Trump sued Michael Cohen for $500 million

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Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s personal attorney Michael Cohen is standing behind Trump.

Jonathan Ernst | Reuters

Former President Donald Trump sued his former personal attorney and fixer Michael Cohen on Wednesday, seeking at least $500 million for alleged breach of contract and “unjust enrichment.”

The civil suit, filed in federal court in Miami, accuses Cohen of “spreading falsehoods” about Trump, breaching his attorney-client relationship and violating a confidentiality agreement he signed with the Trump Organization.

The allegations against Cohen, whose once-close relationship with Trump soured in 2018, came as the disbarred lawyer became a key witness against the former president in a Manhattan criminal case.

Trump, the first former president to face criminal charges, pleaded not guilty earlier this month to 34 counts of falsifying business records in that case. It centers on hush money payments made before the 2016 presidential election, which Cohen facilitated for Trump.

The notoriously litigious former president has previously been accused of using the courts as a cudgel against his opponents.

Alejandro Brito, Trump’s lawyer in the case, referred CNBC’s questions about the timing of the new lawsuit against Cohen to a spokesman for Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign. The spokesperson said in a statement that the lawsuit and Cohen’s alleged wrongdoing “stand for themselves.”

The complaint alleges that Cohen’s fiduciary obligations owed to Trump “survived the attorney-client relationship and Defendant’s dismissal and are still in effect today.”

Cohen’s “most serious breach of fiduciary duty and contract” relates to the tell-all books he published in 2020 and 2022, as well as claims made on his podcast, “Mea Culpa,” it said. lawsuit

“Mr. Trump once again appears to be using and abusing the judicial system as a means of harassment and intimidation against Michael Cohen,” Lanny Davis, Cohen’s attorney, said in a statement.

Davis said the “frivolous” lawsuit indicates that Trump is “fearful of his impending legal risks and trying to send a message to other potential witnesses who are cooperating with prosecutors against him.”

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