President Trump’s personal attorney Michael Cohen obtained a secret restraining order in a private arbitration proceeding barring porn star Stormy Daniels from disclosing ‘confidential information’ related to a nondisclosure agreement she signed in October 2016.
NBC News reported the legal maneuver on Wednesday, hours after White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders claimed that the president’s lawyers had already won a case against Daniels in arbitration.
‘As I outlined earlier, that this case has already been won in arbitration and that there was no knowledge of any payments from the president and he’s denied all of these allegations,’ Huckabee Sanders told reporters who wanted to know if the president had any knowledge that Cohen wired $130,000 to Daniels after she agreed to sign a non-disclosure agreement about an alleged decade-old affair with Donald Trump.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Wednesday that President Trump had won in arbitration against Stormy Daniels – which her lawyer denies – and that he’s denied having an affair with the porn star and had ‘no knowledge’ she was being paid off
Donald Trump and porn Stormy Daniels aka Stephanie Clifford pose together in 2006; the White House says he already won a case in arbitration against her and that he’s denied the accusations of an affair
Huckabee Sanders had twice been asked whether the president knew his personal attorney, Michael Cohen, was paying off a porn star, and twice responded, ‘not that I’m aware of.’
That line prompted the question of whether Huckabee Sanders had directly asked the president if he knew about the payment.
‘Yeha, I’ve had conversations with the president about this,’ she replied, before giving the more direct answer that Trump had ‘no knowledge’ of the monetary exchange.
On Tuesday the adult actress, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, sued the president over the fact that he never signed the non-disclosure agreement, which she was given the money for signing, with her lawyer arguing it should be void.
On Wednesday, reporters tried to get out of Huckabee Sanders what the president knew about this payment and when.
‘Look the president has addressed these directly and made very well clear that none of these allegations are true, this case has already been won in arbitration and anything beyond that I would refer you to the president’s outside counsel,’ Huckabee Sanders answered when asked if the president approved of the money going to Daniels.
Another reporter asked the press secretary ‘when’ the president knew about the cash payment.
‘I’ve addressed this as far as I can go,’ Huckabee Sanders said.
Trump has never spoken publicly of the alleged affair or the hush money, though has denied the former through counsel and his spokespeople.
‘The president has denied the allegations against him and, again, this case has already been won in arbitration,’ Huckabee Sanders claimed.
The ‘arbitration’ that she referred to was news to the press corps, with Huckabee Sanders saying that the case had been won by the president’s personal lawyers, instructing reporters to ask them.
‘I can share you that the arbitration was won in the president’s favor and I would refer you to the president’s outside counsel on any details beyond that,’ the press secretary said.
Cohen did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment about the arbitration proceedings.
His cell phone voicemail was full on Wednesday afternoon.
Daniels’ attorney Michael Avenatti told DailyMail.com that it wasn’t true that the adult actress had lost an arbitration battle against the president.
‘Yeah, and he also won the popular vote,’ Avenatti said of Trump.
Trump lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton.
Daniels’ lawyer confirmed Wednesday that his client had a sexual relationship with the president years ago.
‘Yes,’ Avenatti said on the’Today’ show, answering the question on every Trump-watcher’s mind.
Daniels had previously refused to say out loud what news outlets had reported breathlessly, citing a nondisclosure agreement that she signed in exchange for $130,000 in hush money just days before the 2016 election.
But on Tuesday she sued the president, alleging that while she and both of their attorneys signed it, he never did.
‘We look forward to sunlight serving as a disinfectant,’ Avenatti told DailyMail.com on Wednesday.
Porn actress Stormy Daniels’ lawyer confirmed Wednesday that ‘yes,’ his client had a sexual relationship with Donald Trump a decade ago
Michael Avenatti said on the ‘Today’ show what his client had been coy about for months
Daniels sued Trump on Tuesday, saying that he never signed the nondisclosure agreement that had kept her quiet since just before the 2016 election; ‘We look forward to sunlight serving as a disinfectant,’ Avenatti told DailyMail.com on Wednesday
The lawyer also said Daniels ‘may have to’ refund $130,000 in hush money, ‘and she is prepared to do that’
It’s unclear whether Trump and his lawyer have a signed copy.
Daniels said Cohen has continued to try to silence her about her ‘intimate’ relationship with Trump that ran from 2006 to 2007 and began shortly after first lady Melania gave birth to their son Barron.
