Michael Cohen, the personal lawyer for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, is in support of Trump.
On Wednesday, the former president filed a lawsuit against Michael Cohen, his former personal lawyer and fixer, seeking at least $500 million in damages for claimed contract violations and “unjust enrichment.”
Cohen was accused of “spreading falsehoods” about Trump, violating his attorney-client relationship, and breaking a confidentiality agreement he made with the Trump Organization in the civil complaint, which was filed in federal court in Miami.
The accusations against Cohen come as the disfellowshipped lawyer has emerged as a major witness against the former president in a Manhattan criminal prosecution. Cohen’s once-close relationship with Trump crumbled in 2018.
Trump, the first former president to face charges, entered a not guilty plea to 34 counts of falsifying corporate documents earlier this month. The emphasis is on hush money payments made to Trump prior to the 2016 election, which Cohen made possible.
The infamously combative former president has previously been charged with using the legal system as a weapon against his rivals.
At the time of the new complaint against Cohen, Alejandro Brito, Trump’s legal representative, referred CNBC’s inquiries to a spokesman for Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign. The complaint and Cohen’s alleged misbehavior, according to the spokesman, “stand on its own.”
Cohen’s fiduciary duties to Trump, according to the complaint, “surpass the defendant’s attorney-client relationship and professional bans and are still in effect today.”
