Trump Sues Michael Cohen for Half a Billion Dollars

Donald Trump is suing his former attorney Michael Cohen in retaliation for his role in the criminal case against the former president. Trump is accusing Cohen of violating attorney-client privilege and seeking $500 million in damages for “breaches of fiduciary duty, unjust enrichment, conversion, and breaches of contract,” in a suit filed Wednesday.

Cohen was convicted in 2018 of numerous felonies, including “unlawful campaign contributions” made in the form of hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels on behalf of Trump. Despite taking the fall for the payment, Cohen pointed the finger at Trump as the mastermind behind the scheme, and testified in the current criminal case against the former president regarding the payment.

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The complaint against Cohen alleges that the former attorney spread “falsehoods about [Trump] with malicious intent and to wholly self-serving ends.” Lawyers for Trump allege that he suffered “vast reputational harm as a direct result of [Cohen’s] breaches.”

The former president pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsification of business records related to the Daniels payment earlier this month. Cohen made the six-figure payment through a shell corporation, and was later reimbursed by Trump. Cohen is expected to be a witness in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case against Trump.

The former attorney turned over documents to prosecutors about the payment, as well as a separate hush money payment made to former Playboy model Karen McDougal. “Michael Cohen submitted a lot of documentation, not only to this group of prosecutors, but to the earlier group. And there are other documents from other people and other testimony from other people, some of it direct, involving conversations with Mr. Trump, concerning the Karen McDougal crime,” Cohen’s lawyer told CNN in an interview earlier this month.

As previously reported by Rolling Stone, Trump has already begun laying out plans to exact his revenge on prosecutors running the case, and it seems those revenge plans are expanding to include witnesses testifying against him. The trial is not expected to move forward until January, but Trump and his cronies are already working overtime to kick up as much dirt around the case as possible.

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