President Donald Trump said Thursday he didn\u2019t know about the $130,000 payment his personal attorney made to Stormy Daniels, issuing a firm denial in his first public comments about the adult-film actress who alleges she had an affair with him.<\/p>\n
Trump also said he didn\u2019t know why his longtime lawyer, Michael Cohen, had made the payment.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ll have to ask Michael Cohen. Michael is my attorney. You\u2019ll have to ask Michael,\u201d he said. He added that he didn\u2019t know where Cohen had gotten the money. Trump didn\u2019t answer a question about whether he set up a fund that Cohen could tap.<\/p>\n
Until now, Trump had avoided questions on Daniels, though the White House has consistently said Trump denies there was a relationship. Still, he has been dogged by the focus on the porn actress, who says she had a sexual encounter with him in 2006 and was paid to keep quiet as part of a nondisclosure agreement she signed days before the 2016 presidential election. Daniels is now seeking to invalidate that agreement.<\/p>\n
Her attorney, Michael Avenatti said in a statement: \u201cOur case just got that much better. And we very much look forward to testing the truthfulness of Mr. Trump\u2019s feigned lack of knowledge concerning the $130k payment as stated on Air Force One.\u201d<\/p>\n
Avenatti, who has sought to have Trump give sworn testimony, added, \u201cIt is one thing to deceive the press and quite another to do so under oath.\u201d<\/p>\n
He later argued on MSNBC that Trump\u2019s statement could create legal problems, saying: \u201cIf the president didn\u2019t know anything about the payment, then he obviously didn\u2019t know anything about the agreement, in which case you can\u2019t have an agreement. And then there is no such thing as an NDA.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cohen didn\u2019t immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday.<\/p>\n
Daniels, one of several women pursuing potentially damaging legal action against Trump, has kept up the highest profile in the media, helped by a punchy Twitter feed, a widely viewed interview on CBS\u2019 \u201c60 Minutes\u201d and a camera-ready attorney who has become a fixture on cable news.<\/p>\n
Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, has offered to return the $130,000 as she tries to \u201cset the record straight.\u201d She\u2019s said she had sex with Trump once in 2006, and their relationship continued for about a year. Trump married his current wife, Melania, in 2005, and their son Barron was born in 2006.<\/p>\n
On \u201c60 Minutes,\u201d Daniels described a sexual encounter with Trump that began with her suggesting he should be spanked with a magazine that featured his picture on the cover and then giving him a \u201ccouple swats.\u201d She also said she was threatened to keep silent about the relationship while she was out with her young daughter.<\/p>\n
Read: Porn star Stormy Daniels opens up on her fling with Trump: \u201cHe told me I remind him of his daughter\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniels argues the nondisclosure agreement is legally invalid because it was only signed by her and Cohen, not by Trump.<\/p>\n
Cohen has said that he paid the $130,000 out of his pocket and that neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign was a party to the transaction with Daniels and he was not reimbursed for the payment.<\/p>\n
However, Avenatti told \u201c60 Minutes\u201d he has documents showing that Cohen used his Trump Organization email address in setting up the payment and that the nondisclosure agreement was sent by FedEx to Cohen at his Trump Organization office in Trump Tower.<\/p>\n
Avenatti also wants Trump to give sworn testimony in the case, but a federal judge ruled this week that those efforts were premature. If ultimately successful, it would be the first deposition of a sitting president since Bill Clinton had to answer questions in 1998 about his conduct with women.<\/p>\n
Trump faces a number of allegations about his sexual exploits long before he ran for president.<\/p>\n
Former Playboy model Karen McDougal recently told CNN that she had an affair with Trump that started in 2006 and ended in 2007. She filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles seeking to invalidate a confidentiality agreement with American Media Inc., the company that owns the supermarket tabloid National Enquirer. It paid her $150,000 during the 2016 presidential election.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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