Former US President Donald Trump is suing his former attorney, Michael Cohen for $500 million in damages for allegedly breaching his contract as Trump’s former personal attorney.
Michael Cohen — a key witness in the criminal case against the former president — violated their attorney-client relationship and breached a confidentiality agreement, according to a 32-page lawsuit filed by Trump’s lawyers Wednesday.
The lawsuit, filed in a Florida federal court accuses Cohen of of revealing ‘confidences’ in an ’embarrassing or detrimental way.’
Cohen, the suit alleges, also breached a confidentiality agreement and spread ‘falsehoods’ about Trump ‘with malicious intent and to wholly self-serving ends.’
Cohen, known as Trump’s onetime ‘fixer,’ recently came back to the spotlight after Trump pleaded not guilty last week to 34 charges of falsifying business records following an investigation into hush money payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
The payments were coordinated by Cohen in the days before the 2016 election, with Cohen completely cooperating with federal prosecutors.
Trump’s ire over Cohen’s cooperation resulted in the new lawsuit.
The filing attacks Cohen’s credibility as he is expected to be a key witness in Trump’s impending criminal trial in New York.
The filing references statements Cohen made in his book, ‘Disloyal: A Memoir,’ as well as on his podcast and through media appearances, calling these the ‘most egregious breaches’ of his contract with Trump.
