Updated at 6:24 p.m.
The lawyer of adult film star Stormy Daniels, who has been involved in a legal battle with President Trump over an alleged extramarital affair, said he was eager to test Trump’s “truthfulness” when he told reporters he was unaware of the $130,000 payment made by his lawyer to Daniels in exchange for her silence on the matter.
“We very much look forward to testing the truthfulness of Mr. Trump’s feigned lack of knowledge concerning the $130k payment as stated on Air Force One. As history teaches us, it is one thing to deceive the press and quite another to do so under oath. #searchforthetruth #basta,” Michael Avenatti said in a tweet Thursday afternoon.
We very much look forward to testing the truthfulness of Mr. Trump’s feigned lack of knowledge concerning the $130k payment as stated on Air Force One. As history teaches us, it is one thing to deceive the press and quite another to do so under oath. #searchforthetruth #basta
— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) April 5, 2018
Moments earlier, Trump addressed the alleged affair for the first time publicly on Air Force One and said he did not have any insight concerning the nondisclosure agreement. Trump also said he did not have any knowledge about the $130,000 payment and referred reporters to his personal lawyer Michael Cohen.
“You’ll have to ask Michael Cohen. Michael is my attorney. You’ll have to ask Michael,” Trump said to reporters aboard Air Force One.
Avenatti said the comments were “serious” for Trump and Cohen, and added that it strengthened his client’s case.
“The president’s comments on Air Force One are serious for him, serious for Michael Cohen,” Avenatti told MSNBC host Ari Melber shortly after sending the tweet. “How can you have an agreement when one party claims that they don’t know anything about the agreement?”
“Our case just got a whole lot better,” he added.
Additionally, Avenatti said he would be launching a petition for Trump’s deposition on Monday.
“Our case just got a whole lot better” – Stormy Daniels lawyer @MichaelAvenatti‘s first comments on Trump breaking silence on $130K payment to Stormy: pic.twitter.com/2fQZ07q39u
— TheBeat w/Ari Melber (@TheBeatWithAri) April 5, 2018
Right before the 2016 election, Cohen paid Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, $130,000 in hush money so she would not discuss her alleged relationship with Trump. Daniels signed a nondisclosure agreement in 2016, but filed a lawsuit earlier this year claiming that it should be nullified because Trump didn’t sign it.
The White House claims that Trump denies having been involved in an extramarital affair with Daniels.
Meanwhile, Avenatti has said that more details concerning the affair have yet to emerge and has posted a photo on social media of a DVD in a safe, which he described as a “warning shot” to Cohen.
