Washington: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump sued ex-senior aide Sam Nunberg, seeking $10 million (U.S.) for leaking confidential information to reporters in violation of a nondisclosure agreement.
Nunberg who left the campaign in August 2015. He was fired by Trump because of the racist posts he wrote on Facebook. Later Nunberg announced that he would support Ted Cruz.
Nunberg’s lawsuit argued that the campaign’s arbitration claim was invalid because it was brought by an exploratory group Trump formed for his 2012 campaign, “which has nothing to do with the Trump Campaign’s activities in the 2016 presidential campaign cycle.”
Nunberg’s complaint said. “The Trump Campaign was not in existence prior to or at the time of the agreement, and Mr. Nunberg did not agree or intend that it apply to any future entity such as the Trump Campaign.”
Nunberg’s lawyer, Andrew Miltenberg, said that Trump is alleging that his former aide “violated confidentiality after he was no longer employed”. Miltenberg said it was “a vendetta” and added “we think it had everything to do with an important Trump campaign manager came out and supported Ted Cruz”.
Trump attorney Alan Garten repeatedly declined to refer to Nunberg by name, but described him as “a person who has a history of making untrue, outlandish and outrageous allegations.”
Trump campaign released a statement on Wednesday saying. “As is standard practice for all major businesses, organizations and other entities dealing with proprietary information, Mr Trump requires employees to sign and adhere to strict confidentiality agreements.”
“When the agreements are not adhered to he will enforce them to the full extent of the law, and Mr Trump’s litigation track record on such matters is outstanding. With regard to Mr Nunberg, this agreement specifically calls for arbitration, and Mr Nunberg is simply looking for free publicity using categorically false claims.”