Former President Trump’s ex-lawyer Michael Cohen announced Friday he would return to New York next week to testify in the civil fraud trial after a medical delay.
Cohen confirmed the move in a post on Meta’s Threads – including a picture generated by artificial intelligence (AI), of him and the Trump with “Let’s get you back to your cell.”
His initial court appearance was delayed last week after it was reported that he had a medical issue.
“It appears that I will be reunited with my old client @realDonaldTrump when I testify this Tuesday, October 24th at the @NewYorkStateAG civil fraud trial,” Cohen wrote in the post. “See you there!”
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.
A key witness in the case, Cohen has argued the fraud trial would likely spell the end of Trump’s business empire in the sate. In an interview earlier this month, Cohen claimed that everything that happened at the Trump Organization was with the “direction of, and ultimately signed off by, Donald J. Trump.”
He previously testified in 2019, alleging his former boss artificially inflated his wealth.
In September, Cohen said that he was concerned to testify in Trump’s case, citing fears of online attacks from the 2024 presidential candidate’s supporters. If it weren’t for the subpoena, he said 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 said at the time.
Cohen, who at one time was one of Trump’s closest allies, famously said that he would take a bullet for his then-boss. Their relationship deteriorated after Cohen provided a testimony to a House committee about Trump’s involvement in a hush-money scheme.
New York Attorney General Letitia James’s office said it opened its investigation into Trump after that testimony.
Trump’s ongoing trial began on Oct. 2 with both the former president and James present in the courtroom.