President Trump did not force his White House aides to sign nondisclosure agreements last spring amid a series of damaging leaks, White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said Monday, denying a Sunday report that said many staffers had to sign such forms.
“I can tell you that the report was completely false,” Gidley told reporters traveling with Trump aboard Air Force One.
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“While nondisclosure agreements are commonplace and common practice for previous administrations, I can say that the report that staff were required or asked to sign” the forms “was not true,” Gidley said.
“I’ve never seen one, I’ve never been asked to sign one and I’ve never signed one,” he added.
The Washington Post reported Sunday that Trump pushed aides to sign strict NDAs in early 2017 following a string of embarrassing leaks. The agreements, according to one draft cited by the Post, would hold staffers liable for $10 million in penalties, paid to the government, if they divulged private information to reporters.
Trump has made employees of his private businesses sign NDAs and has even gone to court in an attempt to enforce those agreements. For example, Trump threatened former campaign aide Sam Nunberg with a $10 million lawsuit for allegedly violating his NDA in 2016 after then-candidate Trump fired him.
However, some legal experts said in the wake of the Post report that Trump could have a difficult time if he sought to enforce any NDA he imposed on a White House employee.
