Ex-Trump Lawyer Says Epstein Claims Ruined Valentine's Day Dinner

Michael Cohen says he was targeted by a "smear campaign" related to Jeffrey Epstein on the holiday.

Published on Feb. 15, 2026

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Donald Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen said his Valentine's Day dinner with his wife was ruined by a barrage of emails resulting from what he calls a "smear campaign" related to Jeffrey Epstein. Cohen, who spent time in jail in connection with campaign finance violations, wrote about the experience in an essay, saying the emails "recycled the same tired innuendo" about Trump, Epstein, and Cohen's own legal issues.

Why it matters

This incident highlights the ongoing fallout and controversy surrounding Cohen's past associations with Trump and Epstein, even years after Cohen's incarceration. The "smear campaign" targeting Cohen on a personal holiday raises questions about the lengths some will go to keep these issues in the public eye.

The details

According to Cohen, halfway through his Valentine's Day dinner with his wife, his phone "began lighting up" with forwarded emails sent to university presidents he had recently addressed. The emails "recycled the same tired innuendo" about Trump, Epstein, and Cohen's own legal issues, presented "as though it concealed something sinister." Cohen sees this as an attempt to "divide and fracture this community by creating doubt where corroboration already exists."

  • On February 14th, 2026, Valentine's Day, Cohen was having dinner with his wife when the emails were sent.
  • Cohen has been planning to prepare a sworn declaration and affidavit in response to the "smear campaign."

The players

Michael Cohen

Donald Trump's former lawyer who spent time in jail in connection with campaign finance violations.

Donald Trump

The former President of the United States, with whom Cohen had a long association as his lawyer and "fixer."

Jeffrey Epstein

The late financier who was convicted of sex crimes and had connections to both Trump and Cohen.

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What they’re saying

“Sending anonymous emails to university presidents on Valentine's Day to plant suspicion is not accountability. It is sabotage. It is an attempt to divide and fracture this community by creating doubt where corroboration already exists.”

— Michael Cohen, Former Trump Lawyer (rawstory.com)

“They could not accept the truth, so they are trying to bury it under noise. Valentine's Day should have been about endurance, thirty-three years of marriage, surviving prison, surviving humiliation, and surviving public disgrace. Instead, I was on my phone explaining, again, that corroborated facts do not disappear because someone refuses to accept them.”

— Michael Cohen, Former Trump Lawyer (rawstory.com)

What’s next

Cohen is preparing a sworn declaration and affidavit under penalty of perjury to formally restate the facts and push back against the "smear campaign."

The takeaway

This incident underscores the ongoing controversy and divisiveness surrounding Cohen's past associations with Trump and Epstein, even years after his incarceration. It highlights how some will go to great lengths to keep these issues in the public eye, even disrupting personal celebrations, in an apparent effort to sow doubt and division.