President Trump will not sue porn star Stormy Daniels for discussing her alleged extramarital affair with him because he doesn’t believe their nondisclosure agreement is valid either, according to court filings.
Charles Harder, Trump’s lawyer, states his presidential client has never considered himself to be party to a hush-money deal with Daniels, the Associated Press reported Saturday after Harder filed documents with a federal district court in California.
Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, took Trump to court in 2018 to invalidate the arrangement, arguing that it was not legally binding because Trump never signed the paperwork.
Harder added Saturday that Daniels should remove Trump from her lawsuit given the president was now not going to enforce the agreement, according to ABC News.
Daniels was paid $130,000 by former Trump attorney Michael Cohen days before the 2016 presidential election in exchange for her discretion regarding claims she had a sexual relationship with Trump more than a decade ago. Trump has denied the affair.
The development follows the shell company Cohen set up to funnel the money to Daniels announcing on Friday it wanted to rescind the NDA and be reimbursed by the adult film actress.
Michael Avenatti, Daniels’ legal counsel, expressed his disbelief at the situation, describing the move as an attempt to avoid Trump being deposed.
“I have been practicing law for nearly 20 yrs. Never before have I seen a defendant so frightened to be deposed as Donald Trump, especially for a guy that talks so tough,” Avenatti wrote on Twitter. “He is desperate and doing all he can to avoid having to answer my questions. He is all hat and no cattle.”
I have been practicing law for nearly 20 yrs. Never before have I seen a defendant so frightened to be deposed as Donald Trump, especially for a guy that talks so tough. He is desperate and doing all he can to avoid having to answer my questions. He is all hat and no cattle.
— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) September 8, 2018
Daniels has also sued Trump and Cohen for defamation.
