Strib carrying an April 12 AP story:
NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump sued the key witness in his criminal case on Wednesday, accusing onetime lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen of ''vast reputational harm'' for talking publicly about the hush-money payments at the heart of the case.
[...] The suit accused Cohen of breaking a confidentiality agreement he signed as a condition of his employment, violating ethical standards for lawyers and ''spreading falsehoods" about Trump ''with malicious intent and to wholly self-serving ends.'' It seeks over a half-billion dollars from Cohen.
He sues because he can. The claim is that the truth has harmed Trump's reputation, "reputational harm" alleged, and the claim is that Cohen lies.
He did himself in, nobody else is to blame. Look at the underlying situation. His wife is in the hospital giving birth and he screws a porn star. What reputation does he have left after that? That was the problem. Not it leaking out to the pubic via Stormy Daniels' lawyer pushing it public.
The move is replete with questionable judgment. Roy Cohn, himself, were Cohn still with us, likely would have said, "Don, do you really want to do this?"
Dan Abrams' Law & Crime website identified the Florida lawyer filing for Trump (in a Florida federal court):
None of the attorneys involved in any of Trump’s other current legal disputes — criminal or civil — appear to be associated with the lawsuit, which was signed by Coral Gables, Florida-based attorney Alejandro Brito in the Southern District of Florida.
When asked whether he knew the lawsuit was going to be filed, Trump’s attorney Joe Tacopina told Law&Crime: “Heard about it.”
The Manhattan District Attorney’s office didn’t immediately respond to an email requesting comment.
Screen capture, Florida website https://britopllc.com;
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The filing against Cohen was widely reported.
_________UPDATE__________
For readers wanting to review the underlying document, the Abrams website linked to this online copy of the 32p complaint.
FURTHER: From NYTimes reporting:
Last year, when the former president filed the lawsuit against the New York attorney general, Letitia James, who has sued Mr. Trump and his family business, some members of his legal team objected. There was similar dissent among his lawyers over whether to sue Mr. Cohen, people with knowledge of the matter said.
When a gap may exist between "can do" and "good/bad idea" judgment can intervene one way or another. Trump seems to know Iron Fist, but not Velvet Glove.