Trump sues ex-lawyer Michael Cohen after grand jury testimony
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[April 13, 2023]
By Luc Cohen
(Reuters) -Donald Trump sued his ex-lawyer Michael Cohen on Wednesday
seeking at least $500 million in damages, as the former U.S. president
steps up attacks on his onetime loyal "fixer" after Cohen testified
before the Manhattan grand jury that indicted Trump.
In a complaint filed in federal court in Miami, Trump accused Cohen of
failing to keep confidential attorney-client communications private and
profiting by "spreading falsehoods" about him in books and podcasts.
Lanny Davis, a lawyer for Cohen, called Trump's lawsuit "frivolous."
Trump often over the years has filed suits against various adversaries.
"Mr. Trump is once again using and abusing the judicial system as a form
of harassment and intimidation against Michael Cohen," Davis said.
The lawsuit comes as Cohen, who once said he would "do anything" to
protect Trump, appears poised to become a star witness against him at a
possible criminal trial in New York on the charges unsealed last week.
Trump, who is running for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination,
pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records. It
marked the first time a former U.S. president was charged with a crime.
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Prosecutors led by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat,
have said Trump covered up his reimbursement of Cohen for $130,000 in
hush money paid before the 2016 election to porn star Stormy Daniels,
who has said she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006. Trump denies
that any such relationship occurred.
Trump's lawsuit said Cohen wrongfully called Trump "racist" in the
disbarred lawyer's 2020 book, entitled "Disloyal," and fabricated
conversations with Trump from when he served as his attorney.
"The timing of Disloyal's release, just prior to the November 3, 2020
Presidential Election, suggests that (Cohen) intended to improperly
disclose (Trump's) confidences when it would be most lucrative to do so
- and while Disloyal would be sure to have the most damaging
reputational effect," the lawsuit said.
Trump lost the election to Democrat Joe Biden.
'I AM ASHAMED'
Cohen was a top executive at Trump's real estate company and then worked
as his personal lawyer when Trump became president in 2017. Once known
for intense loyalty to Trump, Cohen has become a harsh critic and has
assisted law enforcement agencies and lawmakers investigating his former
boss.
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Donald Trump's personal attorney Michael
Cohen stands behind Trump as he runs for president while a group of
supporters lay hands on Trump in prayer during a campaign stop at
the New Spirit Revival Center church in Cleveland Heights, Ohio,
U.S. September 21, 2016.REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo
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"I am ashamed because I know what Mr. Trump is," Cohen told a U.S.
congressional committee in 2019. "He is a racist. He is a con man.
He is a cheat."
Cohen in 2018 pleaded guilty to violating federal election law
through the $130,000 payment to Daniels. He was sentenced to three
years in prison for that and other crimes, including cheating on his
personal taxes and lying under oath to Congress about when the Trump
Organization stopped working on a proposed building project in
Russia.
Referring to Daniels by her real name Stephanie Clifford, Trump's
lawyers said Trump intended the payment to her "to protect his
family from the malicious and false claims made by Clifford."
The criminal case is one of several legal woes Trump faces including
investigations into attempts to overturn his 2020 election loss and
into his removal of government documents from the White House after
leaving office.
New York State Attorney General Letitia James last year filed a
civil lawsuit against Trump and his three adult children for fraud,
accusing them of misstating the values of real estate properties to
obtain favorable loans and tax benefits. Trump also sued James after
she filed that case.
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Trump last week said Cohen had failed to appear for a deposition by
Trump's legal team as part of that lawsuit, which is scheduled to go
to trial on Oct. 2. Justice Arthur Engoron set a hearing for April
21 to consider whether to order Cohen to testify.
Trump filed a suit against James seeking to halt her civil case, but
a judge dismissed it, writing that there was "no evidence" that the
investigation was undertaken in bad faith.
In another case, a judge in January ordered Trump and his lawyers to
pay nearly $1 million for filing a "completely frivolous" suit
accusing Hillary Clinton and other Democrats of trying to rig the
2016 U.S. presidential election.
(Reporting by Jasper Ward in Washington and Luc Cohen in New York;
Additional reporting by Karen Freifeld in New York; Editing by Will
Dunham, Katharine Jackson, Jonathan Oatis and Noeleen Walder)
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