US: Cohen sues Trump for 2M in unpaid legal fees

By Umar Farooq

WASHINGTON (AA) - The former lawyer and fixer of U.S. President Donald Trump filed a lawsuit Thursday against the Trump Organization for not being paid for "fees and costs" exceeding $1.9 million.

Michael Cohen argued he had a "contractual agreement" that said the Trump Organization, where he had worked for as a special counsel to Trump for more than a decade, would pay costs incurred while working in various matters on behalf of the company.

Some of these costs related to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe as well as "multiple congressional hearings."

While the Trump Organization had been paying Cohen for company-related work, payments stopped being made two months after the FBI raided Trump's former attorney's home and office in April last year, the lawsuit said.

In addition to the $1.9 million, the lawsuit also mentions another $1.9 million Cohen was forced to forfeit "as part of his criminal sentence."

Last week, Cohen testified before a congressional committee and accused Trump of being a "racist," a "conman" and a "cheat," and said did tasks at the direction of the president, such as making hush money payments to two women who had affairs with Trump in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election.

Cohen pled guilty to campaign finance violations tied to the payments to Playboy model Karen McDougal and adult film actress Stormy Daniels, and other crimes last year, including lying to Congress about an effort to build a Trump Tower in Russia and financial violations.

The former attorney is set to serve three years in federal prison after pleading guilty to a raft of charges, and is expected to report to prison in May.