Judge: Trump company doesn't have to pay Cohen’s legal bills

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump’s company won’t have to pay hefty legal bills incurred by his former personal lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen, who became a vocal critic of the ex-president and went to prison after pleading guilty to tax and other crimes, a New York judge ruled Friday.

Judge Joel M. Cohen threw out Cohen’s breach of contract lawsuit against the Trump Organization, rejecting his claims that the company had promised to cover his legal bills and finding that fees he racked up as a result of the criminal investigation into his conduct weren’t the company’s responsibility.

Michael Cohen said in the lawsuit, filed in March 2019, that the Trump Organization owed him at least $1.9 million for the cost of his defense. The judge noted in his ruling that after the lawsuit was filed, Trump’s company did go ahead and pay some of his bills.

“In a nutshell, Mr. Cohen’s legal fees arise out of his (sometimes unlawful) service to Mr. Trump personally, to Mr. Trump’s campaign, and to the Trump Foundation, but not out of his service to the business of the Trump Organization, which is the only defendant in this case,” the judge wrote in his decision.

Michael Cohen and the judge are not related.

Lanny Davis, a lawyer for Michael Cohen, tweeted that the decision was “unfair,” and asked for contributions to a GoFundMe page set up for Cohen’s legal defense in 2018. So, far the page has raised more than $217,000.

In a statement, the Trump Organization touted the ruling as an “incredible victory” and said it would seek “monetary damages against Mr. Cohen for all of his despicable conduct.”

“Mr. Cohen attempted to invent a basis for requiring the Trump Organization to pay his legal fees for personal criminal conduct (including...