The story of President Donald Trump’s alleged extramarital
relationship with porn star Stormy Daniels has been an open
secret in Washington’s media circles for weeks.
Longtime Trump lawyer Michael Cohen has admitted paying
Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, $130,000 to
keep quiet about the alleged affair just before the 2016
presidential election.
Celebrity magazine InTouch in February published an in-
depth interview detailing Clifford’s story. But with denials
and evasive silence, the story had remained on the sidelines
of mainstream news until Wednesday when the White House
appeared to acknowledge for the first time that Trump was
involved in some way with the porn actress.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, during
a Wednesday press briefing, tried to dismiss a question
asked about the scandal by saying the president had already
won a legal battle relating to the case.
“This case has already been won in arbitration,” Sanders
said, referring to a temporary restraining order issued last
week by a private dispute-resolution firm that bars Clifford
from talking publicly about her alleged affair with Trump
and from suing the president.
Ruling ignored
Sanders added she was not aware that the president knew of
the payment made to the actress.
Clifford ignored the order, filing a lawsuit Tuesday asserting
that the nondisclosure agreement that accompanied the
$130,000 payment was void because Trump never signed it.
She contends in the lawsuit that she began “an intimate
relationship” with Trump in the summer of 2006, and
continued the relationship “well into the year 2007.”
According to the lawsuit, Trump’s lawyer filed the
arbitration proceeding against Clifford last week to seek a
restraining order to “shut her up” and “protect Mr. Trump.”
Trump 'absolutely knew'
Clifford’s attorney, Michael Avenatti, told ABC News that
Trump “absolutely knew” about the payment to his client.
“Any suggestion that he didn’t know about it is, quite
honestly, absurd,” he said.
Avenatti said the nondisclosure agreement was “sloppy” and
referred to it as “amateur hour.”
“He purposely did not sign it so that later he could have
deniability as to its existence,” Avenatti told ABC News.
The nondisclosure agreement directed that $130,000 be paid
into the trust account of Clifford’s then-attorney. In return,
Clifford was not to disclose any confidential information
about Trump or his sexual partners to anyone beyond the
few individuals she had already talked to, or share any texts
or photos from Trump. It also mandates “binding
confidential arbitration of all disputes which may arise
between them.”
The nondisclosure agreement also stipulates that any dispute
be settled by a “solo, neutral arbitrator” at one of two private
firms. One of those firms, Action Dispute Resolution Services,
issued the restraining order against Clifford.
David Dennison?
The agreement refers to Trump throughout as David
Dennison, and Clifford as Peggy Peterson. In the side letter
agreement, the true identity of “DD” is blacked out, but
Avenatti says the individual is Trump. Each document
includes a blank where “DD” is supposed to sign, but neither
blank is signed.
The absence of the signatures is the basis for Clifford’s
lawsuit filed Tuesday. Clifford claims that she is not bound
by the nondisclosure agreement to stay quiet or go through
arbitration because Trump never signed the agreement,
rendering it unenforceable.
If the court agrees with Clifford and invalidates the
agreement, Clifford will be free to bring her story involving
the American president to the front pages of international
news.
Source:Voanews
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