Porn star sues Trump over ‘hush agreement’
Nondisclosure deal is void because he didn’t sign, she says
Stormy Daniels, the porn star who says she was paid to keep quiet about her affair with Donald Trump, sued the president Tuesday alleging that her nondisclosure agreement before the 2016 election is void because Trump did not sign it.
In the lawsuit filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, Daniels — whose real name is Stephanie Clifford —said she wanted to go public with the story of her decade-old affair with Trump in the weeks leading up to the election. The lawsuit was first reported by NBC News.
Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, and Daniels’ attorney, Keith Davidson, negotiated what the lawsuit calls a “hush agreement” in which she would be paid $130,000. After delays and even a wholesale cancellation of the contract by Daniels on Oct. 17, the payment arrived on Oct. 27, 12 days before the election, according to e-mails reviewed by The Washington Post. Cohen said recently that he used his own money to “facilitate” the payment.
‘Silence’ sought
The lawsuit suggests that Trump was aware of the agreement and that the money was intended to influence the election outcome, bolstering two complaints filed with the Federal Election Commission that say the payment violated election law because it was not reported as an in-kind campaign donation.
The lawsuit says, “Mr. Trump, with the assistance of his attorney, Mr. Cohen, aggressively sought to silence Ms. Clifford as part of an effort to avoid her telling the truth, thus helping to ensure he won the presidential election.”
Cohen has previously denied that the payment breached campaign finance law. But the lawsuit raises new accusations against Cohen, saying that he forced her earlier this year to sign a statement denying the affair “through intimidation and coercive tactics.” The suit says Cohen has continued to try to “intimidate” Daniels into keeping quiet in recent weeks as reports about the deal and their relationship have leaked out and Daniels has given television interviews.
Cohen did not respond Tuesday to a request for comment. The attorney who negotiated the deal for Daniels, Keith Davidson, declined comment.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesman for the Trump campaign, Michael Glassner, declined comment.
Gina Rodriguez, who has represented Daniels, referred all questions about the suit to her new attorney, Michael Avenatti. He said in an email: “Supreme Court Justice once said that ‘sunlight is the best disinfectant.’ And we fully intend on bringing as much sunlight to this matter as possible. Let the chips fall where they may.”
In the complaint, Clifford asks the court to declare the deal with Trump invalid and unenforceable and says he purposefully did not sign it so he could disavow knowledge of the agreement.
A person familiar with the deal said it required the signature of Cohen or Trump, but not both. The person called Daniels’ decision to sue 16 months after she got paid “buyer’s remorse.”
Appended to the complaint is a copy of the alleged agreement between Clifford and Trump, making the document public for the first time.
Corporation formed
On October 17, 2016, Cohen formed a limited liability corporation in Delaware that he used to send $130,000 to Clifford, according to public records and a person familiar with the transaction. The lawsuit alleges that Cohen formed the LLC “to hide the true sources of funds to be used to pay Ms. Clifford, thus further insulating Mr. Trump from later discovery and scrutiny.”
The lawsuit landed on the same day the Post reported that special counsel Robert Mueller has requested documents and interviewed witnesses about incidents involving Cohen.
Karen Tynan, an attorney for the adult entertainment industry, described the suit as a smart move, avoiding the possibility of private arbitration .
“Stormy has got time to amend the complaint and add more causes of action in the next few weeks,” Tynan said in a message. “This is absolutely and unequivocally not a good development for Michael Cohen or the president.”