Michael Avenatti, lawyer for porn star Stormy Daniels, claimed on Monday that President Trump cannot abandon the $130,000 hush money agreement previously arranged with Daniels after publicly challenging her credibility.
Over the weekend, lawyers for Trump said he would not enforce the nondisclosure agreement that prevented Daniels from speaking about an alleged affair with Trump in 2006. Meanwhile Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal lawyer, has sought to void the NDA and the return of the $130,000.
Daniels filed a lawsuit earlier this year, claiming the agreement she signed should be nullified because Trump didn’t sign it.
Avenatti said the moves by Trump and Cohen are a sign that they were dishonest with the court and the public by originally stating that the payment and agreement were valid and requested that the judge not dismiss the case. He also said he was open to discussing next steps for the case with the Trump and Cohen legal teams.
“These threats were all premised on a giant lie,” Avenatti said in a court filing Monday. “If they are now to be believed, Mr. Trump and Mr. Cohen never had a good faith basis to assert that they would be able to enforce the settlement agreement.”
Although Daniels was originally warned that she would be forced to pay more than $20 million in damages if she spoke about her alleged affair with Trump, Trump attorney Charles Harder said in a recent court filing that Trump will not seek any action against her.
He also noted that Trump does not view the contract as valid and doesn’t believe he is a party in the contract.
Cohen pleaded guilty to eight counts in August — five counts of tax evasion from 2012 to 2016, one count of making a false statement to a financial institution, one count of willful cause of unlawful corporate contribution, and one count of excessive campaign contribution on Oct. 27, 2016.
[More: Stormy Daniels ‘broke down into sobs’ hearing about Michael Cohen guilty plea]
