President Donald Trump and a company associated with his longtime personal attorney Michael Cohen on Monday asked a California judge to move Stormy Daniels’ lawsuit regarding the nondisclosure agreement to private arbitration.
Daniels sued Trump and Essential Consultants, the business established by Cohen, over a hush agreement she signed barring her from discussing her alleged relationship with Trump. Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 through Essential Consultants in exchange for her silence. Daniels argues that because Trump never signed the agreement, however, the agreement is invalid. Daniels and her lawyer, Michael Avenatti, have made the lawsuit a public issue, with Avenatti regularly appearing on cable news shows.
Lawyers for Essential Consultants filed a motion to move the case to private arbitration, hidden from public view, and they argued that the agreement signed by Daniels calls for that. His lawyers also noted that Clifford accepted the $130,000 payment at the time the agreement was signed and did not protest the agreement until more than a year after it was completed. Trump’s lawyer in the case, Charles Harder, submitted a filing joined Essential Consultants in its push for private arbitration.
Avenatti on Monday evening pledged to fight the motion from Trump’s lawyers.
We will vigorously oppose the just-filed motion by DJT and MC to have this case decided in a private arbitration, in a private conf room, hidden from the American public. This is a democracy and this matter should be decided in an open court of law owned by the people. #sunlight
— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) April 2, 2018
He also noted that the filing did not claim that Trump was unaware of the agreement signed by Essential Consultants and Daniels.
And the Declaration Mr. Cohen just filed is more interesting for what it DOES NOT state – it does not state that he never discussed the agreement with DJT, that DJT did not know about the agreement, or that DJT did not ultimately pay the $130k (all issues DJT is also silent on).
— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) April 2, 2018
Avenatti last week filed a motion to depose Trump and Cohen in the case. The judge ruled that the motion was premature, however, because Trump’s lawyers had not yet filed a motion to move the case to private arbitration. It may be possible for Avenatti to re-file his request to depose Trump and Cohen soon.
