Donald Trump has sued Michael Cohen, his ex-lawyer and a crucial witness in the “hush money” case brought against the former president by Manhattan prosecutors, seeking at least $500mn for alleged breaches of contract and confidentiality agreements.
The lawsuit was filed in the Southern District of Florida just a few weeks after Cohen repeatedly testified before a grand jury in New York about the $130,000 he paid to buy the silence of porn actress Stormy Daniels in the days before the 2016 election. Daniels, who also testified before the Manhattan grand jury, had claimed she had an affair with Trump, which he denies.
The recording of Trump’s alleged reimbursements to Cohen in 2017 are at the centre of the 34 felony charges brought against the former president by the Manhattan district attorney last month.
Cohen, a New York lawyer who once said he would “take a bullet” for Trump and became a part of the former president’s first election campaign, worked first as an attorney for the Trump Organization, and then for Donald Trump himself, before their relationship ended in 2018.
He subsequently pleaded guilty to federal campaign finance charges and lying to Congress in 2018. He received a three-year prison sentence, of which he served 13 months, and turned on his former boss, becoming one of Trump’s loudest critics.
Trump’s lawyers said in the lawsuit that Cohen — who was disbarred following his conviction — breached his contract with his former client “through myriad public statements, including the publication of two books, a podcast series, and innumerable mainstream media appearances”, which caused the former president to suffer “vast reputational harm”.
A lawyer for Cohen did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Todd Blanche, a lawyer representing Trump in the district attorney’s criminal case, told a court last week that his client had been “frustrated” and “upset” watching Cohen and others on the air, and that the former president had therefore “responded forcefully” on social media.
Trump’s lawsuit is the latest riposte by the former president and his allies to the unprecedented indictment issued by Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg’s office. The years-long investigation had been labelled a “political witch hunt” by Trump and supporters such as Jim Jordan, a Republican congressman who chairs the House judiciary committee.
On Tuesday, Bragg sued Jordan and his committee in an attempt to block a subpoena issued to former Manhattan prosecutor Mark Pomerantz, which the DA’s office said was part of a “retaliatory political circus designed to undermine the rule of law”.
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