Former President Trump’s ex-lawyer Michael Cohen will no longer testify next week in the New York civil fraud trial against Trump due to health reasons.
Cohen delayed his court appearance, citing a medical issue, sources confirmed to the Daily Beast, who first reported the cancelation.
It’s not known how long Trump’s former fixer will be out for his health concern. He could take the stand later in the trial, which is expected to take months.
A judge late last month ruled Trump and his businesses committed fraud by falsely inflating and deflating the value of its assets in order to lower taxes and receive better insurance coverage — and several of his business licenses were set to be stripped.
Cohen, a key witness in the case, has argued the fraud trial would likely spell the end of the former president’s business empire. He claimed in an interview earlier this month that everything that happened at the Trump Organization was with the “direction of, and ultimately signed off by, Donald J. Trump.”
The lawyer, who once served as the vice president of organization, previously testified in 2019 — alleging that his former boss artificially inflated his wealth. He was expected to take the stand as soon as Tuesday and go through a few days of questioning.
In September, Cohen said that he was concerned to testify in the case, citing fears of online attacks from Trump’s supporters. He said if not for the subpoena, he considered not even showing up.
“I don’t have to put my life on the line simply because Donald Trump cannot control himself and the courts are not controlling him,” he stated.
The trial began on Oct. 2 with with both New York Attorney General Letitia James and Trump present in the courtroom.
A New York appeals court declined the former president’s request to temporarily pause the trial, but halted the cancellation of his business licenses until after an appeals court hears his case.