Donald Trump sues former lawyer Michael Cohen for $500 million over 'contract breach'

Former US President Donald Trump has filed a $500 million lawsuit against his former attorney Michael Cohen. He is suing Cohen for allegedly breaching his contract as Trump’s former personal attorney and for spreading false information about him. The lawsuit was filed in a Florida federal court on Wednesday.

Trump's legal team says that the motive behind the suit is to combat an emboldened Cohen and the former president has “no alternative but to seek legal redress”. They say that Cohen, who is once again in the limelight following Trump's indictment in the Stormy Daniels hush-money payment case, has recently ramped up false statements about his former client.

The lawsuit says that Cohen revealed confidential information while talking about his prior-attorney-client relationship with Trump in his public statements, books, podcast series and other media appearances about the Manhattan District Attorney’s grand jury investigation.

“During one such appearance, for example, Defendant discussed that he testified in front of the Manhattan District Attorney’s grand jury, and suggested that Plaintiff was, by virtue of Defendant’s knowledge of confidential information, criminally exposed,” the lawsuit states.

Meanwhile, Cohen’s attorney says he is confident that the lawsuit will fail. “Mr. Trump is once again using and abusing the judicial system as a form of harassment and intimidation against Michael Cohen,” Lanny Davis said in a statement.

“Mr. Cohen will not be deterred and is confident that the suit will fail based on the facts and the law,” he added.

The lawsuit also alleged that Cohen violated an employee confidentiality agreement he signed with The Trump Organization by talking about Trump in his two books.

It stated that Cohen “chose to capitalise on his confidential relationship with (Trump) to pursue financial gain and repair a reputation shattered by his repeated misrepresentations and deceptive acts, fueled by his animus toward the Plaintiff and his family members."

(With inputs from agencies)

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