A New York lawyer says that he told President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, about accusations of abuse against then-New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman during a 2013 phone conversation, the New York Times reports.
In a letter Friday to the judge overseeing the Cohen investigation, attorney Peter Gleason asked the court to issue a protective order sealing any notes Cohen may have taken during their conversation. It’s unclear whether Cohen made any such notes. A lawyer for Cohen did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for clarification.
Gleason said that in 2012 and 2013 he was approached by two different women who claimed that Schneiderman was “sexually inappropriate” with them, and that he advised the women not to report what happened to prosecutors. Gleason discussed the matter with a retired New York Post columnist, Stephen Dunleavy, instead.
Gleason said that Dunleavy offered to talk about the issue with Trump. At the time, Schneiderman was engaged in legal action against Trump University over claims the school defrauded students. The suit was later settled for $25 million.
According to Gleason, shortly thereafter, he got a call from Michael Cohen, Trump’s longtime personal lawyer, and “shared with him certain details” of the women’s accusations.
The letter was sent to Kimba Wood, the judge overseeing the records the FBI seized from Cohen last month as part of a criminal investigation.
Gleason, who misspelled Schneiderman’s name throughout his letter, refrained from naming the women.
In September 2013, Trump attacked Schneiderman on Twitter, comparing him former New York Representative Anthony Weiner and former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who were both embroiled in sex scandals in the past.
“Weiner is gone, Spitzer gone — next will be lightweight A.G. Eric Schneiderman,” Trump wrote. “Is he a crook? Wait and see, worse than Spitzer or Weiner.”
Gleason told the Times that Trump’s tweet was a direct result of his conversation with Cohen.
“That tweet that Trump sent out about Schneiderman,” Gleason said, “my conversation with Cohen happened shortly before that.”