Trump was alerted to Eric Schneiderman's alleged abuse of women years ago, court filing suggests

Fredreka Schouten | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption New York AG Eric Schneiderman resigns over assault allegations New York state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced his resignation after four women accused him of physical abuse. Schneiderman had taken on high-profile roles as a women's issues advocate and an opponent of Trump administration policies. (May 8)

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump learned years ago of then-New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's alleged abuse of two women, a New York lawyer said Friday in a court filing.

In a letter to the federal judge overseeing the handling of evidence seized from Trump attorney Michael Cohen, lawyer Peter Gleason said two women approached Gleason a year apart, saying they were "sexually victimized" by Schneiderman.

After talking with the one of the women in 2013, Gleason said he discussed the matter with retired tabloid newspaper and TV journalist Stephen Dunleavy who "offered to discuss the matter with Donald Trump," then a New York businessman.

"Mr. Dunleavy did indeed discuss this very matter with Mr. Trump, as evidenced by a phone call I received from attorney Michael Cohen," Gleason said in his letter to U.S. District Court Judge Kimba Wood.

Gleason said he then shared with Cohen "certain details of Schneiderman's vile attacks on these two women."

Schneiderman, who has battled repeatedly with President Trump, resigned his post this week, after The New Yorker reported that four women accused him of physical abuse.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders on Friday said she didn't know anything about the case and referred questions to the president's outside lawyers.

Trump's attorney Rudy Giuliani told USA TODAY that he has not spoken with Trump about the letter and said he didn't know what to make of Gleason's claims.

Giuliani added that he and Trump have spoken about Schneiderman over the years, and Trump never mentioned that he knew about women who had accused the attorney general of violence. “I don’t ever recall him saying that,” Giuliani said.

Schneiderman's attorney Isabelle Kirshner did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In a Sept. 11, 2013 tweet, Trump alluded to Schneiderman being "worse than Spitzer or Weiner," a reference to two other New York politicians brought down over sexual misconduct — Gov. Eliot Spitzer and Rep. Anthony Weiner.

Weiner is gone, Spitzer is gone - next will be lightweight A.G. Eric Schneiderman. Is he a crook? Wait and see, worse than Spitzer or Weiner — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 11, 2013

Gleason did not immediately respond to USA TODAY's interview requests.

However, in an interview Friday with The New York Times, Gleason said Cohen had told him the information about the women would be brought to light if Trump were seek and win the office of New York governor.

Gleason also said his conversation with Cohen triggered Trump's 2013 tweet about Schneiderman. "That tweet Trump sent out about Schneiderman, my conversation with Cohen happened shortly before that," he told the paper.

Schneiderman and Trump are longtime combatants.

Schneiderman's office sued Trump in August 2013 over his Trump University real-estate seminars in a case that dogged Trump's 2016 bid for the presidency and resulted in a $25 million settlement.

Gleason's explosive revelation comes as Wood sorts through how to handle information the FBI seized in an April 9 raid of Cohen's home and offices as part of what prosecutors say has been a months-long criminal investigation into Cohen and his business dealings.

In his letter, Gleason urged Wood to seal any material or notes that Cohen maintained about Schneiderman's accusers to protect their privacy. In response to the letter, Wood on Friday said Gleason, who lists a suburban New York office address on his letterhead, must file a formal "memorandum of law" or withdraw the request.

Friday's development is the latest in a series of damaging headlines to spill out of court cases involving Cohen, Trump's longtime lawyer and fixer. This week, several companies, including AT&T, acknowledged paying big sums to Cohen to better understand the Trump administration.

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Cohen also has acknowledged paying $130,000 to porn star Stormy Daniels, who says she had an affair with the future president in 2006. Daniel is suing to break free of the confidentiality agreement she reached with Cohen shortly before the 2016 election.

On Twitter, Jane Mayer, The New Yorker staffer who co-authored the story detailing the allegations against Schneiderman, said the two women described by Gleason were not the sources for their piece.

"Not one source for our story on Schneiderman has any ties to Trump or Michael Cohen," Mayer said.

Just to be clear: not one source for our story on Schneiderman has any ties to Trump or Michael Cohen. Our sources all are deeply opposed to Trump and deeply disappointed that Schneiderman let them and their Cause down. — Jane Mayer (@JaneMayerNYer) May 11, 2018

Contributing: David Jackson and John Fritze