Porn star’s lawyer aims to depose Trump
Under-oath info sought on hush agreement
WASHINGTON • A lawyer for Stormy Daniels filed a motion Wednesday seeking to question President Donald Trump and his attorney under oath about a pre-election payment to the porn actress aimed at keeping her quiet about an alleged tryst with Trump.
If successful, it would be the first deposition of a sitting president since Bill Clinton in 1998 had to answer questions about his conduct with women. Attorney Michael Avenatti is seeking sworn testimony from Trump and Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, about a $130,000 payment made to Daniels 11 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 depose 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. 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 had sex with him once, shortly after Trump’s wife, Melania, gave birth to the president’s youngest son.