FBI/LEGAL/MICHAEL COHEN/RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, has dropped a defamation lawsuit against BuzzFeed over the publication of an unsubstantiated intelligence dossier that alleged he played a role in working with Russia to help Mr. Trump become president. Mr. Cohen is also dropping a similar defamation suit against Fusion GPS, the private investigation firm responsible for the dossier. Since filing the suits in January, Mr. Cohen has come under criminal investigation for potential bank fraud and campaign-finance violations. His attorney said the probe made it difficult to continue with the defamation cases…FBI agents raided Mr. Cohen’s home, hotel and office last week, seeking documents about, among other things, a $130,000 payment he made in October 2016 to a former adult-film actress to prevent her from publicly discussing an alleged sexual encounter with Mr. Trump in 2006, people familiar with the matter have said. Messrs. Trump and Cohen deny that the encounter ever occurred. “
-Lukas I. Alpert, “Michael Cohen Drops Defamation Suits Against BuzzFeed, Fusion GPS Over Russia Dossier,” The Wall Street Journal, April 19, 2018 11:48 am