Donald Trump (76) is suing his former lawyer Michael Cohen (56) for 500 million US dollars (around 455 million euros) in damages. In a civil lawsuit, the ex-US President accuses the 56-year-old of breaching his legal duties towards him. This is reported by several US media, including Fox News, in unison.
Trump’s legal team filed the lawsuit in the Florida District Court on Wednesday (April 12). In it, Cohen is accused of spreading false information about Trump in his public statements, books, podcasts and other media appearances and of breaching his contractual obligations to the former president. He is said to have violated a confidentiality agreement.
The lawsuit alleges that Cohen “maliciously and for entirely self-interested purposes” lied about Trump. As a result, the ex-president suffered “enormous damage to his image”. The legal team went on to state that the former president “has no choice but to pursue legal action.”
“Mr. Trump is once again using and abusing the justice system as a form of harassment and intimidation against Michael Cohen,” Lanny Davis, 77, Cohen’s attorney, said in a statement, according to CNN. “Mr. Cohen will not be deterred and is confident that the lawsuit will fail on the facts and the law.”
Michael Cohen is the key witness in the current indictment against Trump in New York. Among other things, it is about a hush money payment of 130,000 US dollars that Cohen is said to have made to the porn actress Stormy Daniels (44) in order to possibly avert damage from his boss in the 2016 election campaign. Cohen has already admitted this. In 2018, he was sentenced to three years in prison for making false statements, among other things. Cohen worked for Trump for more than ten years.
Donald Trump was officially indicted in a New York court in early April. He is accused of falsifying business documents in 34 cases. It is also about Trump’s alleged hush money payment to Daniels. After the New York Attorney’s office read the charges, Trump pleaded not guilty. According to information from CNN, the next date for a personal hearing is scheduled for December 4th.
