Trump lawyer tied to Daniels arbitration

Document suggests attorney tried to keep details of affair secret

A top Trump Organization attorney filed a secret legal document to keep Stormy Daniels from talking about her alleged affair with U.S. President Donald Trump, deepening links between Trump’s company and the effort to silence the porn star. The Trump Organization quickly distanced itself from the document, filed as part of confidential arbitration proceedings in Los Angeles on Feb. 22. The document was made public Wednesday evening by CNN and the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post confirmed its authenticity with Michael Avenatti, a lawyer for Daniels.

In a statement, the Trump Organization emphasized that the company is not representing anyone in the Daniels dispute and “has no involvement in the matter.”

But the document suggests that one of its attorneys was involved in the arbitration proceeding to prevent Daniels from revealing more details about her alleged affair with Trump, which she says began at a 2006 celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe. The White House has suggested that Trump prevailed in the recent arbitration ruling. The document adds a new twist to the saga of Daniels, who claims she was secretly paid to keep quiet about her relationship with Trump just weeks before his election in November 2016. Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, who worked at the Trump Organization through the election, has said he paid $130,000 (U.S.) to Daniels out of his own pocket, dipping into a home equity line of credit. He has said there was no involvement by Trump’s company or Trump’s 2016 campaign.

The Trump company says Jill Martin, a lawyer with the Trump Organization, filed the document in her personal capacity while awaiting permission for another lawyer, not connected to the company, to practice in California. That lawyer, Larry Rosen, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday night.

Daniels has sued Trump in an effort to break free from a confidentiality agreement that prohibits her from speaking about her alleged affair with Trump. Her deal came two weeks before the election and imposed stiff monetary penalties for speaking about the relationship.

Cohen, Trump’s personal lawyer, has acknowledged making that payment. He has insisted he was not reimbursed for the payment by the Trump Organization or the Trump campaign.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders has rejected the notion that Trump approved the payment to Daniels, saying, “None of these allegations are true.”

But late last month, after the $130,000 payment became the subject of media scrutiny, Martin signed documents demanding that Daniels enter into private arbitration with Cohen.

While the documents do not show that the Trump Organization was involved in the initial payment to Daniels in 2016, they do show a high-ranking official at the company played a role in efforts to keep the porn star from telling her story now.

Five days after Martin’s filing, Cohen obtained a temporary restraining order from the arbitrator, preventing Daniels from speaking publicly about the alleged affair.