OAN Roy Francis
UPDATED 2:26 PM – Thursday, April 13, 2023
One week after 45th President Donald Trump pled not guilty to the 34 felony charges brought against him by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, he filed a lawsuit against his former lawyer Michael Cohen.
Trump’s legal team filed the more-than 30-page lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida in Miami, Florida on Wednesday.
Trump is suing Cohen for $500 million in damages. The suit alleged that Cohen had violated his attorney-client relationship by revealing classified information and “spreading falsehoods.”
The complaint said that Cohen’s fiduciary obligations owed to Trump are “still in effect today” and that his most egregious “breach of fiduciary duty and contract” came when he published his tell-all books in 2020 and 2022, along with the claims that the disbarred lawyer made on his podcast “Mea Culpa.”
They also detailed Cohen’s “innumerable mainstream media appearances while ignoring cease and desist orders.”
“This is an action arising from [Cohen’s] multiple breaches of fiduciary duty, unjust enrichment, conversion and breaches of contract by virtue of [Cohen’s] past service as [Trump’s] employee and attorney,” the lawsuit stated.
The lawsuit also said that Cohen breached the terms of confidentiality with “malicious intent and to wholly self-serving ends.”
“Such continuous and escalating improper conduct by [Cohen] has reached a proverbial crescendo and has left [Trump] with no alternative but to seek legal redress through this action,” the lawsuit states, adding that Trump has “suffered vast reputational harm as a direct result of [Cohen’s] breaches.”
The filing brings Cohen’s credibility under further doubt as he is set to be a key witness in Trump’s trial in New York.
However, a source close to Trump’s team said that the lawsuit against Cohen “has nothing to do with the Manhattan DA’s lawless and fact-less case and is a totally separate matter.”
Cohen’s attorney, Lanny Davis, accused Trump of “abusing the judicial system” with the lawsuit.
“Mr. Trump appears once again to be using and abusing the judicial system as a form of harassment and intimidation against Michael Cohen,” he said.
This comes as the 45th president has returned to New York City on Thursday for a deposition that is scheduled to take place at the Attorney General’s office in regards to the lawsuit filed by Leticia James (D-N.Y.).
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