A lawyer for President Donald Trump filed a court document on Saturday arguing that the hush-money agreement with adult film actress Stormy Daniels over an alleged affair between the two is not valid and that Trump should be removed from a lawsuit seeking to dissolve the deal.
Removing him from the suit would mean he wouldn’t have to give a deposition to lawyers as part of it.
The filing in Los Angeles federal court by Trump attorney Charles Harder said that “Mr. Trump hereby stipulates that he does not, and will not, contest Ms. Clifford’s assertion that the Settlement Agreement was never formed, or in the alternative, should be rescinded,” The Wall Street Journal reported.
The filing came a day after New York-based lawyer Michael Cohen moved to rescind the nondisclosure deal. Cohen said he arranged, at Trump’s instruction, to pay Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet about her alleged affair with Trump before the 2016 presidential election. Trump, however, never signed the deal.
Daniels’ attorney, Michael Avenatti, slammed the moves by Trump and Cohen, insisting they’re part of a strategy to block depositions of the two men about any other possible payoffs that aimed to keep information hidden.
Avenatti tweeted that he has never before seen a “defendant so frightened to be deposed as Donald Trump.”
Cohen and Trump’s attorney said in their filings that they will not sue Daniels for any breach of the nondisclosure deal with her.
Cohen pleaded guilty to eight federal felonies last month, including illegally interfering in the presidential election with the payment to Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.
Daniels sued Cohen and the president to dissolve the agreement. She’s also suing Cohen and Trump for defamation.
The Stormy Daniels deal was important in the federal campaign violation case against Cohen.
If the deal is deemed invalid or rescinded, Daniels will be free to tell her story.