Trump sues former lawyer Michael Cohen for over $500 million

Donald Trump is suing his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, for more than $500 million according to a filing in a Florida federal court on Wednesday.

The lawsuit alleges Cohen violated his attorney-client relationship with Trump by revealing his “confidences” and “spreading falsehoods” in books, podcasts and media appearances as well as accusations Cohen fabricated exchanges with Trump in the lawyer’s 2020 book, “Disloyal”.

Cohen did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The lawsuit comes as Cohen is poised to appear as a star witness against Trump in his case centering around alleged hush money payments to ex-porn star, Stormy Daniels, who claims to have slept with the ex-president.

Cohen testified before a Manhattan grand jury in March, before the jury later indicted Trump on 34 counts of falsifying business records.

Trump pleaded not guilty and denies the affair with Daniels.

Cohen was Trump’s personal lawyer when the ex-US President took office in 2017, and he said that year he would “do anything” to protect Trump.

But his views dramatically changed by 2019. He told a U.S. congressional committee:

“I’m ashamed because I know what Mr. Trump is. He is a racist. He is a conman. He is a cheat.”

Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison in 2018, after pleading guilty to campaign finance-violations through a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels, and other crimes.

-Reuters.