Donald Trump is suing his turncoat former “fixer” Michael Cohen for $500 million, alleging his ex-attorney breached his contract.
The lawsuit, filed in a Florida federal court on Wednesday, accuses Cohen of spreading false information about Trump and breaching his contractual obligations to the former president in Cohen’s public statements, published books, podcast series, and other media appearances.
In the suit, Trump’s legal team said that the former president has “no alternative but to seek legal redress” to combat an emboldened Cohen, who they allege has recently ramped up false statements about his former boss.
According to the lawsuit, Cohen revealed confidential information in talking about his prior-attorney-client relationship with Trump during media interviews about the Manhattan District Attorney’s grand jury investigation that led to the former president’s indictment.
“During one such appearance, for example, Defendant discussed that he testified in front of the Manhattan District Attorney’s grand jury, and suggested that Plaintiff was, by virtue of Defendant’s knowledge of confidential information, criminally exposed,” the lawsuit states.
Cohen also violated an employee confidentiality agreement he signed with The Trump Organization when he published his two books that discuss Trump, the lawsuit claims.
“[Mr. Cohen] “chose to capitalize on his confidential relationship with (Trump) to pursue financial gain and repair a reputation shattered by his repeated misrepresentations and deceptive acts, fueled by his animus toward the Plaintiff and his family members,” the lawsuit alleges.
According to the lawsuit, Cohen never asked for permission from Trump to disclose any confidential information that should’ve been protected by that agreement and his attorney-client obligations before publishing the books.
The complaint also alleges that, like his books, Cohen has put out “inflammatory, misleading, or outright false” information in his podcast “Mea Culpa.”
In response, Cohen’s attorney Lanny Davis said, “Mr. Trump is once again using and abusing the judicial system as a form of harassment and intimidation against Michael Cohen.”
Davis’s statement added, “Mr. Cohen will not be deterred and is confident that the suit will fail based on the facts and the law.”