Stormy Daniels’ former lawyer Keith Davidson filed two lawsuits Thursday: one against Daniels and her lawyer Michael Avenatti for defamation, and one against Michael Cohen for allegedly illegally recording their phone calls, according to a CNN report.
This flurry of legal action comes on the heels of Daniels’ Wednesday lawsuit accusing Davidson of working with Cohen to stifle her story and further the interests of Cohen and President Donald Trump. Davidson denies her claim, saying that he only ever contacted Cohen at Daniels’ direction.
In a document Davidson reportedly filed in answer to Daniels’ (her real name is Stephanie Clifford) lawsuit, he maintained that he only ever tried to further her financial interests, and that “Clifford was clear in her desire that she would say and do whatever necessary in order to prevent” having to return “the $130,000 settlement funds she had received months earlier,” in reference to the hush money provided by Cohen to keep Daniels quiet about her alleged affair with Trump.
Per CNN, Davidson added that Daniels and her manager contacted him “seemingly hundreds of times” to convince Cohen that “various financial opportunities/activities” were not in violation of the nondisclosure agreement she signed.
In his defamation lawsuit against Daniels and Avenatti, Davidson reportedly said that the two made “countless reckless and false statements” against him to the detriment of his “business, professional and personal reputations.”
In his separate claim against Cohen, Davidson reportedly says that Cohen recorded their communication without asking Davidson in violation of California law, which requires that all parties in a recorded telephone conversation give their consent. “Davidson never consented to the recordation of any phone calls he had with Cohen as he believe the calls were confidential,” the claim states.
