Trump Sues Michael Cohen for $500 Million Over ‘Malicious Statements’

After weeks of inciteful rhetoric and predicting his indictment would instigate “death and destruction,” Donald Trump moved to sue his former attorney, Michael Cohen, for speaking negatively about him.

The former president filed a lawsuit in Florida to demand Cohen pony up more than $500 million. The suit accuses Trump’s ex-fixer of “unjust enrichment,” “vast reputational harm,” violating his attorney-client relationship with Trump, and “spreading falsehoods about [Trump] with malicious intent and to wholly self-serving ends.”

“[Cohen’s] improper, self-serving, and malicious statements about his former client, his family members, and his business constitute repeated and substantial violations of his continuing fiduciary obligations as an attorney,” the lawsuit states, “[Cohen] chose to capitalize 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 [Trump] and his family members. His actions constitute grave violations of his contractual and fiduciary duties to [Trump], and [Cohen] must be held accountable.”

The lawsuit comes just over a week after Trump was arraigned in Manhattan and charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to conceal hush money payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal. Cohen served time in prison for financial crimes related to the hush money arrangement, and he maintains his claim that he facilitated the hush money at Trump’s direction and was reimbursed for it.

Fox News heard from a source close to Trump’s legal team who claimed the Cohen lawsuit “has nothing to do with the Manhattan DA’s lawless and fact-less case and is a totally separate matter.”

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