by WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump filed a lawsuit in federal court Wednesday against his former attorney Michael Cohen, who has become a key witness in the criminal case against the former president, seeking more than $500 million in damages for alleged “violations of fiduciary duty, unjust enrichment, conversion, and breach of contract.”
Cohen was the key witness who testified last month before a Manhattan grand jury, which later approved a 34-count indictment against Trump. The former president has denied wrongdoing.
The complaint accuses Cohen of violating his attorney-client relationship with Trump by publicly disclosing information about the former president and “spreading falsehoods about [Trump]that is likely to be embarrassing or disruptive, and engaged in other misconduct in violation of the New York Rules of Professional Conduct.”
The former president “suffered extensive reputational damage as a direct result of defendant’s violations,” Trump’s attorney, Alejandro Brito, wrote in the lawsuit filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
Trump’s lawyer said Cohen did those things with “malicious intent and for totally selfish ends.”
Cohen committed the violations by “disparging” Trump “through countless public statements, including the publication of two books, a series of podcasts, and countless appearances in mainstream media,” the complaint says.
“Defendant has engaged in such unlawful conduct over a period of time, and despite being required in writing to cease and desist from such unacceptable actions, the frequency and hostility of the acts has increased in recent months. to the plaintiff,” Trump’s attorney wrote.
Cohen’s attorney, Lanny J. Davis, responded to the lawsuit saying that Trump “appears once again to be using and abusing the judicial system as a form of harassment and intimidation.”
“It appears that he is terrified of the legal dangers ahead and is trying to send a message to other potential witnesses that they are cooperating with prosecutors against him,” Davis said in a statement. “Mr. Cohen will not be deterred and is confident that the lawsuit will fail based on the facts and the law.”
Trump wants “compensatory, incidental, and punitive damages” in an amount to be determined at trial that would “substantially exceed” $500 million, according to the complaint. He also wants any profits or compensation Cohen receives from his books, podcasts or other products.
The lawsuit tried to thread a difficult thread, arguing that Cohen violated the attorney-client relationship by disclosing confidential information, but also that Cohen repeatedly lied. And while the filing attacks Cohen as dishonest, he noted that he, too, has made many positive statements about Trump, such as “defendant viewed plaintiff as a ‘wonderful man’ who would make ‘an incredible president.'”
Trump has criticized Cohen, the former president’s former attorney, who pleaded guilty in 2018 to a series of tax evasion charges as well as lying to Congress in his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and its role. in the payment pipeline. to silence two women who alleged they had affairs with Trump.
Cohen completed his resulting prison sentence in November 2021. Trump has denied the affairs and any wrongdoing related to the hush money payments.
Last week, the former president pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to his role in those hush money payments toward the end of his 2016 presidential campaign.
Trump’s lawsuit offers its own case about payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels prior to 2016, which appears to argue that Cohen did not disclose the payments to another Trump lawyer, Robert Costello, until February 2018.
In the lawsuit, Trump cites news articles about Costello’s grand jury testimony to say that Cohen told Costello that he had “negotiated a $130,000 confidentiality agreement” and expressly stated that the $130,000 payment did not come from “Trump “.
In May 2018, Trump filed an amended financial disclosure that acknowledged the payments to reimburse Cohen and that those payments were made in 2017.
The statement of facts filed by prosecutors in the Manhattan case details how Cohen oversaw hush money payments to three people: Daniels, Playboy model Karen McDougal and a former Trump Tower doorman who claimed to have a story about a child Trump had out of wedlock. .
Ken Dilanian contributed.
