Former Playboy model Karen McDougal reached a settlement with the publisher of the National Enquirer on Wednesday releasing her from her hush agreement, but her lawyer said Thursday morning that McDougal will still defend herself if President Donald Trump goes after her credibility.
“If Donald Trump tweets tomorrow and starts saying that she’s a liar, I feel pretty confident that action will be taken. She is going to defend herself, but she also cares about her privacy and her life” McDougal’s lawyer, Peter Stris, told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “Part of getting out of this contract is feeling like if she needs to defend herself, she can.”
Stris also said Wednesday night during Rachel Maddow’s MSNBC show that while McDougal has settled her issues with American Media, Inc. (AMI), he believes that Trump’s longtime personal attorney Michael Cohen and Keith Davidson, the lawyer who represented her while negotiating the contract with AMI, may still face consequences for their alleged involvement.
“Keith Davidson and Michael Cohen are carved out of this lawsuit. We’ll see where things go,” Stris told Maddow. “I’m very confidant that Michael Cohen and Keith Davidson will have to account for the things they have done.”
McDougal sued AMI in March demanding to be released from the contract she signed with the Trump-friendly media company shortly before the 2016 election. The agreement barred McDougal from sharing her story about her alleged affair with Trump in other publications, but AMI never ran a story on the alleged affair. In the lawsuit, McDougal alleged that Cohen was secretly involved in negotiating her contract with AMI. Cohen and Davidson were also involved in negotiating the hush agreement barring porn actress Stormy Daniels from discussing her alleged affair with Trump.
Watch Stris’ interview on MSNBC:
Trump can’t resist. I say less than 48 hrs to libelous tweeting. I would suggest lawyer Stris could save some time and just start drawing up the suit now.
Can FLOTUS take time away from Da Syber Boolies to comment on any of this?
There are now at least 3 cases (that we’re aware of) where Davidson and Cohen nominally represented opposing sides. I don’t know how common it is for the same two lawyers to be in involved against each other in similar type civil cases, but I do know Cohen barely has any clients at all. I think if this is even cursorily scrutinized, these guys are going to wind up without a law license.
k
Part of the takeaway from both the AC360 interview and the Farrow interview, is that while she wanted her right to defend herself back in her hands, she didn’t want any part of this story to start with.
As of now, she has that right back, so it will be interesting to see if she uses it.