Stormy Daniels’ lawyer wants to depose Trump

Hearing set for April 30 on ‘hush agreement’

A lawyer for Stormy Daniels has asked a federal judge for permission to question President Trump on the details surrounding a $130,000 payment made by Trump personal lawyer Michael Cohen to the adult film actress days before the 2016 election.

Lawyer Michael Avenatti, in papers filed late Tuesday in federal court in California, said he wants to speak to Trump for no more than two hours on whether the president knew about and consented to the payment as part of a non-disclosure agreement. A hearing on the request was set for April 30.

Daniels, 39, claims she had a sexual liaison with Trump, now 71, in 2006. She claims the “hush agreement” was designed to keep her from discussing their relationship.

Daniels filed suit against Trump three weeks ago, claiming the agreement was invalid because Trump never signed it and because it had no legal purpose.

“The Hush Agreement was entered with the legal aim, design and purpose of circumventing federal campaign finance law,” the filing states. The agreement also was invalid because it was “entered into for the purpose of covering up adulterous conduct, a crime in New York, Mr. Trump’s home state.”

The White House has repeatedly denied that Trump had an affair with Daniels. Cohen, who also has denied the affair on behalf of Trump, said he paid Daniels with his own money. That, the filing suggests, violates legal ethics.

Trump and Cohen “pride themselves on being ‘tough guy’ negotiators who don’t simply roll over because someone demands it,” Avenatti said on Twitter. “But here, they expect people to believe that (Cohen) paid my client $130,000 immediately after she demanded it, even though they knew all along she was lying.”

On Monday, a lawyer for Cohen sent a letter to Avenatti demanding that he and Daniels retract “false and defamatory” statements Daniels made Sunday on CBS’ 60 Minutes.

Brent Blakely, Cohen’s lawyer, denied that Cohen was responsible for sending a “thug” who Daniels said threatened her in 2011 to remain silent about the alleged affair. Cohen, Blakely said, does not believe Daniels’ story about the threat.

Later Monday, Avenatti amended his lawsuit against Trump to include Cohen, accusing him of defamation.

Daniels told 60 Minutes that a few weeks after she agreed in 2011 to tell the story of her tryst to In Touch magazine, she was in a parking lot with her infant daughter when a man walked up to her and told her to leave Trump alone. The man looked at her daughter and said “it would be a shame if something happened to her mom,” then disappeared, Daniels said.

Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, said fear convinced her to accept the $130,000 payout for her silence from Cohen in 2016.

CBS NEWS/60 MINUTES VIA AP Stormy Daniels, shown during her interview with Anderson Cooper on “60 Minutes,” originally told her story to “In Touch” magazine, which did not publish it until years later.