in 2018 to federal campaign finance violations and tax evasion, and the company argued that his criminal conduct violated any agreements it had with him.
Cohen is now an ardent critic of Trump, embroiled in a tangle of legal cases involving Trump, who is running for president again. Cohen was the key witness in the Manhattan criminal case in which Trump entered a not guilty plea to 34 state felony counts related to falsifying business records. The case revolves around payments that reimbursed Cohen for an alleged “hush money” transaction with an adult film star days before the 2016 presidential election, which Trump won.
Trump sued Cohen in April for more than $500 million, alleging Cohen breached his “fiduciary duty” and attorney-client privileges to become “unjustly enriched.” Cohen denied the allegations and said Trump was trying to “intimidate” him.
The legal battle continues amid an increasingly dire legal situation for Trump. On Tuesday, 23 residents of Fulton County, Georgia will be selected to consider possible charges related to alleged efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the state’s results in the 2020 presidential election. which Trump lost.
On Monday night, lawyers for Trump filed a motion to postpone the trial of the previous 2024 election for another criminal case, in which Trump last month entered a not guilty plea to 37 federal felony counts related to on the “willful retention” of classified documents after he left. the white house
Trump has repeatedly denied allegations in all cases, accusing prosecutors of political animus and a “witch hunt.”
Jury selection in Cohen’s case is scheduled to begin July 17.
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Graham Kates
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