Trump sues his former fixer Michael Cohen for over $500 million

Donald Trump is suing his former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen just over a week after the former president was arraigned on 34 felony charges related to payments Cohen made to porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election.

Trump is suing Cohen for more than $500 million in damages, alleging that he violated his attorney-client relationship with Trump by “spreading falsehoods” and revealing confidential information, according to the court filing.

The filing attacks Cohen’s credibility as he is expected to be a key witness in Trump’s impending criminal trial in New York. Going after political or legal adversaries through lawsuits is not a new move for Trump and his legal team, though it is one that has had negative consequences in the past. In January, a Florida-based federal judge ordered nearly $1 million in sanctions against Trump and his attorney Alina Habba for a lawsuit against Hillary Clinton that the judge described as “completely frivolous.”

In the lawsuit filed on Wednesday, Trump’s lawyers claim Cohen breached the terms of a confidentiality agreement he agreed to while working for Trump, saying he did so “with malicious intent and to wholly self-serving ends.” The filing references statements Cohen made in his book, “Disloyal: A Memoir,” as well as on his podcast and through media appearances, calling these the “most egregious breaches” of his contract with Trump.

Fox News was the first to report on the lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Cohen lives in New York.