Porn star’s lawyer ramps up heat on Trump with deposition motion
Bill Clinton was hit with similar bid in 1998
WASHINGTON — An attorney for porn film star Stormy Daniels filed a deposition motion Wednesday that dials up the pressure on President Donald Trump over his alleged sexual encounter with her years ago.
If successful, it would be the first deposition of a sitting president since Bill Clinton in 1998 had to answer questions about his encounter with Paula Jones.
Attorney Michael Avenatti is seeking sworn testimony from Trump and Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, about a $130,000 payment made to Daniels days before the 2016 presidential election as part of a nondisclosure agreement she is seeking to invalidate.
Avenatti’s documents were filed in U.S. District Court in California.
Avenatti is part of a growing list of lawyers looking to question Trump.
Attorneys for a former contestant on one of Trump’s “Apprentice” TV shows have said they want to deposition the president as part of a defamation suit.
And the president’s legal team continues to negotiate with special counsel Robert Mueller over the scope and terms of an interview with the president
Avenatti wants to question Trump and Cohen for “no more than two hours.”
In the filing, he says the depositions are needed to establish if Trump knew about the payment, which he refers to as a “hush agreement,” and if he consented to it.
“We’re looking for sworn answers from the president and Mr. Cohen about what they knew, when they knew it and what they did about it,” Avenatti said.
While he noted that “in every case you always have to be open to settlement,” Avenatti said that “at this point we don’t see how this case would possibly be settled.”
In a statement to CBS, Cohen’s attorney David Schwartz called the filing a “reckless use of the legal system in order to continue to inflate Michael Avenatti’s deflated ego and keep himself relevant.”
The White House, which has said Trump denies the relationship, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
A former businessman, Trump is no stranger to high-stakes litigation, sitting for depositions in contract and defamation lawsuits over the years.
Those interviews show his deep experience in giving statements to lawyers, but also show a witness who could be voluble, boastful and, at times, combative.
Georgetown University law professor Naomi Mezey said a deposition presented risks because it is the way to get the president in a vulnerable position. “And President Trump is a particularly vulnerable president,” Mezey said.
Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, detailed her alleged 2006 tryst with Trump in a widely watched interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes” that aired Sunday.
She said she’d slept with him once, shortly after Trump’s wife, Melania, gave birth to the president’s youngest son.
She also said that a man approached her in a Las Vegas parking lot in 2011 when she was with her infant daughter, and threatened her with physical harm if she went public with her story.
The interview prompted a new flurry of legal action, with a lawyer for Cohen demanding that Daniels publicly apologize to his client for suggesting he was involved in her intimidation.
Daniels responded by filing a revised federal lawsuit accusing Cohen of defamation.
A hearing before Judge S. James Otero in the federal court’s Central District in Los Angeles is set for April 30.