Her lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court includes copies of the nondisclosure agreement – in which she and the president are referred to by aliases – and a side letter that identifies her and Trump by name.
Avenatti said Daniels is prepared to return the payment, which Cohen insists he made out of his own pocket.
‘I think she may have to,’ he said, ‘and she is prepared to do that.’
But ‘in light of the amount of misinformation that’s out there, some of which has been disseminated by Mr. Cohen and others,’ he insisted, ‘she believes it’s important that the public learn the truth about what happened.’
Avenatti also said he doubts that Cohen, and not Trump, paid his client off.
‘We think it’s highly questionable as to whether it came from his personal funds … there’s no question the president knew about it at the time,’ he told NBC’s audience.
‘The idea that an attorney would go off on his own without his clients knowledge and engage in this type of negotiation and enter into this type of agreement, quite honestly I think is ludicrous.’
Avenatti said Tuesday on ‘CBS This Morning’ that Daniels is ‘absolutely not’ trying to sell her story to the highest bidder. But he admitted that ‘I don’t know whether she’s going to ultimately seek payment or not.’
Daniels says because Trump did not sign the NDA, the courts should find the agreement ‘invalid’
The lawsuit filed Tuesday lists Donald Trump, as well as an alias he used for the nondisclosure agreement, ‘David Dennison’
Attached as exhibits in the suit is the NDA, as well as a side letter from October 28, 2016.; where Trump aka David Dennison would have signed was left blank
All of the papers attached as exhibits in the lawsuit were unsigned by a not-yet-president Trump
The pages were signed however by Trump’s attorney Michael Cohen as well as by Clifford’s attorney at the time
The agreement at the center of the legal dispute was signed by Clifford – using her professional name – and Cohen on October 28, 2016.
The copy included with Tuesday’s lawsuit features a blank space where Trump would have signed.
The suit says that Cohen tried to keep Clifford from talking about her relationship with Trump as recently as Feb. 27, 2018.
‘To be clear, the attempts to intimidate Ms. Clifford into silence and “shut her up” in order to “protect Mr. Trump” continue unabated,’ according to the suit.
‘On or about February 27, 2018, Mr. Trump’s attorney Mr. Cohen surreptitiously initiated a bogus arbitration proceeding against Ms. Clifford in Los Angeles.’
Avenatti is asking the court to declare that the ‘hush agreement’ and the side agreement ‘were never formed, and therefore do not exist, because, among other things, Mr. Trump never signed the agreements.’
‘In the alternative, Plaintiff seeks an order of this Court declaring that the agreements in the forms set out in Exhibits 1 and 2 are invalid, unenforceable, and/or void under the doctrine of unconscionability.’
The suit also alleges that the president must be aware that Cohen is trying to keep Clifford quiet because, as a member of the New York bar, he is required to keep his client informed at all times.
‘[I]t strains credulity to conclude that Mr. Cohen is acting on his own accord and without the express approval and knowledge of his client Mr. Trump.’
The 2016 agreement paid Daniels $130,000, days before the presidential election to keep her from disclosing any confidential information about Trump or his sexual partners to anyone beyond a short list of individuals she’d already told about the relationship.
She was also forbidden to share any texts or photos from Trump.
Avenatti said Tuesday that he was ‘not at liberty’ to say whether or not Daniels still has them.
Clifford also alleges Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen (pictured), has continued to try to silence her
Clifford’s attorney, Michael Avenatti, shared the full complaint with the attached NDA agreement and side letter as exhibits to Twitter on Tuesday
The president has never addressed the alleged relationship publicly, and before this week, the White House has side-stepped questions about it with spokesperson Raj Shah telling members of the press he had never asked the president about it.
While Huckabee Sanders said she has talked to Trump about the allegations, she didn’t know if the president had been in touch with Cohen.
She also wouldn’t answer why President Trump’s campaign had been paying Cohen’s legal fees.
The firm representing Cohen received $214,467 from the re-election campaign during the final months of 2017.
Cohen has acknowledged the payment, and has previously claimed it came from his own funds – but has never said what the payment was for.
In the suit, Clifford also alleges that in January 2018, Cohen, ‘concerned the truth would be disclosed … through intimidation and coercive tactics, forced Ms. Clifford into signing a false statement wherein she stated that reports of her relationship with Mr. Trump were false.’