{"id":62342,"date":"2018-04-06T04:27:33","date_gmt":"2018-04-06T04:27:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=62342"},"modified":"2018-04-06T04:27:33","modified_gmt":"2018-04-06T04:27:33","slug":"trump-denies-knowing-of-any-hush-money-paid-to-porn-actress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/news\/trump-denies-knowing-of-any-hush-money-paid-to-porn-actress.html","title":{"rendered":"Trump Denies Knowing of Any Hush Money Paid to Porn Actress"},"content":{"rendered":"

Trump Denies Knowing of Any Hush Money Paid to Porn Actress<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

President Trump denied on Thursday knowing of a $130,000 payment his lawyer made to a pornographic film actress who claims to have had a sexual encounter with him, an assertion that threatened to complicate his legal battle against her.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. Trump made his first public remarks about the matter aboard Air Force One as he returned to Washington from White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., where he had held a round table on tax cuts. Asked by a reporter if he knew about the payment to the actress, Stormy Daniels, whose given name is Stephanie Clifford, he said, \u201cNo.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Asked why Michael D. Cohen, his personal lawyer, had made the payment, Mr. Trump said: \u201cYou\u2019ll have to ask Michael Cohen. Michael is my attorney, and you\u2019ll have to ask Michael Cohen.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The president said he did not know where the money had come from, and ignored a question about whether he ever set up a fund Mr. Cohen could draw from.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ms. Clifford has said that she was paid $130,000 before the 2016 election to buy her silence. She is now suing Mr. Trump to abrogate a nondisclosure agreement that was supposed to prevent her from discussing the relationship. She claims the agreement is null and void because Mr. Trump never signed it.<\/span><\/p>\n

The president\u2019s comments on Thursday could create a predicament for him and his legal team. Ms. Clifford\u2019s case is based on the notion that the confidentiality agreement is invalid because Mr. Trump was not a party to it. By saying he was not aware of the agreement, Mr. Trump appeared to confirm that argument, which would mean neither party is legally bound by it, thus potentially paving the way for Ms. Clifford to break her silence without consequences.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ms. Clifford\u2019s pugnacious lawyer, Michael J. Avenatti, quickly issued a statement to respond to Mr. Trump\u2019s claim. He said that the president\u2019s professed ignorance of the payment would improve his client\u2019s case, suggesting that he would use legal discovery to expose the back and forth around the payment.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOur case just got that much better,\u201d Mr. Avenatti said in the statement. \u201cWe very much look forward to testing the truthfulness of Mr. Trump\u2019s feigned lack of knowledge concerning the $130,000 as he stated on Air Force One.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAs history teaches us, it is one thing to deceive the press and quite another to do so under oath,\u201d he added.<\/span><\/p>\n

Later, Mr. Avenatti appeared to exult on Twitter about what he suggested were undisciplined comments by Mr. Trump that would give Ms. Clifford the upper hand in the legal dispute.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cGood (actually GREAT) things come to those who wait!!!\u201d Mr. Avenatti wrote. \u201cThe strength of our case just went up exponentially. You can\u2019t have an agreement when one party claims to know nothing about it. #nodiscipline.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. Cohen did not respond on Thursday to requests for comment. Charles Harder, a lawyer representing Mr. Trump in his legal wrangling with Ms. Clifford, also did not respond to requests for comment on the president\u2019s remarks and how they could affect his case.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. Trump and a company affiliated with him filed papers in court on Monday seeking to force Ms. Clifford to raise her disputes through private arbitration, not lawsuits.<\/span><\/p>\n

Arbitration would shield the case from public view, sparing Mr. Trump the public spectacle that would attend a lawsuit with a discovery process and a trial. Mr. Avenatti said at the time that he would vigorously oppose the effort to resolve the case privately. In fact, on Thursday night, he said that Mr. Trump\u2019s remarks had made him more determined than ever to try to depose the president.<\/span><\/p>\n

\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,\u201d Mr. Avenatti said in an interview on MSNBC. \u201cAnd then there is no such thing as an NDA,\u201d he added, referring to a nondisclosure agreement.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNow if, on the other hand, what he said on Air Force One is not accurate \u2014 and I, for one, have serious questions as to its veracity or accuracy \u2014 they\u2019ve got a whole host of problems,\u201d Mr. Avenatti said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The president and his lawyers have been working to prevent Ms. Clifford, who sat for a lengthy interview that aired on \u201c60 Minutes\u201d last month, from making further public statements.<\/span><\/p>\n

In February, she said that she believed that Mr. Cohen had violated the agreement and that she, as a result, was no longer bound by it. Mr. Cohen secretly obtained a restraining order late that month to prevent her from speaking.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then last month, Mr. Trump\u2019s legal team filed a motion asking to move the case from state court to federal court, which may have been an effort to increase the likelihood that it would be resolved in arbitration.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/04\/05\/us\/politics\/trump-stormy-daniels-hush-money.html<\/span><\/p>\n

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